The Ant and The Aardvark

There's so many great cartoon characters from the past that are being completely forgotten about. Nowadays some kids don't even know who Popeye or Mighty Mouse is! That's why I was thrilled last week when MGM released THE ANT AND THE AARDVARK on DVD. Produced by the same team that created THE PINK PANTHER shorts, THE ANT AND THE AARDVARK stared in 17 animated theatrical shorts produced between 1969 and 1971. I became familiar with them from a syndicated package of shorts simply called THE PINK PANTHER SHOW. This DVD collects all 17 cartoons featuring the Aardvarks pursuits of a single Ant. Patterned after such classic cartoons as Tom & Jerry and Road Runner & the coyote, the Aardvark spends his day trying to come up with wacky plans to capture the little ant. The all blue aardvark is voiced in the style of Jewish comedian Jackie Mason, while the ant sounds an awful lot like Dean Martin. They are both actually played by comedian and actor John Byner.

I picked up the DVD last week but just got around to watching a handful of the cartoons last night. In one of the cartoons the aardvark accidentally sprays himself in the face with ant killer, he then drops to the ground and turns all different colors including plaid and polka dot. When seeing this, the ant turns to the camera and says, "Man, he must be having a bad trip!" Gotta love the 60's!