History Of Pink Panther

What comes to your mind when you think of a cartoon series which has streaks of comedy, romance and mystery? Definitely, it’s the Pink Panther that takes away all the admiration. An animated series, the show quiet impressively puts together the different genres, making it a remarkable entertainment for the whole family. Directed by Blake Edwards, the film is a classic result of brilliant performances from Peter Sellers, the witty David Niven, the beautiful Claudia Cardinale and Capucine. What started of as a humble beginning, led to a revolution making the character of Pink Panther famous among all age groups, thanks to its sophisticated, suspicious and notorious nature! The creative ideas of DePatie and Freleng added more feathers to the success of this animated series. 

Interesting & Amazing Information On Origin & Background Of Pink Panther
The Pink Panther is the sly, gangling animated cat created by Friz Freleng and David DePatie. The skinny felid character was first created for the open title of the movie “The Pink Panther”, in 1963, starring Peter Sellers, who played the role of a bumbling French policeman, Jacques Clouseau, pursuing an exotic diamond called the Pink Panther. Much against the popular belief, the name ‘Pink Panther’ was not that of the Clouseau character, but of a fictitious diamond, which featured as the ‘MacGuffin’ in the first film of the series. The diamond supposedly contained a flaw, which forms the image of a ‘leaping panther’ that is visible only if the diamond is held up in light in a particular position. 

The name, Pink Panther, had been used for the title of the different movies and the cartoon series that was created, after the success of the first one. However, only five of the other films in the series shared the plot of the theft of the diamond (Pink Panther), as the first movie. They are, ‘The Return Of The Pink Panther’, ‘Trail Of The Pink Panther’, ‘Curse Of The Pink Panther’ and the remake ‘The Pink Panther’ and the remake sequel ‘Pink Panther 2’. ‘A Shot in the Dark’ is the only film in the series that did not feature the diamond or the distinctive animated character. Originally intended not to feature inspector Clouseau as well, the film has been rated as the best movie in the entire series.

 

After the massive success of the first film, Pink Panther became so popular that DePatie and Freleng started working immediately on a series of animated cartoon, in the vein of Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. These panther cartoons had no dialogue, instead were backed by variations on Henry Mancini’s slithery, saxophone-y Pink Panther theme. The animated series, after ruling the electronic media, took a step further and conquered the world of print medium as well. Pink Panther became quite popular as cartoon series among the children, with the release of the first Pink Panther cartoon ‘Pink Phink’ in 1964. It broke all the records and became the first cartoon series to win an Oscar for its first premier.

 

In 1970s Pink Panther acquired its own Saturday morning T.V show and with this acquired the supreme status of cartoon stardom. Several new sequels to the original live-action film were also made with two Pink Panthers running parallel to each other, for more than 15 yrs. In the year 1976, the NBC tried to expand the Saturday morning show to 90 minutes with ‘The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show’. To pad up the length of the show, they included live-action segments with a comedian reading children’s jokes. However, the idea did not strike the right chord with the audience and the show bombed terribly, giving the way back to the half an hour cartoon show in 1977. The last Pink Panther cartoon was produced in 1980, though the cartoon was syndicated and continued to be telecast in various channels. All said and done, Pink Panther, till today, retains the classic essence, appreciation and fan following, which was evident in the first film, way back in 1963.

 

1963: The Pink Panther

1964: A Shot in the Dark

1968: Inspector Clouseau

1975: The Return of Pink Panther

1976: The Pink Panther Strikes Again

1978: Revenge of the Pink Panther

1982: Trail of the Pink Panther

1983: Curse of the Pink Panther

1993: Son of the Pink Panther

2006: The Pink Panther
2009: The Pink Panther (2)