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Heckle and Jeckle

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Heckle and Jeckle

Heckle and Jeckle are animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow-billed magpies who usually cause problems to others and for themselves with their bizarre antics. Heckle speaks in a tough New York style manner, while Jeckle has a more polite British accent. They were voiced at different times by Danny Webb (1946–47), Sid Raymond (1947), Dayton Allen (1947–52, 1966), Ned Sparks (1950), Roy Halee (1950–60), and Frank Welker (1979).

The Talking Magpies, released January 4, 1946, was the first Terrytoons cartoon to feature a pair of wisecracking magpies. This was a husband-and-wife pair, not the pair of identical birds that they would become. Terry was taken with the idea of a pair of identical characters, and followed up with The Uninvited Pests (November 29, 1946), which established the pair as new characters. Terrytoons made 52 Heckle and Jeckle theatrical cartoons between 1946 and 1966. The early cartoons paired the duo with the popular song of the time, "Listen to the Mocking Bird", as their theme.

After Paul Terry sold the Terrytoons studio to CBS in 1955, the studio's cartoons were repackaged in different timeslots. In summer 1956, the premiere episode of the primetime CBS Cartoon Theater included the 1947 magpie short Flying South.

The Heckle and Jeckle Cartoon Show premiered on CBS Saturday mornings on October 14, 1956, and aired until 1966. The show also included shorts starring other Terrytoons characters, including Mighty Mouse, Little Roquefort and Percy the Cat, Gandy Goose, Dinky Duck and the Terry Bears.

After a hiatus, the show moved to NBC Saturday mornings in September 1969, and aired until September 4, 1971.

The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle premiered on CBS Saturday mornings on September 8, 1979. The show featured newly-animated 11-minute magpie cartoons, in which the characters were not as abrasive as their theatrical personas. The hour-long show featured two Heckle and Jeckle cartoons. The show was cut to a half-hour for the 1980-1981 season, and featured one Heckle and Jeckle cartoon.

Heckle and Jeckle made a cameo in the 1988 Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures episode "Mighty's Wedlock Whimsy", alongside a few other Terrytoons characters, but they have no speaking lines.

In an unreleased 1999 Terrytoons pilot called Curbside, Heckle was voiced by Toby Huss and Jeckle was voiced by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. They were also changed from magpies to crows.

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