For World Penguin Day: Some Pop Culture Penguins

Penguins International tells us its World Penguin Day — and who are we to squawk? We observe the day with this honor roll of penguin related characters from pop culture. We were surprised to realize how many there are. There are even more than these; we decided to cap it at ten. For many similar celebrations, visit the Animals section of Travalanche.

Willie, The Kool Cigarettes Mascot (1931)

Eons before Joe Camel was even a gleam in Madison Avenue’s eye, Kool rolled out Willie the Penguin, who hawked their cigarette products in print ads, on retail signage, on radio, later on television, and even in his own comic book. Willie is the earliest conception of a penguin wearing a tuxedo that I am aware of, but I would be shocked if some intrepid researcher couldn’t track down some Victorian cartoon in Punch or something similar that pioneered that popular notion several decades earlier.

The Batman Villain (1941)

A peculiar gimmick for a supervillain if you think about it, but he ended up being only the second or third most popular Batman baddie with the public, trailing only The Joker and Cat Woman. Though he made his comic book debut in 1941, it was nearly a quarter century before any actor played him onscreen, and that was of course the immortal Burgess Meredith, whose interpretation was comically iconic. The second, in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns (1992) was Danny DeVito, who also made a strong impression by playing him darker and more grotesquely. Many have voiced the character in animated cartoons, including Ted Knight,Wayne Knight (unrelated), Paul Williams, Lennie Weinrib, and Stephen Root. Among these, I’d have loved to have sees Paul Williams do a live action performance. He’s the right body type and he was a GREAT villain in Phantom of the Paradise. At present Colin Ferrell is playing the character in an HBO tv series spun off the 2022 Batman reboot, and nope, I’m not even curious.

Playboy Penguin from Looney Tunes (1949-50)

Surprisingly this memorable character only appeared in two classic Looney Tunes shorts, Frigid Hare (1949) and 8 Ball Bunny (1950). In the first, Bugs Bunny makes a wrong turn and winds up in Antarctica. In the second it’s the Penguin who gets lost in Brooklyn and has to be returned by Bugs to the frozen continent. I guess they couldn’t think of any plots after that. I’m pretty sure that hilarious gag with the emotional penguin shedding one big tear was revived for the Puss in Boots character inShrek.

Chilly Willy (1953)

The first penguin character to get its own cartoon series, and the second most popular character at the Walter Lantz Studios after Woody Woodpecker. Some 50 shorts were made between 1953 and 1972. The gag with Chilly Willy was that he hated the cold and was always trying to find ways to get warm.

Tennessee Tuxedo (1963)

This series was produced by Total Television, the same folks who did King Leonardo and Underdog. Tennessee Tuxedo (voiced by Don Adams) was always escaping from the zoo with his dumb pal, a walrus named Chumley. For wisdom, they would seek the advice of Phineas J. Whoopee, the Man With All the Answers (Larry Storch). The Saturday morning series, sponsored by General Mills, ran until 1966.

Opus from Bloom County (1980)

The most popular character in Berke Breathed’s popular comic strip from 1982 through 1989, and the star of his own strip from 2003 to 2008.

The Mean Nun from The Blues Brothers(1980)

Kathleen Freeman (a previous foil for Jerry Lewis) played this hilarious character, mentioned in awe and fear by Jake and Elwood Blues throughout the film, later revealed to be the head of the orphanage where they grew up. After all, penguins look like nuns as much as they do dudes in tuxes.

Dippy and Sparky the Wonder Penguins from This Modern World (1986)

Tom Tomorrow’s hilarious alt-strip This Modern World has had two penguin characters since its launch. Dippy, who didn’t talk, who short-lived. Sparky is the familiar one in the shades,

Happy Feet (2006)

This Academy Award winning animated feature was directed by George Miller, that ever-surprising Aussie who also gave us Mad Max and Babe. That’s what I call range). The voice over cast of prestigious stars in Happy Feet included Elijah Wood,Robin Williams,Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Steve Irwin. No fewer of these three stars (Williams, Murphy, and Irwin) died young and in unusual, very unfortunate ways. Could it be the Happy Feet Curse?

The Inhabitants of the Heard and MacDonald Islands (a few days ago)

Aquatic avians who very competently punished with tariffs by the Trump administration by special executive order, leading to a few hours in the spotlight as meme of the day.