Fanny Zilch is an animated cartoon character, part of the Terrytoons series. She made her debut in 1933.[1] Her cartoons were musical spoofs of melodrama serials like The Perils of Pauline, in which blonde sweetheart Fanny -- "the Banker's Daughter" -- was pursued by the villainous Oil Can Harry, and protected by the heroic J. Leffingwell Strongheart.[2]
Terrytoons later used the melodrama spoof as a running theme in the Mighty Mouse cartoons, beginning with A Fight to the Finish in 1947. The endangered heroine was renamed Pearl Pureheart in Mighty Mouse, and Oil Can Harry became Mighty Mouse's cat archvillain.[3]
Fanny Zilch also inspired a series of Betty Boop melodrama spoofs, beginning in 1934 with She Wronged Him Right.[4]
- ^ "Paul Terry". Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ Hamonic, W. Gerald (2017). Terrytoons: The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory. John Libbey Publishing. pp. 150–151. ISBN 978-0861967292.
- ^ Grant, John (2001). Masters of Animation. Watson-Guptill. p. 189. ISBN 978-0823030415. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ Pointer, Ray (2017). The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer. McFarland & Co. p. 106. ISBN 978-1476663678. Retrieved 9 February 2020.