Lionel Barrymore Imitations in Cartoons

Lionel Barrymore in
It's a Wonderful Life

In a previous blog, I detailed my listening habits on my drive to work. One of the old-time radio shows I would listen to was the Story of Dr. Kildare with Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore, both recreating their roles from the film series. Barrymore was a member of the famous acting family with brother John and sister Ethel. He was confined to a wheelchair due to a broken hip and arthritis, but that did not stop him from continuing his acting career. His character Dr. Gillespie was a crochety old coot, lovable but crusty, always advising the young Dr. Kildare on difficult patients and cases. He is probably best known today for his role as Mr. Potter, the autocratic banker who attempts to dominate Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life. Barrymore's distinctive vocal style inspired numerous imitations in animated cartoons when a curmudgeon was needed. 

Bugs Bunny as Lionel Barrymore
in Hot Cross Bunny (1948)

Bugs Bunny did a delightful impersonation in Hot Cross Bunny. In this 1948 short, Bugs goes into his vaudeville routine to entertain a stone-faced audience of doctors. He's really there as a guinea pig in a French doctor's experiment to transplant a chicken brain into a rabbit's head. ("Oh no, doc, I don't wanna be NOOOOOOO chicken.") Thinking he is there to entertain the surgeons, he sings, dances, and transforms into Barrymore complete with spectacles as the mayor of a town imploring a jury not to sentence an innocent boy to prison. The doctor then chases Bugs around the hospital and finally winds up the subject of the experiment himself with the chicken speaking in a French accent.

Barrymore was also the inspiration for two cartoon villains from Saturday morning shows I used to watch every week. Underdog's main adversary was the

Simon Bar Sinister on Underdog

diabolical Simon Bar Sinister, a diminutive mad scientist who came up with fiendish schemes to destroy his canine superhero rival (voiced by Wally Cox). The other dastardly Barrymore knock-off was The Owl, one of six villains to bedevil Cool McCool, a bumbling spy sort of based on Don Adams' Maxwell Smart. The Owl was an avian criminal able to command his fine feathered friends to do his nefarious bidding. He was dressed elegantly in an owlish version of a tuxedo, except he was barefoot. I've been watching classic cartoons on Toon in With Me on MeTV and that, plus the radio shows, is what has inspired this post.

The Owl attempts to dispose of
Cool McCool.