Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Mr. Jinx / Marlon Brando

A few weeks ago, my wife and I watched A Streetcar Named Desire on Netflix, and I noticed something vaguely familiar about Marlon Brando's delivery. It reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon character - Mr. Jinx.

Jinx (above left) was voiced by Daws Butler in a series of Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinx cartoons which originally appeared in prime time during the late '50s on The Adventures of Huckleberry Hound. I never realized it before, but Butler was mimicking Brando. It's pretty obvious when you listen to Brando in this clip, and in other scenes in Streetcar.

The Jinx character was hilarious, and the writing on Pixie and Dixie was pretty smart for a '50s cartoon series. It ran in syndication well into the '80s - and can still be seen on the Boomerang network.