Heckle and Jeckle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heckle and Jeckle in "Taming the Cat"

Heckle and Jeckle was a theatrical cartoon series created by Paul Terry, and released by his own studio, Terrytoons. The characters were a pair of identical magpies who calmly outwitted their foes in the manner of Bugs Bunny, while maintaining a mischievous streak reminiscent of Woody Woodpecker. However in a number of their cartoons (Moose On The Loose (1952), Free Enterprise (1948)) their foes win in the end. Their names were inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

One magpie spoke with a British accent, while the other spoke with a Brooklyn dialect. Although there seems to be a great deal of uncertainty as to which was which, in the episode Bulldozing The Bulls, they clearly refer to each other by name, with the Brooklyn accent belonging to Heckle and the British accent belonging to Jeckle. In a later episode, Stunt Men, Jeckle, in a British accent, calls Heckle by name again. Furthermore, in the cartoon "Rival Romeos," the magpies, after being simultaneously smitten by the same female, run home to get dressed. They are shown to occupy two sides of the same tree, and each character's home is marked with a sign--Heckle is clearly designated as the Brooklyn magpie with his jaunty hat, and Jeckle dons a British looking bowtie and monocle. While they usually referred to each other by such names as Old Featherhead, these episodes clearly give the names to the accents. Both characters were voiced at different times by Dayton Allen, Sid Raymond, Roy Halee, Ned Sparks and Frank Welker.^[1]^[2] In 1978's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle, the birds introduced themselves by name in the opening credits; Heckle had the Brooklyn accent, and Jeckle the British one.

Heckle is slightly more cynical than Jeckle. Both of them treat their mutual enemies with threats and rudeness, but Heckle will usually make his intentions clear from the outset, while Jeckle will (at first) treat enemies politely in order to lull them into a false sense of security before unleashing magpie mayhem. In their cartoon Blind Date, Heckle is able to forcibly disguise the unwilling Jeckle as a girl, indicating that Heckle is physically stronger than Jeckle. In The Power of Thought it is Jeckle who realizes the unlimited possibilities of being a cartoon character, although Heckle is quick enough to go along when this is pointed out to him.

The first Heckle and Jeckle cartoon premiered in 1946, the last in 1966. From 1978 to 1982 they appeared in their own segment of Filmation's The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle.

The first one was titled The Talking Magpies (1946) and the pair were a husband and wife, looking for a new home, who disturb the farmer and his dumb dog. They are eventually aided by the other flock of Magpies and win in the end.

Heckle and Jeckle had their own comic book title for several years.