If you were amazed at the revelation that Pooh Bear is actually a female, prepare your heart, as the surprises are not over. Turning 76, we revealed a bombshell about Woodpecker laughter: she is from Happy Rabbit, a character that would later be called Bugs Bunny. Do not understand anything? Check out some curiosities about animation:

1. The creator of the woodpecker is Walter Lantz. Born in 1899, Lantz began drawing classes at age 12, but his first job was as a mechanic. His luck changed when, in 1928, he was hired to direct the cartoon “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, ” the one that the Universal Pictures studio executive took from Walt Disney.

2. When Walt Disney regained Oswald's rights, Lantz needed a new character to work on, and "Andy Panda" was chosen.

3. In 1940, Lantz married Grace Stafford, and during the honeymoon the couple listened daily to a woodpecker on the roof. Grace then suggested that Lantz create an animal-inspired character. As a test, Lantz created the short film “Knock Knock” in Brazil translated as “The Woodpecker Strikes Again, ” which featured Andy Panda and his father, Papa Panda, as protagonists.

4. In the early drawings, the Woodpecker had a "crazy bird" appearance. But over the years, your look has changed a lot.

5. The character's first voice actor was Mel Blanc, also responsible for most of the voices of Looney Tunes characters such as Gaguinho, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Even the laugh, so characteristic of the Woodpecker, first appeared in an episode of Happy Rabbit, which later became the famous Bugs Bunny.

6. After dubbing just three episodes, Blanc signed a contract with Warner Bros. and left Lantz's studio. Without anyone who could reproduce the laughter, parts of Blanc's voice acting continued to be used in the episodes. Until, in 1948, Walter Lantz's studio received an Oscar nomination for the song "The Woody Woodpecker Song" featured in the episode "Blanket Policy." As in other drawings, this one also had the voice of Mel Blanc, who sued Lantz and asked for half a million dollars. The judge, claiming that Blanc had not registered the voice, sided with Lantz, who afterwards had to find another voice for the character.

Throughout his career, Mel Blanc has voiced numerous famous characters

7. In the movie “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” there is a scene, present only in the DVD extras, which shows Bugs Bunny being hit by the diamond ray “Blue Monkey” and returning to its primitive form, the Happy Rabbit rabbit. He then gives the famous laugh twice.

8. Grace, Lantz's wife, offered to voice the Woodpecker, but Lantz did not accept it, since the character is male. Secretly, Grace recorded a tape and sent it to the studio crew. Not knowing who it was, Lantz approved the new voice actor. Grace started interpreting the woodpecker voice, but asked her name not to appear on the credits so that the children would not know that the character was made by a woman.

9. Woodpecker was the first cartoon to be shown on Brazilian TV. On TV Tupi, from September 19, 1950, the animation had to be subtitled, since the Portuguese voice acting would only be done 7 years later.

10. His voice actors in Brazil were Olney Cazarré, Garcia Junior, Marco Antonio Costa and Peterson Adriano.

11. If we only know him here as Woodpecker, in the United States he has a name: Woody.

12. During the opening of the drawing, the character uses the slogan "Guess Who", which means "Guess who it is" in Portuguese.

13. Like Mickey Mouse, Woodpecker is one of the few cartoons featuring a star on the Walk of Fame.

14. It is never clear what the woodpecker is, but it is believed to be a mixture of Pileated Woodpecker and Red-headed Woodpecker.

15. Wendy was a woodpecker fan, so she decided to write a letter to her creator requesting an autograph. However, she eventually sent the correspondence to Walt Disney. Very attentive, Walt made sure to answer the little one, explaining the situation. In addition to sending a picture of you with Mickey Mouse, Walt contacted Lantz to make sure he got the little girl's order.

16. Lantz's studio, responsible for animation, closed down in 1972.

17. In 1982, Lantz donated various materials to the US National Museum of History, including a wooden model used for the animation premiere.