Quick Draw McGraw


Quick Draw McGraw is a fictional anthropomorphic horse and the protagonist and title character of The Quick Draw McGraw Show. He's a white horse, wearing a red cowboy hat and light blue bandana. He was voiced by Daws Butler. All 45 of his cartoons that originally aired between 1959 and 1961 were written by Michael Maltese, known best for his work at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. The cartoon was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1960.

Character description

Quick Draw was usually depicted as a sheriff in a series of short films set in the Old West. Quick Draw was often accompanied by his deputy, a Mexican burro called Baba Looey, who spoke English with a Mexican accent and called his partner "Queeks Draw". In the Spanish American version, Quick Draw speaks in a very English-influenced accent, and Baba Looey speaks in a very Mexican accent, so it was clear that Quick Draw was the alien, and there was no need to adapt any feature of the story. In the Brazilian version, however, Quick Draw speaks in a drawling Portuguese which along with his hispanized name would suggest he was either a Texan-American or Mexican cowboy.
Quick Draw satirized the westerns that were popular among the American public at the time. His character was well-intentioned, but somewhat dim. His main catchphrases were "Now hold on there!" and "I'll do the 'thin'in' around here and don't you forget it!" Also if he got hurt he would often say "Ooooh that smarts!"
Another featured character was Snuffles, the bloodhound dog that would point to his mouth and "ah-ah-ah-" when he wanted a biscuit, then hug himself, leap up in the air, and float back down after having eaten one. In several cases when Quick Draw did not have a dog biscuit to offer, or if he tried to give Snuffles the reward cash for capturing an outlaw, Snuffles would either shake his head and say "Uh-uh" or grunt to himself and mumble "Darn cheapskate!" as well as sometimes throwing the reward money back in Quick Draw's face.

Personality

Quick Draw was himself a horse caricature that walked on two legs like a human, and had "hands" that were hooves with thumbs and could hold objects such as guns. This did not stop the show's producers from depicting him riding into town on a realistic horse, or as seen in the show's opening credits, driving a stagecoach pulled by a whole team of realistic horses. This aspect was made light of in the 1980s made-for-television film The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound, which featured Quick Draw.

El Kabong

In certain cases, Quick Draw would also assume the identity of the masked vigilante El Kabong. His introduction went as follows – "Of all the heroes in legend and song, there's none as brave as El Kabong". As El Kabong, Quick Draw would attack his foes by swooping down on a rope with the war cry "OLÉ!" and hitting them on the head with an acoustic guitar, which is always referred to as a "kabonger", producing a distinctive kabong sound and usually destroying the guitar in the process. The "guitar" was usually drawn as a four strung quatro. On the cartoon's soundtrack, the "kabong" sound effect was produced by a foley artist striking the detuned open strings of a cheap acoustic guitar. Comedian Kenny Moore received the nickname of El Kabong on some web sites due to his infamous assault of a heckler with the guitar he played as part of his act.

Guest appearances in other media