Agent Buddy examines his clever undercover disguise in BUDDY THE GEE MAN
by Rachel Newstead
Buddy The Gee Man
Release Date: Aug. 24, 1935
Director: Jack King
In Short: In his very last appearance, Buddy’s one of the Feds, and investigates a prison warden who hates music. An act, of course, unforgivable in a Buddy cartoon….
Say the name “Buddy” and “Looney Tunes” in the same sentence to an animation fan–try it. I dare you.
But before you do it, I highly recommend a good, solid industrial headset to drown the resulting eardrum-liquefying screech of outrage.
Let’s face it, of all the Looney Tunes characters, Buddy is not only the last one we’re likely to remember, but the one we most want to forget.
But how fair is that, really? It’s something I never really gave much thought, until this recent e-mail question from Kevin:
…do you really think that Buddy is a wholly uninteresting character? I guess I’m getting more out of the soundtracks than you are out of the visuals….
Such a simple question, yet so difficult to answer. Kevin has an annoying way of doing that with his questions, making me ask myself why I like what I like. I mean, there are Buddy cartoons I actually enjoy, but the character….
I suppose the best answer would be “yes”–with qualifications. I do think Buddy is completely uninteresting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I dislike the cartoons that feature him. They can be quite enjoyable, almost despite themselves. But they would be just as enjoyable, I think, if Buddy weren’t there.
