What to do for International Tiger Day (July 29)? I already connected you with all my posts on big cat trainers in my World Lion Day post. (It's fairly unheard of for a tiger tamer not to also be a lion tamer). I contemplated writing something on Joe Exotic, but I'll save that for his birthday; ultimately that's a story about human lunacy as much as it is about gorgeous animals. But it occurred to me that it would be fun to do a brief listicle of tigers from pop culture, which are more numerous than you might realize at first. Here are a few:
Mr. Jack
Jimmy Swinnerton's comic strip about a tiger who was a "philandering playboy" debuted in 1903 and ran in Hearst newspapers for over 30 years.
The Hungry Tiger
This loveable character from L. Frank Baum's Oz books (and later ones too) longs to eat fat babies, but is far too nice to ever do so. He is also always asking people if he may eat them, but naturally they always say now. Consequently he is a very...HUNGRY TIGER. He made his first appearance in Ozma of Oz (1907), and was often paired with the Cowardly Lion.
The Esso Tiger
Esso is of course S.O., or Standard Oil, now known as Exxon. It's mascot came with the slogan "Put a tiger in your tank" and was introduced into American advertising in the mid 20th century.
Tony the Tiger
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes' mascot debuted in 1952 and was voiced in commercials ("They're grrrrrrrreat!") by Thurl Ravenscroft, also known for his vocals in How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Daniel Tiger
Sensitive puppet friend of Mr. Rogers who lived in a clock without hands. He made his television debut in 1954.
Shere Kahn
This devious character from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894) was voiced by George Sanders in Walt Disney's 1967 animated adaptation.
Cool Cat
Beret-wearing hipster cartoon character introduced by Warner Brothers in 1967. It was, in fact, their last new character. He sort of lived at the nexus of The Pink Panther and Snoopy's "Joe Cool" persona. The character was voiced by Larry Storch.
Tigger
Loveable character from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh (1926) and adapted by Disney in 1968 with popular kid's entertainer and ventriloquist Paul Winchell providing the voice.
Hobbes
Philosophical stuffed animal, introduced by Bill Watterson in his comic strip Calvin and Hobbes in 1985.
Sambo's Antagonist
Though chronologically this should have been among the first in our survey we place it at the end so as not to drive some people away. I've purposedly chosen the least offensive illustration of the Little Black Sambo character I could find. In the original version of Helen Bannerman's story the character was actually Tamil, or South Asian, but over time (much in the vein of Uncle Tom) countless pirated versions cropped up in which Sambo was depicted as an African "pickaninny" type. These versions are obviously offensive to many people. In recent years there have been newer ones that attempt to do away with the harmful stereotype. As for the tiger in the story, he chases the boy around a tree -- and eventually turns into butter, which could then presumably be put on Uncle Ben's rice or Aunt Jemima's pancakes (sarcasm mine).
Oh, now...I think I left something out. What was it? Oh, yes! Save the Tigers!
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