View source for Grampy

{{Short description|Animated cartoon character}}
[[Image:grampy.gif|right|thumb|250px|Grampy and his "thinking cap", in a scene from the ''[[List of Betty Boop films and appearances#Betty Boop series|Betty Boop]]'' cartoon ''[[House Cleaning Blues]]'' (1937).]]
'''Professor Grampy''' is an [[animation|animated]] cartoon character appearing in the ''[[List of Betty Boop films and appearances#Betty Boop series|Betty Boop]]'' series of shorts produced by [[Max Fleischer]] and released by [[Paramount Pictures]]. He appeared in nine of the later ''Betty Boop'' cartoons beginning with ''[[Betty Boop and Grampy]]'' (1935). He had a starring role in the "Color Classic" ''[[Christmas Comes But Once a Year]]'' (1936).
Grampy is an ever-cheerful and energetic senior citizen with a bald, dome-shaped head, white beard, and black nose (depicted with a red nose in color productions). One author speculates that the character's design may suggest he is [[Ko-Ko the Clown]] in retirement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pointer|first=Ray |year=2016|title=The Art and Inventions of Max Flesicher: American Animation Pioneer|publisher= [[McFarland & Co.]]| page= 137}}</ref> His primary activities include singing, dancing and building [[Rube Goldberg]]-esque devices out of ordinary household items. When presented with an unexpected problem, he puts on his thinking cap (a [[mortarboard]] with a [[lightbulb]] on top). In short order, the lightbulb lights up as Grampy exclaims, "Hooray, I've got it!" and builds a new gadget to solve the problem. The character was possibly based upon Max's brother, Charles, an inventor, one of whose creations was the clawing device that (in 2021) is still omnipresent in arcades and standalone toys.
It is not clear whether Grampy is actually related to Betty Boop, because everyone calls him "Grampy" and he seems to be equally affectionate to almost everyone he meets. There is also some inconsistency as to living arrangements. In some cartoons like ''[[Betty Boop and Grampy]]'' and ''[[House Cleaning Blues]],'' he and Betty live in separate houses. However, in ''[[The Impractical Joker]],'' he lives in an upper floor.
The identity of Grampy's voice actor has been subject to debate. The [[Fleischer Studios]] credits [[Popeye]] voice actor [[Jack Mercer]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fleischerstudios.com/image_display.php?g_num=4&img_num=0 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130123124807/http://www.fleischerstudios.com/image_display.php?g_num=4&img_num=0 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-23 |title=A Fleischer Christmas Cartoon! }}</ref> while the character's article on [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]] indicated that standard reference sources didn't name Grampy's voice actor, aside from some isolated mentions crediting Everett Clark for the role.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/grampy.htm |title=Grampy |publisher=[[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]] |first=Don |last=Markstein |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150307142309/http://toonopedia.com/grampy.htm |archivedate=March 7, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Grampy Voice 1">{{Cite web|title=Today's Video Link|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2007/03/03/todays-video-link-679-2/|publisher=News From ME|accessdate=December 25, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Grampy Voice 2">{{cite web|title=Fleischer Promo Art #16: "Betty Slays 'Em!"|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/fleischer-promo-art-16-betty-slays-em/|website=cartoonresearch.com|accessdate=25 December 2020}}</ref>
Grampy appeared in nine of the later ''Betty Boop'' cartoons in the mid-1930s, often having a larger role than Betty. He also made one appearance without Betty, in the aforementioned ''Christmas Comes But Once a Year''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film |date=2019 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=9781476672939 |page=52}}</ref>
==Filmography==
*''[[Betty Boop and Grampy]]'' (1935)
*''[[A Song a Day]]'' (1936)
*''[[Grampy's Indoor Outing]]'' (1936)
*''[[Be Human (film)|Be Human]]'' (1936)
*''[[Christmas Comes But Once a Year]]'' (1936)
*''[[House Cleaning Blues]]'' (1937)
*''[[The Impractical Joker]]'' (1937)
*''[[The Candid Candidate]]'' (1937)
*''[[Service with a Smile (1937 film)|Service with a Smile]]'' (1937)
*''[[Zula Hula]]'' (1937)
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Animated human characters]]
[[Category:Fleischer Studios series and characters]]
[[Category:Fictional inventors]]
[[Category:Male characters in animation]]
[[Category:Film characters introduced in 1935]]
[[Category:Animated characters introduced in 1935]]
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