Secret Squirrel

Secret Squirrel is a cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera, and also the name of his segment in the 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 prime-time animated special called The World of Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel, which aired on NBC on September 12, 1965.

The Secret Squirrel half-hours included three individual cartoon segments: "Secret Squirrel," "Squiddly Diddly," and "Winsome Witch." 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 was also known as "Agent 000". Beginning in 1993, thirteen new Secret Squirrel cartoons appeared in between the 2 Stupid Dogs episodes, with the updated title, Super Secret Secret Squirrel and a new cast. As of September 5, 2011, episode reruns returned on Boomerang from Cartoon Network.

Character profile
Secret Squirrel (voiced by Mel Blanc) serves as a secret agent, taking orders from his superior Double-Q (voiced by Paul Frees) of the International Sneaky Service. His designation is Agent 000. Secret Squirrel is assisted in his adventures by fez-wearing sidekick Morocco Mole (also voiced by Paul Frees impersonating Peter Lorre). The pair fights 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 trench coat, and a variety of devices concealed in his fedora (which he almost never removes).

Secret Squirrel's recurring arch-enemy is Yellow Pinkie (also voiced by Frees), a parody of both Auric Goldfinger from Goldfinger and of Sydney Greenstreet's portrayal of the Kasper Gutman character from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. The last episodes introduced Hy-Spy (again voiced by Frees), the master of scientific criminology.

Broadcast history
The show's debut was on September 12, 1965 in The World of Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel prime-time special on NBC. The original series was broadcast from October 2, 1965 to September 2, 1967. Secret Squirrel had his own show in 1966 and was then reunited with Atom Ant in 1967 until 1968. Episodes were broadcast in syndication and as part of The Banana Splits variety and compilation series.

The new series Super Secret Secret Squirrel debuted in 1993.

The first seven episodes of the 1960s Secret Squirrel series was broadcast in front of the 1994–1995 season of Hanna-Barbera's 2 Stupid Dogs (1993–1995).

Their shorts have aired from time to time on Cartoon Network's sister cable television station Boomerang. The Secret Squirrel Show returned to Boomerang when Boomerang removed the shows Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear on January 2, 2008. The Secret Squirrel Show was removed on June 30, 2008, but it returned in June 2009 as a filler segment for 2 Stupid Dogs during the summer. The Secret Squirrel Show returned again on August 31, 2009.

Super Secret Secret Squirrel
Years later, Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole were revived in 1993 for back-up segments of TBS Superstation's animated series 2 Stupid Dogs. Titled Super Secret Secret Squirrel, these new cartoons featured Secret Squirrel (voiced by Jess Harnell) and Morocco Mole (voiced by Jim Cummings).

2 Stupid Dogs creator Donovan Cook was asked by then new Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert to choose a classic studio cartoon to revive within the main show, and Super Secret Secret Squirrel was the result. After Cook guided the updated design with artists Paul Rudish and Craig McCraken, supervising producer Larry Huber, the "adult supervision" assigned by Seibert, was responsible for all further aspects of these cartoons. He assigned animator David Feiss to the storyboards to hilarious results, with the conventional wisdom that the cartoons had superior humor to the original, somewhat drab films.

The reason to revive Secret Squirrel is because it was one of Cook's favorite Hanna-Barbera shows.

These segments featured different artwork compared to the original 1960s cartoons. All the characters inhabiting the world were now animals. Double-Q, called simply the 'Chief' (voiced by Tony Jay) in these shorts is a cape buffalo with a cherry-scented tobacco covered calabash pipe instead of a man with a balding hairline, and arch-foe Yellow Pinkie was replaced with a sea lion known as Goldflipper (voiced by Jim Cummings). These new shorts also introduced Penny (voiced by Kimmy Robertson), a female squirrel assistant to the Chief (à la Miss Moneypenny) as a possible love interest for Secret (as hinted at in the episodes Queen Bea and Quark). Morocco's color scheme has been redesigned, had his wardrobe's palette swapped, wears sunglasses, and has an evil twin brother, Scirocco Mole (voiced by Jess Harnell). With the exception of "Agent Penny", every episode is named after the foes Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole encounters. Secret's art design remained relatively intact, but with a more modern design than the previous animated series' version of the character, featuring hard lines and sharper angles, giving him a leaner and more slick style. His hat has a slightly different style. Secret also loses his signature lisp given to him by Blanc's portrayal similar to Sylvester the Cat (although it was paid homage in the episode "Goldflipper" where Secret spoke with it to mock Morocco's sudden lisp in that episode), but Harnell's portrayal gives Secret an update suave voice in reminiscent of him sometimes breaking into his Wakko Warner voice without the Scouse accent, most notably when he is screaming. Cummings' portrayal of Morocco makes his voice less of a Peter Lorre impersonation but high-pitched with the kept Moroccan accent. The Chief speaks with a British accent now as evidenced by his catchphrase; "Good show Secret". Apparently, in the 1993 revival, the personality and traits of Secret and Morocco have been switched opposed to their original '60s personality. Morocco was more of a chauffeur and is quite intelligent but in the revival, he is more independent as a sidekick, became too much bungling and is more childlike often getting injured in most scenes, which was Secret's department in the '60s series, and often saying his catchphrase "Okay!" Secret is more portrayed as a bumbling hero in the original while in the new version, Secret is capable of doing his job right and at some aspects can be part-workaholic and part-easy going, able to get the job done. Most of his injuries either come from his job or are from the influence of Morocco's actions. Like the original, he has a gadget used for almost everything but mostly relies more on his mixed martial arts combat. Despite the changes, the new shorts still had a big fanbase and a cult following. This new series seems to have fallen under the villain of the week formula and Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole have once appeared on a 2 Stupid Dogs story in the episode "Let's Make A Right Price" which was an advertisement for Granny's Joybone Doggy Treats, and Little Dog and Big Dog appeared on a Secret Squirrel story in the episode "Scriocco Mole" as contestants in a game show.

Other appearances

 * Secret and Morocco appear as part of the cast in Yogi's Ark Lark and its spin-off series Yogi's Gang, but the two characters have no dialogue in either series.
 * Secret Squirrel appeared in Yogi's Treasure Hunt.
 * Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole appear as teenagers on Yo Yogi!. Secret Squirrel was voiced by Kath Soucie and Morocco Mole was voiced by Neil Ross. Secret Squirrel has an uncle named Uncle Undercover (voiced by Greg Burson) who owns The Invention Dimension store in Jellystone Mall.
 * Secret Squirrel make a cameo in the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit with the other toons.
 * Secret Squirrel makes a cameo appearance in an episode of Squirrel Boy in which his hat was seen on a gravestone.
 * Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole can be seen in a Cartoon Network rap in 1995.
 * Secret Squirrel made numerous appearances in his 1965 form for Cartoon Network in its first years on the air.
 * Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole appeared in an ad for Cartoon Network Asia in there 2 Stupid Dogs form with Cummings and Harnell to reprise there roles.
 * Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole appeared in some Cartoon Network UK ads in both there 1965 and 2 Stupid Dogs form.
 * Secret Squirrel appeared in a Cartoon Network Movies bumper in his 2 Stupid Dogs form. He can be seen the far corner.
 * Secret Squirrel makes an appearance in the show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy in an episode with Hoss Delgado who is driving in his monster truck and almost runs over Secret Squirrel.
 * Secret Squirrel made a cameo appearance in The Angry Beavers episode "Partying is such a Sweet Sorrow" as one of the guests at Norbert and Daggett's party.
 * Secret Squirrel appears in three episodes of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, first in the Season 2 episode Blackwatch Plaid as a client of Harvey's arrested for flashing people (a play on Secret's famous trenchcoat), and then again in the Season 3 episode Bird Girl of Guantanamole, hiring Harvey to get Morocco Mole out of Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He also has a brief cameo in the Series Finale, The Death of Harvey.

LP Album
Hanna-Barbera Records released a Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole: Superspy (HLP-2046) LP album in 1966. It featured an adventure with several songs. Mel Blanc voiced Secret Squirrel, but Daws Butler voiced Morocco Mole instead of Paul Frees.

DVD release

The episode "Sub Swiper" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 1.

Secret Squirrel in other languages

 * Brazilian Portuguese: Esquilo sem Grilo ("No-worries Squirrel") in the 1965 version; James Quilo ("James Quirrel") in the 1993 version
 * French: L´Agent sans Secret ("Secret-less Agent")
 * German: Siegfried Sqirrel ("Siegfried Squirrel")
 * Italian: Agente Super Segretissimo ("Super Very Secret Agent")
 * Spanish: El Inspector Ardilla ("Inspector Squirrel")
 * Indonesian Detektif Tupai ("Detective Squirrel")
 * Swedish Agent Kurre
 * Chinese 松鼠特務 ("Special Agent Squirrel")
 * Japanese 秘密探偵クルクル ("Twirl Secret Detective")
 * (In Morocco and thereabouts, MM is known plainly as "Mole")
 * Norwegian: Agent Ekorn ("Agent Squirrel")
 * Polish: Sekretna Wiewiórka ("Secret Squirrel")

Voices

 * Mel Blanc as Secret Squirrel (original series)
 * Paul Frees as Double-Q, Morocco Mole (original series)
 * Jim Cummings as Morocco Mole, Goldflipper (second series)
 * Jess Harnell as Secret Squirrel Scirocco Squirrel (second series)
 * Tony Jay as Chief (second series)
 * Kimmy Robertson as Penny (second series)

Production Credits

 * Produced and Directed by: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
 * Story: Tony Benedict, Warren Foster, Dalton Sandifer, Michael Maltese
 * Musical Direction: Ted Nichols
 * Story Direction: Alex Lovy, Lewis Marshall, Paul Sommer, Art Scott, Steve Clark, Art Davis
 * Voices: Mel Blanc, Robert Duvall, Paul Frees, John Stepenson, Jean Vander Pyl, Henry Corden, Don Messick, Allan Melvin, Howard Morris, Janet Waldo, Dick Beals, Stan Francis, Gerry Johnson
 * Animation Direction: Charles A. Nichols
 * Production Supervision: Howard Hanson
 * Animation: Ray Abrams, Ed Barge, Robert Bemiller, O.E. Callahan, Emil Carle, Hugh Fraser, George Germanetti, George Goepper, Anatole Kirsanoff, Hicks Lokey, Kenneth Muse, George Nicholas, Don Schloat, Larry Silverman, Ralph Somerville, John Sparey
 * Layout: Cornelius Cole, Jerry Eisenberg, Jack Huber, Lance Nolley, Bill Perez, Tony Sgroi, Bob Singer, Iwao Takamoto
 * Background: Fernando Arce, Ron Dias, Rene Garcia, Bob Gentle, F. Montealegre, Richard H. Thomas
 * Camera: Gary Milton, Roger Sims, Clarence Wogatzke, Norman Stainback, John Pratt, John Aardal
 * Sound Direction: Richard Olson, William Getty
 * Secret Squirrel
 * Approved MPAA Certification No. 21205
 * RCA Sound Recording
 * This Picture Made Under the Jurisiction of IATSE-IA Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
 * A Hanna-Barbera Production