Cartoon Characters

Just because someone is two-dimensional doesn't mean they can't have character. In fact, some of your favorite cartoons are Jewish!

It was just revealed that the family on Family Guy is Jewish! Lois and her kids Chris, Meg, and Stewie are all Jewish. In fact, Lois's mother's maiden name was Barbara Hebrewberg!

Fievel Mousekewitz, the cutest little immigrant ever, is the star of An American Tail and Fievel Goes West. The movies' producer is… you might have heard of him … Steven Spielberg.

Find Feivel here!

A Simpsons star, Krusty the Clown started life as Herschel Krustofsky before going into showbiz. His father is a rabbi who was played by Jackie Mason… a real-life comic whose father was a rabbi, too!

Heeere's Krusty!

Also from the creator of the Simpsons, Matt Groening, was a sci-fi show called Futurama, set in the year 3000. Katey Sagal was in that, but the Jewish character was a humanoid lobster named Dr. Zoidberg. He was a doctor who wanted to be a comic. Well, he had the Yiddish accent for it!

Check in with Dr. Zoidberg!

One of the four South Park kids, Kyle Broslofski, is Jewish. Matt Stone, one of the creators of the South Park series, does Kyle's voice. Like his alter-ego, Matt grew up Jewish in small-town Colorado.

Visit Kyle.

Maybe the Rugrats family has a surname like "Pickles" because they're kosher, I mean, Jewish. That's Didi Pickles and her kids Tommy and Dil (get it-- Dil Pickles!). The Rugrats have Chanukah and Passover videos, too!

Drop in on the Rugrats!

Other Jewish 'toons include Slappy Squirrel from The Animaniacs (which was created by Steven Spielberg!) and Mort, Muriel, and Neil Goldman from Family Guy.

Then there is Harold from Hey Arnold! Here's what the only Jewish skateboarder we know of, Dave the Jewish Skater, says: "No one will ever forget the touching moment when Harold, the school bully, had his Bar Mitzvah on Hey Arnold! It's season 2, episode 11 and there is some great behind the scenes footage of the episode in the Seasons 1-3 box set. Highly recommended."

We also found Francine Frensky (Arthur)... The Goldman family (Family Guy)... and Slappy Squirrel (Animaniacs)!

Lots of your other cartoon favorites have Jewish creators: Max Fleischer gave us Popeye and Betty Boop... Robert Smeigel did the TV Funhouse cartoons (and is also the voice of Triumph the Insult comic Dog!)... and Israel's Ralph Bakshi did animations of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books and most of the Marvel heroes, plus was one of the first to do toons for grown-ups with political messages.

The Warner Brothers were Jewish, and their studio came up with Bugs Bunny, Tweety and Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and Porky Pig… all of whom were created or developed by Jewish animator Fritz Freleng and voiced by  Jewish voice-actor Mel Blanc. Yup! Porky was kosher! (Mel also did Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, and for another studio, Barney Rubble.)

Over at Disney, the man who created Goofy, Art Babbitt, was Jewish. He also worked on the Wicked Queen in Snow White, the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, and Pinocchio’s dad, Geppetto! He was with Disney for over 30 years— in movie terms, from 1933’s The Three Little Pigs to 1964’s The Incredible Mr. Limpet.

Eric Goldberg has worked for several studios. For Richard Williams, he did Raggedy Ann and Andy, about those rag dolls. For Warner, he directed the animated part of the movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action. And for Disney, he helped direct Pocahaontas and animated Aladdin’s Genie, Phil from Hercules, and the "Rhapsody in Blue" piece in Fantasia 2000. His latest, The Princess and the Frog, comes out in 2009. You can also see his work in the title animation of the new Pink Panther remake.

And new movie star Shrek first appeared in a book by Jewish cartoonist William Steig.

Some superheros are Jewish too! So many, in fact, that we had to put them somewhere else!

Bonus:

Jewish artists are also responsible for some of the comic strips that don't move, the ones you can see every day in the newspaper!

One of the earliest was Al Capp. He wrote one of the most popular strips ever, called Li'l Abner. It was about some hillbillies, but was really a way for Al to talk about his cynical view of the world. The strip was even turned into a Broadway musical! He also created a magical character with a very Jewish name: the Shmoo! He was sort of made of Silly Putty and could turn into anything.

Another early cartoonist was named Reuben Goldberg, but everyone called him "Rube." Today, the top prize for comic strips is the Reuben Award! Rube made up crazy inventions using everything-- balloons, rocking chairs, parrots -- to do simple things like pour milk or open a window. Even today, we call unncessarily complex systems "Rube Goldberg machines." There are even contests for science students to invent such machines, and you can see some of them by searching "Rube Golberg" on YouTube.

We're pretty sure you have heard of G.I. Joe! Well, before he was a hero-type solider and a toy, he was a tired, scared, every-man kind of soldier. That original G.I. Joe was a character created by David Breger, who really did serve in WWII. When he left the army, the character came with, and he started to combat daily life as just Mister Breger.

Today, one of the most popular strips is Sylvia. It is written and drawn by Nicole Hollander, and it stars a very skeptical woman, her mischeiveous cats, and characters like a scientist, an alien, and fairies. It's sort of for grown-ups, but see if you like it!

Some other strip-writers focus on Jewish themes, like Paul Palnik and Ben Katchor, who are more philosophical. But we think you'll like the work of Jordan Gorfinkel (Everything's Relative) and Reudor (The Doodles), who are much sillier.