The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight
The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight is a 1981 animated Valentine's Day special starring the Pink Panther.[1] The special premiered on ABC on February 14, 1981.[2] This was David H. DePatie's first and only solo effort on a Pink Panther short, TV show or special without his partner Friz Freleng's involvement, the first Pink Panther cartoon produced by Marvel Productions and the third and final Pink Panther TV special on ABC, following A Pink Christmas in 1978 and Olym-Pinks in 1980.
| The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Owen Crump D.W. Owen |
| Directed by | Bob Richardson |
| Voices of | Frank Welker Brian Cummings Marilyn Schreffler Weaver Copeland Hal Smith |
| Music by | Steven DePatie |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | David H. DePatie |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Marvel Productions Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng |
| Distributor | United Artists MGM Worldwide Television and Digital Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | February 14, 1981 |
Plot
It is Valentine's Day and the Pink Panther is lonely and has no money (except for seven cents). After receiving another person's Valentine gift package by mistake, he goes to the messenger service for a job but messes his rehearsal up. He then goes to a store, buys a cassette player and pre-recorded cassettes with the seven cents he had left and goes back to the messenger service miming to Enrico Caruso's version of "Vesti la giubba", an aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, and gets hired as a messenger.
Antics on the job entangle the breezy cat with a jealous husband (after stealing the heart of his housewife whilst miming a 50s-ish sounding ballad), a snobby classic violinist (after using a Stradivarius violin like an electric guitar; the Panther had the wrong recording on at the time), a priest (whom the Panther apparently had delivered the wrong present to) and a crime boss and tough gangsters (their present was a bomb).
Finally, after warding off the boss and his gang with a cassette containing excerpts of a police radio show, our hero is sitting alone and discouraged on a park bench when he finally meets the pantheress of his dreams, the ideal feline valentine.
Voice Talents of
- Frank Welker - The Jester, Messenger Owner, The Man with the Golf Club, Viloinist, Customer
- Marilyn Schreffler - Baby's Mother, The Lady with the Umbrella, Nurse, Housewife
- Hal Smith - Crime Boss
- Brian Cummings - Music Store Owner, Tough Gangsters
- Weaver Copeland - Announcer
Home Media releases
Pink at First Sight made its VHS debut release by MGM/UA Home Video sometime during the 1980s. On November 6, 2007, the special alongside Olym-Pinks and A Pink Christmas was released as part of the DVD collection set The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas from MGM Home Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (until June 30, 2020).
Production
Most of the animation staff utilized for the 1978 series The All New Pink Panther Show worked on Pink at First Sight. The special also utilized several music cues from the series as well but unlike the TV show, a laugh track was not featured. Freleng was absent from this production due to him breaking up the studio he began with DePatie and then went back to Warner Bros. Many of the other characters' voices on this special (saving the silent Panther himself) were done by Frank Welker, Brian Cummings, Marilyn Schreffler and Hal Smith.
Trivia
After the special, Marvel Productions (successor to DePatie–Freleng) did new animation titles for the feature films Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther, written and directed by Art Leonardi.
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 308. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. p. 304. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved 27 March 2020.