Heckle and Jeckle - Characteristics

Characteristics

While both are basically brash, cynical and antagonistic, Heckle may be more openly confrontational, and Jeckle slightly more devious. Both may deliberately annoy their mutual foils with insults, slapstick violence and rudeness, but Heckle is more likely to make his intentions clear from the outset. Conversely, Jeckle often treats enemies politely at first, in order to lull them into a false sense of security before unleashing magpie mayhem. They are alternately cast as a pair of conmen actively out to swindle an unsuspecting dupe—or just freeloading opportunists, idly in search of a free ride or mooching a meal. However, even when they're gainfully employed (as in The Super Salesmen or Pill Peddlers), there's often a hint of hucksterism or prankishness involved. In Sappy New Year (1961), they're a couple of inveterate, compulsive practical jokers trying (unsuccessfully) to turn over a new leaf.

The characters' cheeky personas occasionally extended to impromptu song routines, such as "Give Us a House to Wreck" in House Busters (1952), and "Come to Our Diner" in Blue Plate Symphony (1954). In Taming the Cat (1948), they stop the action just to perform a lively version of "Get a Couple of Songbirds Today" on piano, in the style of Jimmy Durante. Other impersonations of Hollywood and radio favorites included Humphrey Bogart, Hugh Herbert, Bert Lahr, Walter Winchell, Edward G. Robinson, and Groucho and Harpo Marx.

The high point of any Heckle and Jeckle cartoon was arguably the climactic chase sequence, often interspersed with witty banter between the two magpies. The duo bested their foes by outsmarting them, all the while indulging in wry commentary that made their adversaries appear even more stupid. Heckle and Jeckle often received their comeuppance before the fadeout, however, as they were usually the instigators of the conflict in the first place. Although they've wound up inside a jail cell on occasion, for some (usually unspecified) offense (Out Again In Again, Free Enterprise, A Merry Chase), other episodes portray the pair ostensibly on the side of law and order (The Hitch Hikers, 'Sno Fun, Hair Cut-Ups), instead of fleeing from it.

In the short Blind Date (1954), Heckle is able to forcibly disguise the unwilling Jeckle as a girl, indicating that Heckle is physically stronger than Jeckle. In The Power of Thought (1948), it is Jeckle who self-reflexively discovers the unlimited possibilities of being a cartoon character, although Heckle is quick enough to go along when this is pointed out to him.