‘The Pink Phink’ Turns 60: A Look Back at The Pink Panther’s Oscar-Winning Debut

This article was written for the December '24 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 345).

“The key to the Pink Panther is simplicity and identification. And there’s something else that goes along with it too, and that’s sophistication.”

— David DePatie, Behind the Feline: The Cartoon Phenomenon (2023)

 

There is something specifically unique about the birth of the Pink Panther. In a time where storytelling is dictated predominantly by existing intellectual property — established audiences often found via popular novels, comic books and video games — the thought of a successful series inspired by a movie’s title sequence is still quite unusual.

Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther was first released in Italy on December 18, 1963, with the U.S. premiere following on March 18, 1964. A year later (to the day) the inspired animated short The Pink Phink premiered, and the character — although not quite the polished (but flawed) diamond he was based on — was formed. It would win an Academy Award, securing an opening spot on all of United Artists major releases throughout early 1965 and heralding a “Pink Power” of output that reached the end of the ’70s and, with The Pink Panther Show, went on to help define Saturday morning television.

In the original Inspector Clouseau crime caper (featuring Peter Sellers in fine form), the eponymous Pink Panther was merely a MacGuffin. However, Edwards took the concept a little further, hiring producer David DePatie and animator Friz Freleng to develop. Over a hundred variations of the character from various designers were presented: The decisive Edwards settled on a design by layout artist Hawley Pratt. The title sequence — just over three-and-a-half minutes in length and perfectly timed to the beat of Henry Mancini’s iconic score — opens through a crystal haze to reveal our pink friend perfectly poised. The title disturbs a debonair exterior, and he is promptly taunted by a disembodied glove before our feline friend begins to correct, reinvent and sabotage the titles, leaving his distinct mark by way of those pink paw prints. The sequence was (to say the least) a huge success.

Leaping to Stardom

As Dan Bashara mentions in his 2019 book, Cartoon Vision: UPA Animation and Postwar Aesthetics, “Much to the delight of the animators — and to the frustration of the stars — the Pink Panther proved more popular than any of the actual characters that followed: In early screenings, exhibitors reportedly had to stop their projectors to allow the enthusiastic audience response to subside before continuing with the show.”

The reaction prompted United Artists executives to ask the creators to develop a separate cartoon. Although Freleng dismissed it as a one-off, producer DePatie immediately saw the potential and approached the Mirisch Company for further support. Initially, United Artists drew up a contract for 156 animated shorts (124 theatricals produced), with 25% of the copyright going to the partnership, and the deal was sealed.

“The success of The Pink Panther shorts is a prime example of how audience tastes were changing; animation was now delivering a midcentury modernism established by the UPA legacy that revolutionized the style and artistry of cartoons.”

Building on what was introduced by way of the movie’s title sequence, the first entry is a stripped-back and functional slice of animation. In contrast to Hanna-Barbera’s sitcom-infused and dialog-driven comedy of the era, it was designed to be purely gag-driven, setting the template for what was to come. Our pink prankster is more mischievous than villainous as he characteristically walks into frame with trademark curiosity, unbeknownst to the “Little Man” (a.k.a. Big Nose).

What ensues is far from a rinky-dink little film but one in which style is emphasized by a simple exploration of color (and “taste”) as the Pink Panther craftily swaps a bucket of blue paint with (you guessed it) a bucket of pink. Freleng shows many different strokes; the two characters painting haphazardly, sideways, top to bottom, up and down, around — until the Pink Panther leaves his signature pink paw prints before spraying, pouring and shooting the rest of the house with paint. Finally, a personal “Pinktopia” blooms, giving birth to a pink sunrise.

Although nowhere near as witty and elegant as the next year’s MGM Oscar winner, The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (with Chuck Jones at the helm), The Pink Phink remains a seminal work. Through its minimalism and the “cartoon modern” aesthetic, the plain backgrounds and abstraction are used perfectly, showcasing what animation was capable of. Abstract art and jazz had become an enormous influence and, moving into the ’60s, movies were finally being accepted more as an art form.

Indeed, the success of The Pink Panther shorts is a prime example of how audience tastes were changing; animation now delivering a midcentury modernism established by the UPA legacy that revolutionized the style and artistry of cartoons. The elegance that the Pink Panther personifies is all part of this — a character who carries a strict inherent style ever since his first appearance in the groundbreaking title sequence.

Smooth Operator

In Mark Arnold’s book Think Pink! The DePatie–Freleng Story, Friz Freleng’s daughter, Hope Freleng Shaw, highlights how the Fred Astaire-inspired sophistication came from her mother’s influence on her father, details that make the characters so relatable. “If you look at the cartoons, they’re people, they’re humans … They have the sensitivity. They have the humor, the cleverness,” she says. Of course, a great deal of an animator’s personality goes into their characters, so it is no surprise Big Nose resembles Freleng, and the slender physicality of the Pink Panther is, in essence, Hawley Pratt.

As Freleng’s right-hand man, Pratt continued to play a major part in bringing the Pink Panther to life working as co-director on The Pink Phink before taking the helm on many more episodes and, in a consistently clever collection of gags, the Pink Panther’s character was defined. Of course, most of this is down to the panther’s timeless quality. Although the feline may be flawed (much like his diamond counterpart), this true silent star has remained a “groovy cat” for over 60 years.