Who is “Casper the Friendly Ghost”?
A: Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios
theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name.
He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but
often criticized by whom?
A: His three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio.
The character was featured in how many theatrical
cartoons titled The Friendly Ghost from 1945 to 1959?
A: 55.
The character has been featured in comic books
published by Harvey Comics since what year?
A: 1952.
Harvey purchased the character outright in what year?
A: 1959.
Casper became one of Harvey's most popular characters,
headlining what?
A: Dozens of comic book titles.
Following Harvey's purchase of the character, he
appeared in what five television series?
A: Matty's Funday Funnies, The New Casper Cartoon Show, Casper and the
Angels, The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, and Casper's Scare
School.
The character made a theatrical-film appearance in a
live-action adaptation released by Universal Pictures, Casper (1995),
becoming the first what?
A: The first ever computer-generated character to star in a film.
He would later appear in how many direct-to-video and
made-for-TV follow-up films?
A: Four.
Casper was created in the late 1930s by whom?
A: Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, the former devising the idea for the
character and the latter providing illustrations.
Initially it was intended as the basis for what?
A: A 1939 children's storybook.
When Reit was away on military service during World War
II before the book was released, Oriolo sold the rights to the book to
Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios animation division for how much?
A: A total of $175.
This one-time payment was all that he received, missing
out on a share of the revenue earned from what?
A: All the films, comic books and merchandise to come.
The Friendly Ghost, the first Noveltoon to feature
Casper, was released by Paramount in what year?
A: 1945 with a few differences from the book.
In the cartoon adaptation, Casper is a cute ghost-child
with a New York accent who inhabits what?
A: A haunted house along with a community of adult ghosts who delight in
scaring the living.
Casper, however, is a nonconformist among ghosts: He
would prefer to do what?
A: To make friends with people.
He packs up his belongings and goes out into the world,
hoping to find what?
A: Friends.
However, the
animals that he meets take one
horrified
look at him do what?
A: Scream: "A ghost!" and run off in the other direction.
Distraught, Casper unsuccessfully attempts to commit
suicide by doing what?
A: By lying down on a railway track before an oncoming
train.
Casper meets two children named Bonnie and Johnny who
become what?
A: His friends.
The children's mother, apparently widowed and
impoverished, at first is frightened of Casper, but later does what?
A: Welcomes him into the family after he unintentionally frightens off a
greedy landlord, who, unwilling to own a "haunted" house, tears up the
mortgage and gives her the house outright.
The short ends with the mother kissing Bonnie, Johnny,
and Casper as she does what?
A: Sends them off to school, with Casper wearing clothing as if he were a
living child.