Characters and Story
The show focused on Leonardo the lion (voiced by Jackson Beck), who was the inept yet well-meaning King of Bongo Congo (a fictional African nation). Leonardo was assisted in his adventures by a mild-mannered skunk named Odie Cologne aka "Odie O. Cologne" (voiced by Allen Swift impersonating Ronald Colman), an ironic play on "Eau de Cologne".
King Leonardo's incompetent brother Itchy (voiced by Allen Swift) attempts to overthrow Leonardo and rule the kingdom himself along with his friend, gangster and leader Biggie Rat (voiced by Jackson Beck impersonating Edward G. Robinson). Biggie would often employ the help of an evil German inventor named Professor Messer (voiced by Jackson Beck) and even obtain help from Odie's flirtatious sister Carlotta.
Episodes of "The King and Odie" that were exclusive to Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales had Biggie Rat and Itchy Brother employed by Mr. Mad (voiced by Norman Rose), a mad scientist with a domineering personality (easily cowing even the strong-willed Biggie) and his own nefarious plans for Bongo Congo, not to mention a creepy echoing voice. The title was a play on a king ruling over his "subjects", along with the common term "short subjects" for cartoons and other films whose duration is just a few minutes.
Read more about this topic: King Leonardo And His Short Subjects
Famous quotes containing the words characters and, characters and/or story:
“The first glance at History convinces us that the actions of men proceed from their needs, their passions, their characters and talents; and impresses us with the belief that such needs, passions and interests are the sole spring of actions.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“The business of a novelist is, in my opinion, to create characters first and foremost, and then to set them in the snarl of the human currents of his time, so that there results an accurate permanent record of a phase of human history.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Out of countless memories, invention selects a few that become “the story of my life.””
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)