Casper the Friendly Ghost

Casper fans continue to love him

Casper the Friendly Ghost originated at Famous Studios in a theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a kind, pleasant, personable ghost, who is often criticized by the Ghostly Trio who are his three wicked uncles. Casper is translucent and when people realize he is a ghost they run for their lives. He poses no threat and only desires to make friends. Adults fear him but children love him and often will play with him giving Casper the attention he is craving.

In the late 1930s by Seymour Reit created the concept of Casper and Joe Oriolo did the illustrations. The partners initially planned to write a storybook, but by 1939 they had failed to find a publisher. In the early 1940s, while Reit was away on military service, Oriolo sold the book rights to the animated division of Paramount Pictures’ Famous Studios. The first Noveltoon to feature the Friendly Ghost was released by Paramount in 1945.

Between 1945 and 1959, Casper was featured in 55 theatrical cartoons and since 1952 he has been featured in comic books published by Harvey Comics. In 1959 Harvey purchased the rights to the character outright and Casper became one of Harvey's most popular characters, headlining dozens of comic book titles. In 1976 Bootsie Collins gave a shoutout to the "Friendly Ghost" on his song Stretching Out in Bootsie's Rubber Band.

Casper the Friendly Ghost: Popularity continues

After Harvey purchased the character, Casper appeared in five different television series over several decades: He was first in Matty's Funday Funnies from 1959–1961. Next was The New Casper Cartoon Show from 1963–1970. There was Casper and the Angels (1979–1980) which was produced by Hanna-Barbera, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (1996–1998) and finally Casper's Scare School (2009–2012).

The character of Casper made a theatrical-film appearance in the live-action film Casper in 1995 by Universal Pictures This was the first-ever computer-generated character to star in a movie. Since then there have been four direct-to-video and made-for-TV follow-up films starring the "Friendly Ghost" Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy Casper's Haunted Christmas and Casper's Scare School, which were done entirely in CGI with no live-action elements.

Many long-time fans of Casper prefer the original cartoons they grew up with and do not like the new computer-generated images. Classic episodes of the Friendly Ghost can currently be seen on the Tubi streaming service. The complete collection of Casper cartoons from 1945-1963 can be purchased on Amazon. In 2012 Dreamworks purchased the rights to Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Lone Ranger, Lassie, and other classic animated programs for $155 million dollars.

The Casper theme song was written by Jerry Livingston and Mack David but I could find no record of who sang it. The only thing that came up was Little Richard who updated the music for a movie. The lyrics are as follows:

"Casper, the friendly ghost,

The friendliest ghost you know.

Though grown-ups might

Look at him with fright,

The children all love him so.

He always says hello (Hello),

and he's really glad to meetcha.

Wherever he may go,

He's kind to every living creature.

Grown-ups don't understand

Why children love him the most.

But kids all know

That he loves them so,

Casper the friendly ghost."

Copyright: Lyrics © Original Writer and Publisher

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/casperlyrics.html

In the Famous Studios cartoons, Casper was voiced by Cecil H. Roy and Mae Questel. The Friendly Ghost was portrayed by Norma MacMillan in The New Casper Cartoon Show, and by Julie McWhirter in the Hanna-Barbara cartoons.

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