cartoons

Animated characters that depict stuttering

Index

The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin
Charlotte's Web
The Pebble and the Penguin
Porky Pig
Piglet
Rude Dog and the Dweebs
Charlotte's Web (1972) - Agnes Moorehead performed the voice of a stuttering goose in this full-length animated movie
Rude Dog And The Dweebs - "a Saturday morning cartoon based on the T-shirt character of the '80s. The Dweebs are a band of seven misfit dogs who live in the garage of Rude Dog, whom the Dweebs look up to as the paragon of cool and someone who always has an answer to everything. These kooky canines include Jack Nicholson soundalike Reggie; dimwitted Satch; Barney, a country dog who liked to talk to his toy farm animals; stuttering Caboose (ed. note voice by Frank Welker, JAK); Kibble, the only female of the group; Winston, who saw himself as more cultured; and little Tweek. However, as is usually the case in Saturday Morning Land, all is not always happy in this motley crew. Aside from the mischief the Dweebs unwittingly cause, there's opposition provided by Herman the dogcatcher and his inept rottweiler Rot, as well as Seymour, who happens to be the bane of every cartoon dog's existence; namely, a cat. "Rude Dog and "the Dweebs" was seen in 1989 and 1990 as an on-again, off-again part of CBS's Saturday Morning lineup." (Obscure Shows - www.angelfire.com/nj2/fabiano/obscure.html)
The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin (1987) - Teddy Ruxpin was "a soft spoken, gentle bear-like creature (an Illiop) who starred in 65 half-hour episodes on the DIC Enterprise children's daily animated cartoon The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin/Syn/1987. With the aid of his friends Newton Gimmick, a stuttering inventor with round glasses (John Stocker) and Grubby (Wili Ryan), an eight-legged caterpillar-like creature called an Octopede, Teddy Ruxpin (Phil Barron) used an ancient map and a flying airship to search the lands of Grundo, Octogonia, Rillonia and Ying to uncover the mystery of ancient crystals. Along the way, Teddy battled the sinister group M.A.V.O. (Monsters and Villains Organizations) and their henchman Quellor and Tweeg. Teddy Ruxpin wears a light tan tunic over a red shirt and red shorts. His fur is a light brown. He has a tuft of hair between his ears." (www.tvacres.com/bears_teddy.htm). The picture of Gimmick was lifted, with permission from The Teddy Ruxpin super site
The Pebble and the Penguin - "an amiable animated tale about the adventures of a stuttering, determined penguin struggling to return to his true love after being tossed into the churning sea by a romantic rival. The production is a peppy, colorful treat for preschoolers, though older members of the family find the thin storyline and routine music numbers far less engaging." (www.catholicdigest.org/stops/movies/archp.html)
Porky Pig - is probably the most famous of several of the Looney Tune characters who display speech-language disabilities. Created by Warner Bros., Porky Pig debuted in "I Haven't Got A Hat," directed by Fritz Freleng in 1935. In1937, Mel Blanc debuted his character voices. The Sunsite archives has a SoundMachine (22K) clip of That's all folks.. Gerald Johnson, Ph.D. published an article in the Journal of Fluency Disorders in 1987 entitled A Clinical Study of Porky Pig Cartoons, JFD, 12 (1987), 235-238. In 1991, the National Stuttering Project picketed Warner Bros. Studios carrying signs that read "Make Friends, Don't Make Fun of Kids Who Stutter." Although Warner Bros. at that time turned down NSP's request to use Porky Pig as an advocate for children who stutter, they did give the Stuttering Foundation of America a $12,000 grant to underwrite the costs of a 1994 Conference for School Clinicians in the treatment of childhood stuttering. Through persistence, particularly of NSP member Ira Zimmerman, in 1997, Warner Brothers "Top of the Tune Squad" developed a poster, - Everyone's Unique and Th-th-that's Good Folks! - using various Warner Bros. cartoon characters including Porky Pig in a media campaign to stop the bullying of all kinds of children. Both the poster and the picture of Porky Pig on this page are provided with permission from Warner Brothers.
Piglet in Winnie the Pooh, "is a small timid little piglet. He is Pooh's best friend. He is kind and friendly and is known to be scared of everything. Piglet seems to stutter when he is scared." (www.geocities.com/foreverpooh123/characters.html)