The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican

The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican is an American animated television series that debuted on local stations in Chicago during the 1950s. It is exceedingly rare, but has gained some fame for appearing on Jerry Beck's Worst Cartoons Ever. On the DVD, Beck states that he has not found any evidence that this particular animated adaptation was aired on TV, although there is evidence that the Paddy the Pelican character began in 1950 as a local TV puppet show on Chicago's WENR-TV (now WLS-TV). Paddy's adventures were presented in comic strip drawings done by Sam Singer. This show appeared on the ABC network in the fall of 1951, but for only one month. The show aired on the ABC television network weekdays between 5:15 and 5:30pm from September 11, 1950 to October 13, 1950. Singer had also started producing a newspaper, Paddy Pelican Junior Journal. The animated episodes currently in existence all have copyright dates of 1954.

The show is notable and infamous for its shoddy pencil-sketch artwork, reused animation, rambling and apparently improvised voiceovers, muffled and poorly synchronized soundtrack, and general low-budget problems. The only music is a few chords played on an organ, although the title card is accompanied by a man making noises apparently intended to sound like a pelican squawking. Paddy was voiced by Helen York, while Mary Frances Desmond was the voice of Paddy's assistant, Pam.

Singer, who worked for Disney and other Hollywood animation studios, also produced a local children's television show, based on the Marshall Field's character "Uncle Mistletoe", as well as other early animated shows.

Recently in late October 2016, all the shorts were uploaded to YouTube. They were taken from their original 16mm and were transferred online.