Who
Were Itchy & Scratchy Modeled After?
There's something hauntingly familiar about
Itchy & Scratchy. Mr. Groening attributes that cognizance to I&S
being an amalgam of several old cartoons, most prominently "Tom and Jerry"
and "Herman the Cat". We here at the Krusty the Clown homepage don't entirely
agree with that...
I
mean, perhaps the first guess most people have is that Itchy & Scratchy
have their roots in Tom & Jerry. Although cat and mouse violence partners
are pretty common now, T&J were the ones who made it mainstream. John
Rastad calls attention to the fact that both character sets can talk
but rarely do and both are watched by little children (as opposed to being
read in comic strip or book form). Douglas
Hurd wants us to also note that Itchy starts with "I", the letter before
"J" for Jerry. Scratchy starts with "S", the letter before "T" for Tom.
Of course, we can't forget the tons of merchandise created for their popularity
and the fact that both have been in movies at the box office. Tom and Jerry
started out on the Bozo the Clown show (were on it for one month before
Paramount bought the rights to them, see Krusty's
Origin) and Itchy and Scratchy on Krusty's show...
Doug
Buell has a different theory. Doug told us that he feels that "Kit
n' Kaboodle" could be the source for I&S. "Kit n' Kaboodle" was a comic
strip in National Lampoon (first appearing in the late 70's) in which
Kit (the cat) was repeatedly maimed by Kaboodle (the mouse). Kaboodle would,
for example, tell Kit his cat toy was in the aquarium and when Kit reached
in the tank, the Piranhas ate it to the bone. In another strip, Kaboodle
dropped an anvil on Kit, and in thoroughly incapacitated state on the ground,
Kit would utter, "Ouch, my spine!" The only difference between the two
pairs was that Kit had more opportunities to retaliate then did Scratchy.
Doug is adamant that when he was a National Lampoon reader, Kit & Kaboodle
was the funniest comic strip anywhere. He wondered how long it would take
before something like it came to television.
Part of the reason we aren't so ready to
accept Matt Groening's quick response to the roots of I&S is the overwhelming
evidence of the writer's familiarity with Nat Lamp. Harry Shearer was an
editor/contributing editor at National Lampoon, along with John Hughes
and Harold Ramis. Also, Krusty may have had his origins in the feature
called "The Evil Clown Comics", again see Krusty's
Origin. Another reason, Matt Groening went to college at a time when
National Lampoon was the most popular magazine with college stoners and
party goers alike. And we all know what an animal Mr. Groening was in his
day...
Dank
Rimski feels that Itchy and Scratchy are definitely lifted from Nat
Lamp's Kit and Kaboodle. He tells us he has a few old Lampoon comics and
Kaboodle could have been Scratchy's twin! Matt
Crawford agrees, reminding us not to forget that Conan O'Brien was
president of the Harvard Lampoon before joining the Simpsons crew.
Ed O'Rear
recognizes another possible inspiration for I&S: "Herman and Katnip",
a Harveytoon from the 40's or 50's. He saw one recently on Dutch TV and
it was remarkably violent for its day (including slicing knives and sticks
of dynamite in predictable places). Ed had assumed this was one of the
cartoons satirized by "Kit and Kaboodle".
We
shouldn't forget Ren & Stimpy, at least according to Michael
Hollmann. Remember, we can't rule out suggestions that postdate I&S,
evidenced in part by the tenuous nature of all characters on the show (if
you need further proof, compare Homer '90 to Homer '98). Both cartoons
are not drawn that skillfully and in both series their violent behavior
is disturbingly funny . Ren and Stimpy appear at least twice in The Simpsons
TV-Series, once on screen (in place of I&S) and once when Abraham Simpson
wins the award for the best cartoon script (Ren and Stimpy are the runner-ups).
Hmm... Could be.
Michael suggests the names may have come
from "The King Leonardo Show", a low-budget, early 60's cartoon. King Leonardo's
arch enemies were named Biggie Rat and Itchy Brother (they were a rat and
a mangy lion, respectively).
Mark
has suggested that perhaps "Itchy and Scratchy" was modeled after Squeak
the Mouse, the xxx-rated comic released in book form. The comic book featured
violent interplay between two eerily similar characters to Itchy &
Scratchy. This comic was imported to the United States from Italy and was
originally banned by US Customs. The comic came out 1985-86, just one year
before "The Simpsons" first appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show.
Dave
Jester Hanauer has an interesting take on it all. Perhaps the core
of Itchy and Scratchy is a demented stab at the Disney empire. He bases
his theory on the episode in which we learn the beginnings of Itchy and
Scratchy. Steamboat Itchy, Pinnitchio and Scratchtasia are just a few clever
Disney parodies...
We want to hear your theory! Email
it to us!!
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