Secret Squirrel is a cartoon squirrel
created by Hanna-Barbera, and was voiced by legendary
animation voice artist Mel Blanc.
Secret Squirrel was
one of two co-stars of The Atom
Ant/Secret Squirrel Show,
which debuted in 1965; he was given his own show in
1966, but was reunited with Atom Ant for one more season
in 1967.
Secret first appeared in a primetime animated
special called The World of Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel,
which aired on NBC on September 12, 1965.
Secret Squirrel's shorts were a parody of the then-popular
spy genre, with most of his shorts' elements satirizing
those of the James Bond films.
Secret Squirrel served as a secret agent (his designation
was "Agent 000"), taking orders from his superior "Double-Q." Secret
was assisted in his adventures by Fez-wearing side-kick
Morocco Mole, a mole who in many ways resembled Peter
Lorre; Morocco was voiced by Paul Frees.
The pair fought
crime and evil enemy agents using cunning and a variety
of spy gadgets, including a machine gun cane, a collection
of guns kept inside Secret's coat, and a variety of
devices concealed in his hat (which he almost never
removed).
After his original series ran its course, Secret appeared
again as part of the cast of the 1970s series Yogi's
Gang. Years later, Secret and Morocco were revived in
the mid-1990s for the program 2 Stupid Dogs, in segments
called Super-Secret Secret Squirrel.
These segments
were very different, in the case of art work, compared
to his original 1960's appearance; all the characters
inhabiting the world were now animals. In fact, Double-Q
(now just called simply the 'Chief' in these shorts)
was now a bull.
The new shorts also introduced Penny,
a female squirrel assistant to the chief. Plus Morocco,
whose skin color was red-brownish, was now gray, his
blue shirt was now red, his black nose was now a pink-purplish
color, and he now wore sunglasses. In addition, due
to the deaths of Blanc and Frees, Secret was voiced
by Jess Harnell, and Morocco was voiced by Jim Cummings.
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