Meany, Miny, and Moe
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Meany, Miny, and Moe are Walter Lantz characters, who made their first appearance in the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon "Monkey Wretches" (1935). Their final animated appearance was in 1937 in "The Air Express".
Contents
Personalities and development
According to their theme song, the trio are "just three monkeys from the sticks / just a bunch of jungle hicks / but they know a lot of tricks." At first portrayed as unclothed identical triplets in the Oswald cartoons, the monkeys began wearing clothes and behaving individually when they graduated to their own series. Meany is a wannabe tough guy, often bullying his shyer, clumsier brothers. In animation, the trio rarely speak coherent English, instead rapidly gibbering in an imitation of real-life monkeys.
While usually depicted as monkeys with tails, the three brothers are occasionally drawn tailless, making them look more like chimpanzees.
List of appearances
- 1st in Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon
- 2nd in Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon
- 3rd in Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon
- 4th and final in Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon
- 1st solo cartoon
Comics appearances
In the later Lantz comic books Woody Woodpecker Back to School 1 and 2 (1952, 1953), the three monkeys starred in comic stories of their own. The spelling of their names changed to Meeny, Miney and (sometimes) Mo. In the comics, the trio spoke English in a style roughly mimicking the Three Stooges. While Meenys name no longer exactly matched the word "meany," he was still portrayed as a wannabe tough guy.