Happy 76th Birthday, Daffy Duck

We want to wish Daffy Duck a Happy 76th birthday. The beloved Looney Tunes cartoon character, who is arguably among the fussiest and most negative of cartoon characters, first appeared in the cartoon "Porky Goes Duck Huntin" on April 17, 1937.

Daffy Duck was the subject of a brilliant Jeff Greenberg column which said that political candidates who were more like Bugs Bunny, such as Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, were more likely to win elections than ones who were more like Daffy Duck, such as Walter Mondale and John McCain, who is coincidentally talking about guns in America in the U.S. Senate today.

One famous quote from Daffy Duck is from the cartoon "Duck Amuck" (1953): "Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin"

We are going to wish Daffy Duck a happy birthday in six different languages:

1. Grattis pa fodelsedagen (Swedish, ironically Donald Duck is very popular in Sweden)

2. Dogum gunun kutlu olsun (Turkish)

3. feliz compleanos (Spanish

4. joyeaux anniversaire (French)

5. Alles Gute zum Ceburtstag (German)

6. furaha ya kuzaliwa (Swahili: a language spoken in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda)

The Rabbit-Ears Quiz (10 of 12)-The Jetsons

Today, we continue our Rabbit's Ear Quiz with a look at "The Jetsons," the highly popular American cartoon which did not actually air in the 1970s, when I watched the show as a child. I also saw the show in Turkey on the TRT (Turkish Radio Television) and it was called "Jetgiller."

The show has 75 episodes in syndication even though its initial run was a surprisingly short one. The show takes place in the 2062, and it featured many unique characters.

These included George Jetson, 34 (that's his age according to Wikipedia, which actually makes him a bit too young to have a teenage daughter). George was actually voiced by an actor named George as Geogrge O"Hanlon (1912-1989), an actor who played a supporting character on "I Love Lucy" provided the voice for the space-age dad.

Jane Jetson, 33, was voiced by Penny Singleton (1908-2005) who played the comic strip character Blondie on film and television. Other characters included the nightmare boss Cosmo Spacely, owner of Spacely Sprockets, who was voiced by the great Mel Blanc (1908-1989) who was the voice of lots of Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs Bunny.

The Jetson kids included Elroy, age 6 and a half, and Judy, age 16. Janet Waldo, now age 88, voiced Judy Jetson and she is the only surviving member of the cast. Elroy Jetson was voiced by another cartoon voice legend Daws Butler (1916-1988) who also provided the voice for Huckleberry Hound.

And, lastly, there was Rosie the Robot and Astro the Dog, (pictured here).

Today, we ask just which year did "The Jetsons" debut on ABC?

Was it:

A) 1962

B) 1963

C) 1964

D) 1965

Thanks to those of you visiting us from Dubai, of all places, today. 

Special Quote of the Day- Oscar Wilde

I suppose since today is International Woman's Day, it may have been more appropriate to quip rock singer Sinead O'Connor, but instead we are sticking with our original plan which was to quote the late, great author/playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) for our feature quote series on famous people from Ireland.

We found this Wilde quote from a program for the Triad Stage (Greensboro, NC, stage company) production of Cormac McCarthy's play "The Sunset Limited" which concluded on Sunday. But, their upstairs cabaret production of "Billy Bishop Goes to War" about a Canadian World War II flying ace continues until March 19.

Here it is:

"Nowadays, people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing."

SIDEBAR: Are you curious about where your food comes from? Well, Current-TV, the station co-founded by Al Gore, is airing the eighth episode of a series we just found about called "Kill It, Cook It, Eat." Tonight's new episode, which airs at 10 p.m. (reruns of the series come before and after the new episode) focuses on rabbits. I am sure your inner Elmer Fudd will be fascinated by how ferrets are used to hunt and kill these wascally wabbits or perhaps maybe not.

SIDEBAR TWO: Your morbid side may also be intrigued to see which celebrity you have recently outlived, and you can find out at (deadoraliveinfo.com), in my case, I have literally just passed Falco by 17 days. The Austrian pop star known for "Rock Me Amadeus" died in a car accident just a few days before he would have turned 41, which is my age now. You can also find out that the likes of Phyllis Diller (age 93) and Jim Nabors (age 80) are still alive, but country singer Porter Wagoner died at age 8o in 2007.