The Ant and the Aardvark

***The Ant and the Aardvark*** is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971.

## Plot

The cartoon series follows attempts of a blue aardvark named Aardvark (voiced by John Byner,) attempting to catch and eat a red ant named Charlie (also voiced by John Byner,), usually doing so by inhaling with a loud vacuum cleaner sound. The aardvark character is essentially unnamed; in the episode *Rough Brunch*, he claims his name is simply "Aardvark." Charlie Ant gives his nemesis a variety of names as sly terms of endearment (Ol' Sam, Ol' Ben, Ol' Blue, Claude, Pal, Buddy, Daddy-O). In several bumper sequences of *The Pink Panther Show*, he is called "Blue Aardvark."

## Production

*The Ant and the Aardvark* series was originally released by United Artists. Seventeen theatrical shorts were produced in the original series, and were subsequently featured in various television syndication packages, usually shown with DFE's other characters such as the Pink Panther and The Inspector. Most of the 17 entries appear in their television syndication form (complete with an audible laugh track added by NBC-TV) on the video on demand service Amazon Video.

When *The Ant and the Aardvark* first appeared on *The New Pink Panther Show* in the fall of 1971, the series became wildly popular, so much in fact that the duo became a featured part of the NBC series. Even though the 17 entries remained popular throughout the broadcast run of *The Pink Panther Show*, no new entries were produced.

The series used several unique production techniques for the period. The aardvark's body was solid blue: his only clothes—a pair of blue shorts and matching T-shirt—were a matching blue. Similarly, Charlie Ant was solid red, and did not sport any clothing. As such, the character's solid colors allowed them to stand out clearly against the multi-colored backgrounds featured prominently in the series. Charlie also sported half-closed eyes, as a sign of a bon viveur.

Musical director Doug Goodwin was responsible for the jazzy music score. Goodwin assembled an established group of jazz session musicians to perform the series' theme music and musical cues. For the first time in animated cartoons, all six musicians—Ray Brown, Billy Byers, Pete Candoli, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Rowles and Tommy Tedesco—received on-screen credit.

Art Leonardi was responsible for the main title graphic for all DePatie-Freleng entries. For *The Ant and the Aardvark* series, Leonardi expanded on a technique first introduced for the first Pink Panther cartoon, *The Pink Phink*. This entailed tearing paper into the forms of objects and characters to form stylized images.

## Additional characters

There were additional minor characters in the series. Among them were the following:

* Computer (voiced by John Byner) - A computer that the aardvark built to help come up with ideas to catch the ant (*Technology, Phooey*)
* Cousin Term the Termite (*Rough Brunch*)
* Aunt Minerva - One of the Gi-ants (*The Ant From Uncle*)
* Tiny the Elephant, an ape, and a look-alike of Roland (from another DePatie-Freleng series, *Roland and Rattfink*) - Charlie Ant's lodge brothers (*Mumbo Jumbo*)
* An unnamed green aardvark - He is similar to the blue aardvark except barrel-chested instead of pot-bellied (*I've Got Ants In My Plans*, *Odd Ant Out*)
* Tiger (voiced by Marvin Miller) - A tiger that helped Charlie (*Scratch a Tiger*)
* A scientist (*Science Friction*)
* A nurse at an animal hospital (voiced by Athena Lorde) - She tended to the ant and the aardvark when they ended up in her hospital (*From Bed to Worse*)
* An anteater-eating shark (*Isle of Caprice*)
* A nearsighted lifeguard - Despite wearing glasses, he tends to mistake the Aardvark for a dog (*Dune Bug*)
* A toastmaster ant - An ant (*I've Got Ants in My Plans*)

## German version

In German-dubbed versions of the cartoon, the male aardvark is transformed into a female anteater named Elise (Eliza). Charlie (voiced by Fred Maire) remains male; Elise is voiced by Marianne Wischmann. The cartoons are known under the title *Die blaue Elise (Blue Eliza)*.

## Filmography

All voices provided by John Byner unless otherwise noted.