The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight

The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight
Written by	Owen Crump D.W. Owen
Directed by	Bob Richardson
Voices of	Frank Welker Marilyn Schreffler Hal Smith Brian Cummings Weaver Copeland
Music by	Steven DePatie
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	David H. DePatie
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Marvel Productions Mirsch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	February 14, 1981 (1981-02-14)

The Pink Panther in: Pink at First Sight is a 1981 animated Valentine's Day special starring The Pink Panther,^[1] that premiered on ABC on February 14, 1981^[2] and the third and final Pink Panther special on ABC, following 1978's A Pink Christmas and 1980's Olym-Pinks. This would be Marvel's first (and lone) Pink Panther cartoon. Following this, the studio handled new animation for the feature films Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther.

Plot

It is Valentine's Day and the Pink Panther is lonely and has no money (except for seven cents). After receiving another person's Valentine gift package by mistake, he goes to the messenger service for a job but messes his rehearsal up. He then goes to a store, buys a cassette player and pre-recorded cassettes with the seven cents he had left and goes back to the messenger service miming to Enrico Caruso's version of "Vesti la giubba", an aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, and gets hired as a messenger.

Antics on the job entangle the breezy cat with a jealous husband (after stealing the heart of his housewife whilst miming a 50s-ish sounding ballad), a snobby classic violinist (after using a Stradivarius violin like an electric guitar; the Panther had the wrong recording on at the time), a priest (whom the Panther had delivered the wrong present to) and a crime boss named Big Joe and his gang (their present was a bomb).

Finally, after warding off Big Joe and his gang with a cassette containing excerpts of a police radio show (and inadvertently putting them in the sight of the actual police), our hero is sitting alone and discouraged on a park bench when he finally meets the pantheress of his dreams, the ideal feline valentine.

Voice Talents of

• Frank Welker - The Jester, Messenger Owner, The Man with the Golf Club, Violinist, Customer, The Baby
• Marilyn Schreffler - The Baby's Mother, The Lady with the Umbrella, Nurse, Housewife, Maid
• Hal Smith - Big Joe
• Brian Cummings - Music Store Owner, Tough Gangsters
• Weaver Copeland - Announcer

Home media

Pink at First Sight made its VHS debut release by

Production

Most of the animation staff utilized for The All New Pink Panther Show worked on Pink at First Sight, which also utilized several music cues from the series as well but unlike that program, a laugh track wasn't featured. With Friz Freleng not on board, this would be DePatie's first (and only) solo work on a Pink Panther cartoon without him. Many of the other characters' voices for this special were done by Frank Welker, Marilyn Schreffler, Hal Smith, Brian Cummings and Weaver Copeland. Production on the special was made in 1980.

References