The Ant and the Aardvark

The Ant and the Aardvark is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971.^[1]

The cartoon series follows attempts of a blue aardvark (voiced by John Byner,^[2][3][4] imitating Jackie Mason^[5]) attempting to catch and eat a red ant named Charlie (also voiced by Byner,^[2][3][4] imitating Dean Martin^[5]), usually doing so by inhaling with a loud vacuum cleaner sound. The aardvark character is essentially unnamed; in the episode "Rough Brunch", he claims his name is simply "Aardvark". Despite this, and his identification in the series title as an aardvark, in many of the shorts he refers to himself (and is referred to by the ant) as an anteater. The ant gives his nemesis a variety of names as sly terms of endearment (Ol' Sam, Ol' Ben, Ol' Blue, Claude, Pal, Buddy, Daddy-O).^[6] In several bumper sequences of The Pink Panther Show, he is called "Blue Aardvark".

The Ant and the Aardvark series was originally released by United Artists. Seventeen theatrical shorts were produced in the original series, and were subsequently featured in various television syndication packages, usually shown with DFE's other characters such as the Pink Panther and The Inspector. Most of the 17 entries appear in their television syndication form (complete with an audible laugh track added by NBC-TV) on the video on demand service Amazon Video.

When The Ant and the Aardvark first appeared on The New Pink Panther Show in the fall of 1971, the series became wildly popular, so much in fact that the duo became a featured part of the NBC series.^[6] Even though the 17 entries remained popular throughout the broadcast run of The Pink Panther Show, no new entries were produced.^[6]

The series used several unique production techniques for the period. The aardvark's body was solid blue: his only clothes—a pair of blue shorts and matching T-shirt—were a matching blue. Similarly, Charlie Ant was solid red, and did not sport any clothing. As such, the character's solid colors allowed them to stand out clearly against the multi-colored backgrounds featured prominently in the series. Charlie also sported half-closed eyes, as a sign of a bon viveur.^[6]

Musical director Doug Goodwin was responsible for the jazzy music score. Goodwin assembled an established group of jazz session musicians to perform the series' theme music and musical cues. For the first time in animated cartoons, all six musicians—Ray Brown, Billy Byers, Pete Candoli, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Rowles and Tommy Tedesco—received on-screen credit.^[6]

Art Leonardi was responsible for the main title graphic for all DePatie-Freleng entries. For The Ant and the Aardvark series, Leonardi expanded on a technique first introduced for the first Pink Panther cartoon, The Pink Phink. This entailed tearing paper into the forms of objects and characters to form stylized images.^[6]

There were additional minor characters in the series. Among them were the following: (all voiced by John Byner unless otherwise noted)

• "Computer" – a talking device purported to be a supercomputer, which the Aardvark builds to help come up with ideas to catch the ant; however, all these ideas fail, which turns out to be because the "computer" is not really a computer, but an automatic toaster. Its voice is an imitation of a young Paul Lynde. (Technology, Phooey)
• Cousin Term the Termite (Rough Brunch) - Charlie's wood-devouring cousin, who is trying to stay on a diet despite his cravings.
• Aunt Minerva – one of the Gi-ants and Charlie's aunt. (The Ant From Uncle)
• Tiny the Elephant, an ape, and a look-alike of Roland (from another DePatie-Freleng series, Roland and Rattfink) – Charlie Ant's lodge brothers (Mumbo Jumbo)
• An unnamed Green Ardvark – he is similar to the Blue Aardvark except barrel-chested instead of pot-bellied. He appears in I've Got Ants In My Plans and Odd Ant Out (in the latter, he is depicted wearing a cap); the first cartoon sees the two aardvarks squaring off over who gets to eat Charlie, while the second sees them battle over a can of chocolate-covered ants.
• Tiger (voiced by Marvin Miller) – a large tiger who protects Charlie from the Aardvark as a favor for pulling a thorn from his foot. (Scratch a Tiger)
• A scientist with a Boris Karloff-like voice (Science Friction)
• A nurse at an animal hospital (voiced by Athena Lorde) – she tended to the ant and the aardvark when they ended up in her hospital (From Bed to Worse)
• An anteater-eating shark (Isle of Caprice)
• A nearsighted lifeguard – despite wearing glasses, he tends to mistake the Aardvark for a dog (Dune Bug)
• A toastmaster ant – who gives a toast at an ant dinner event (I've Got Ants in My Plans)

• In the German dub, the Aardvark is a female anteater named Elise (Eliza) voiced by Marianne Wischmann while Charlie (voiced by Fred Maire) remains male. The cartoons are known under the title Die blaue Elise ("The Blue Eliza").
• In the Latin American Spanish dub, the Aardvark is a male anteater voiced by Pedro D'Aguillón (original dub) and Javier Rivero (dub on some re-airings). Charlie (voiced by Álvaro Carcaño and Salvador Nájar) remains unchanged. The series title is La hormiga y el oso hormiguero ("The Ant and the Anteater").
• In the Brazilian Portuguese dub the Aardvark is an anteater voiced by Ionei Silva. The series title is changed to A Formiga e o Tamanduá ("The Ant and the Anteater").
• In the European Portuguese dub the aardvark remains an aardvark.
• In the French dub, the Aardvark is a male anteater voiced by Michel Gatineau while Charlie is voiced by actress Marcelle Lajeunesse. The title is known as Tamanoir et Fourmi Rouge ("Aardvark and Red Ant").

All voices provided by John Byner unless otherwise noted.

• Producers: David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng
• Directors: Friz Freleng, Hawley Pratt, Gerry Chiniquy, Art Davis
• Story: John W. Dunn, Irv Spector, Dave Detiege, Sid Marcus, Larz Bourne, Dale Hale
• Animation: Warren Batchelder, Manny Gould, Manny Perez, Don Williams, Art Leonardi, Robert Taylor, Bob Goe, Tom Ray, Lloyd Vaughan, Bob Richardson, John Gibbs, Phil Roman, Robert Bentley, Kenneth Muse, Irv Spence
• Graphic Designers: Corny Cole, Dick Ung, Al Wilson, Lin Larsen
• Voices: John Byner, Marvin Miller, Athena Lorde
• Color Designer: Tom O'Laughlin, Richard H. Thomas
• Title Cards: Art Leonardi
• Production Supervisor: Jim Foss
• Coordinator: Harry Love
• Camera: John Burton Jr.
• Film Editor: Lee Gunther
• Musical Director: Doug Goodwin
• Musicians:
  • Ray Brown - bass
  • Billy Byers - trombone
  • Pete Candoli - trumpet
  • Jimmy Rowles - piano
  • Tommy Tedesco - guitar/banjo
  • Shelly Manne - drums^[6]

The first revival featured the characters as part on the 1993 incarnation of The Pink Panther. The characters remained unchanged, though unlike the original 1969-1971 cartoons, they do not appear in their own segments but rather are included in segments featuring the Pink Panther (now voiced by Matt Frewer). John Byner returned to voice both Charlie Ant and the Aardvark.^[6]

The second revival occurred in 2010 as part of Pink Panther and Pals. Eddie Garvar voices the Aardvark, who retains his previous characterization. Kel Mitchell, using his natural voice, voices the Ant.

• Big Cartoon Database
• "The Ant & the Aardvark" at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015.