Yosemite Sam


Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. Along with Elmer Fudd, he is an adversary of Bugs Bunny. He is commonly depicted as an extremely aggressive gunslinging prospector, outlaw, pirate, or cowboy with a hair-trigger temper and an intense hatred of rabbits, Bugs in particular. In cartoons with non-Western themes, he uses various aliases, including "Chilkoot Sam" and "Square-deal Sam" in 14 Carrot Rabbit, "Riff Raff Sam" in Sahara Hare, "Sam Schultz" in Big House Bunny, "Seagoin' Sam" in Buccaneer Bunny, "Shanghai Sam" in Mutiny on the Bunny, and "Von Schamm the Hessian" in Bunker Hill Bunny and many others. During the golden age of American animation, Yosemite Sam appeared in 33 shorts made between 1945 and 1964.

History

introduced the redesigned or renamed character in the 1945 cartoon Hare Trigger. With his grumpy demeanor, fiery temper, strident voice and short stature, and fiery red hair, Sam was in some ways a caricature of Freleng. While he often denied any intentional resemblance, in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, surviving members of his production crew assert, and the late director's daughter acknowledges, that Sam definitely was inspired by Freleng. Other influences were the Red Skelton character Sheriff Deadeye and the Tex Avery cartoon "Dangerous Dan McFoo". When he does a "slow burn" and cries "Oooooh!" he borrows a bit from such comedic character actors as Jimmy Finlayson and Frank Nelson. Freleng also cited the Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, a character in the Toonerville Trolley comic strip, as an influence. In his memoir , Chuck Jones says that a great-uncle who occasionally visited his family was a retired Texas Ranger who was short, had red hair, a large mustache, and a hair-trigger temper. Michael Maltese originally considered calling the character Texas Tiny, Wyoming Willie, or Denver Dan, but then settled on the final name.
Other characters with Sam-like features appear in several Looney Tunes shorts. The Bugs Bunny entry Super-Rabbit features the cowboy character "Cottontail Smith", whose voice is similar to Sam's. Stage Door Cartoon, however, features a southern sheriff character that looks and sounds similar to Sam, except for a more defined Southern stereotype to his voice. In a Daffy Duck cartoon called Along Came Daffy, Daffy has to contend with two Yosemite Sams, one with Sam's red hair and one with black hair. Finally, Pancho's Hideaway features a Mexican villain who is designed much like Sam but has a different accent. In addition, in the 1949 Chuck Jones-directed cartoon Mississippi Hare, Bugs Bunny battles with an old, pistol-toting gambler called Colonel Shuffle, one whose role could have easily been portrayed by Sam..
Freleng created Yosemite Sam to be a more worthy adversary for Bugs Bunny. Until then, Bugs' major foe had been Elmer Fudd, a man so mild-mannered and dimwitted that Freleng thought Bugs actually came off as a bully by duping him. Sam, on the other hand, was extremely violent and belligerent, not at all a pushover like Fudd. Freleng compacted into a tiny body and 11-gallon hat the largest voice and the largest ego "north, south, east, aaaaand west of the Pecos".
For over 19 years, except for one cartoon Freleng's unit had exclusive usage of Sam at the Warner studio. Though officially a cowboy, Freleng put Sam in a different costume in almost every film: a knight, a Roman legionary, a pirate, a royal cook, a prison guard, a duke, a Hessian mercenary, a Confederate soldier, a mountain climber, a hen-pecked househusband and even a space alien. The humor of the cartoons inevitably springs from the odd miscasting of the hot-tempered cowboy. However, some countries seem to prefer his pirate incarnation, as "Sam the Pirate" is his official name in France and a frequent alternative name in Italy.
While Sam's basic character is that of a cowboy, he wears a black Domino mask to show that he is an outlaw. This is so associated with his persona that he wears the mask even when dressed as a duke, a riff, a pirate, or a Viking.
Sam is significantly tougher and more aggressive than Elmer Fudd when challenging Bugs Bunny. He is also quicker to learn from his mistakes and never falls for the same ploy twice. But despite Sam's bluster, he does not prove much brighter than Elmer in his encounters with Bugs. His noise contrasts to the calmly cocky rabbit. Sam's own cockiness always gets the best of him; Bugs can see he is incapable of turning down a challenge. Every time Bugs dares Sam to "step across that line", he cannot help but do so, even if he steps off into empty space or down a mine shaft. In Wild and Woolly Hare, Sam and Bugs play "Chicken" in two locomotives going toward one another—Sam does not crash into Bugs but still ends up losing. In Knighty Knight Bugs, Sam is a Black Knight with a fire-breathing dragon. It is his own arrogance that ultimately leads to his death: in his penultimate short, Devil's Feud Cake, he again takes Bugs hostage, this time on an airplane, then, when Bugs offers to draw straws for the only parachute, takes what he thinks is the parachute, only to find out too late that it isn't. Sam plummets uncontrollably to his death and, after Satan gives him two chances to retrieve Bugs in his stead and Sam fails both times, settles permanently in Hell.
While unscrupulous and ornery himself, Sam consistently displays an odd respect for religious conventions. Whenever he is preparing to shoot Bugs, he tells the "varmint," "Now say your prayers!", allowing Bugs enough time to foil his intentions.
As of May 2020, Yosemite Sam is now depicted without six-gun pistols in the new Looney Tunes Cartoons on the streaming service, HBO Max. The series executive producer and showrunner, Peter Browngardt, said the character can continue to use cartoon violence, such as dynamite and Acme related paraphernalia.

Personality

Yosemite Sam is one of Bugs' toughest antagonists. Yosemite Sam is a character more violent than Bugs' other regular antagonist Elmer Fudd given that Sam has a tougher accent, a higher, fiercer voice, and a more violent spirit, although he is often portrayed as a bumbling fool in most of his appearances. Yosemite Sam has had several occupations in his life that Bugs has gotten in the way of. Among his occupations are:
Yosemite Sam made appearances in several television specials in the 1970s and 1980s, and in three of the Looney Tunes feature-film compilations.
Sam was the star of his own comic book series from 1970 to 1984, for a total of 81 issues. Published by Gold Key / Whitman Comics, the official title of the series was Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny.
Yosemite Sam was the main basis for the character of The Grump form DePatie-Freleng Enterprises's TV series Here Comes the Grump. The Grump's dragon was similar to Sam's in "Knighty Knight Bugs", right down to the fiery nasal explosions upon its master.
Yosemite Sam makes a cameo appearance in Disney/Amblin's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, complete with his "britches" on fire.
Yosemite Sam was one of the classic Looney Tunes characters who appeared as faculty members of Acme Looniversity in the 1990s animated series Tiny Toon Adventures. Sam was shown teaching classes in Firearms and Anvilology, and was sometimes portrayed as the school principal. As with all the main Looney Tunes characters, Sam had a student counterpart at Acme Loo in Montana Max. In "K-Acme TV," Yosemite Sam was seen as the judge of "Toon Court" where he proceeded over a trial where Calamity Coyote issues a complaint against the ACME Corporation for negligence and faulty workmanship. The ACME Corporation's representative Bobbo ACME claims that the devices made by the ACME Corporation work if they are used right as he demonstrates the catapult on Calamity Coyote. Judge Yosemite Sam finds in favor of the ACME Corporation. In the same episode, Yosemite Sam appeared as a prospector in a documentary detailing about the sightings of a furry creature called Bigbutt.
Yosemite Sam also appeared along with Bugs Bunny in a number of Mirinda commercials in early 90s, most probably due to direct competition to Fanta, being advertised with Disney characters at that time.
He also appears in the movie Space Jam as a player for the Tune Squad. In a memorable scene, he and Elmer Fudd shoot off the teeth of one of the Monstars while clad in Pulp Fiction-esque attire, complete with Dick Dale's "Misirlou" playing. In an earlier scene, when the Nerdlucks hold all the toons hostage, he confronts the Nerdlucks, pointing his pistols at them, and orders them to release all the toons... only to have the lead Nerdluck fire a laser pistol back at him, which leaves Sam smoldering naked and beardless as the phasers burned off his mustache.
Sam also appeared in The Warners 65th Anniversary Special and two episodes of 1995's The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries.
In the 2003 movie ', Yosemite Sam is a bounty hunter employed by the Acme Corporation who was hired to finish off DJ Drake and Daffy Duck. In this film, he owns a casino in Las Vegas, which he calls Yosemite Sam's Wooden Nickel, and is accompanied by Nasty Canasta and Cottontail Smith from Super-Rabbit. He goes as far as betting a large sack of money to get the card, stealing Jeff Gordon's car, and even using a stick of Dynamite to beat DJ and Daffy. Though putting up a good chase, in the end, his car crashes into the wall of his own casino while the spy car flies above it. When he gets stuck in a pitch-black room, he lights a match to look around until realizing the room was full of dynamite; the resulting explosion launches him into the air. He is last seen in the Acme building trying to cover his failure on DJ, Dusty Tails, and Daffy, though his boss could not even understand what he was saying.
A younger version of Sam had appeared in Baby Looney Tunes, in songs. In one episode, Bugs dresses up as Baby Sam for Halloween.
Sam also plays the role of minor villain K'Chutha Sa'am on the Duck Dodgers animated TV series.
He also appears in the video games ', ', Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2, Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 3, The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, ', Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble, ', ', Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf, Looney Tunes B-Ball, Daffy Duck in Hollywood and ' the video game.
In ', Yosemite Sam makes an appearance riding a railway cart on the Wild West level.
Yosemite Sam appears in multiple episodes of The Looney Tunes Show, voiced by Maurice LaMarche. Sam is depicted as being well meaning, but suffering anger problems. He first appeared in the show in three Merrie Melodies segments called "Blow My Stack", "Moostache" and "Stick to My Guns". Yosemite Sam is one of Bugs and Daffy's neighbors. In the episode "Daffy Duck, Esq.", it is revealed that his full name is Samuel Rosenbaum. In "Ridiculous Journey", it is revealed that Yosemite Sam has a cousin in Blacque Jacque Shellacque who Yosemite Sam enlisted to recover Sylvester, Tweety, and Tasmanian Devil after they were accidentally shipped to Alaska. It was through Yosemite Sam that Bugs Bunny and Granny enlisted Blacque Jacque Shellacque's help. In "You've Got Hate Mail" after accidentally being sent an angry email by Daffy, Sam decides to change his ways and proceeds to shave, sell his cowboy clothes, and become a normal suburbanite. However, after a particularly annoying book club meeting, he reverts to his old ways.
Yosemite Sam made two cameo appearances in a MetLife commercial in 2012. In one of the ads, a producer knocked on Yosemite Sam's trailer and he, thinking there were "varmints" bothering him, took down and shot some fur coats of animals with rage. Even though he would shoot some animals with rage, his temper calmed and he revived the animals with puppies.
Yosemite Sam appears in the 2015 DTV movie voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
Yosemite Sam appears in Wabbit voiced by Maurice LaMarche in season one and by Fred Tatasciore in season two. His appearance has him depicted to having a larger moustache and a fat body. Yosemite Sam is often shown trying to commit crimes or obtain items where Bugs Bunny always thwarts him. He is also shown to own a lot of cats at his house.
Yosemite Sam is also nose art on the WWII F4U Corsair 'Skyboss' at the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY.

Voice actors

;Mel Blanc
The role of Yosemite Sam was originated by Warners Bros' principal voiceman, Mel Blanc. In his autobiography, Blanc said he had a difficult time coming up with the voice when he played a similar character called Tex on Judy Canova's radio show. He tried giving Sam a small voice but did not feel that it worked. One day, he decided to simply yell at the top of his voice, which was inspired by a fit of road rage he had that day. It fit perfectly with the blustery character but was also a strain on Blanc's throat, thus he always did Yosemite Sam's lines at the end of a recording session so he could rest himself overnight. As he got into his 70s, the voice became too rough on his throat; the role of Sam was taken over by future Looney Tunes voice actor Joe Alaskey in Who Framed Roger Rabbit while Blanc played all his other Looney Tunes roles in the movie. This makes Sam one of the few voices created by Blanc to be voiced by someone else during his lifetime. Blanc used the same voice to depict Bob and Doug McKenzie's father in the movie Strange Brew. Blanc voiced the character one last time in the 1989 TV special Bugs Bunny's Wild World of Sports. Archive recordings of Blanc as Yosemite Sam were used in the 1999 PlayStation video game, , ten years after Blanc's death. Blanc used a voice similar to Yosemite Sam's for Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons.
;Others