Chocodile (Johnsonverse)

Chocodile is a funny animal cartoon character. He was created by Johnson Industries employee Randy Perkins at Johnson Studios in 1937 for the Ludicrous Limericks series of theatrical shorts, and quickly became the mascot for not only the series, but Johnson Industries in general. In the first Chocodile comic strip story, "Chocolate and Cherries", his full name is given as Chockel Orson Dile, although this is seldom used.

An anthropomorphic brown crocodile, Chocodile, despite loving chocolate, is thin and surprisingly athletic, able to quickly beat up anyone who wrongs him. Having starred in over 300 shorts since his introduction, Chocodile is one of the world's most recognizable characters, receiving a newspaper comic strip that has run since 1940, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998, and other forms of merchandising. He has starred in twelve movies, beginning with The Chocodile Movie in 1942, and eight television series, starting with the long-running anthology series Chocodile and Friends in 1955.

Early development
According to creator Randy Perkins in a 1943 Johnson Radio interview, the character came to him "in a dream in 1936", in which a cartoon crocodile on all fours was rocking back and forth singing, "Chocodile", and that when he woke up the next day, Perkins started drawing several designs for the character, before getting the famous "brown crocodile" look. When creating the cartoons, Perkins gave a set of simple but strict rules for the writers and animators: In addition, radio voice actor Mel Blanc was cast to voice Chocodile. He went on to voice the character until his 1989 death. Gregg Berger replaced him from 1989 to 2000, when Dana Snyder was cast as his replacement, mainly due to
 * 1) "Chocodile must remain as sympathetic as possible."
 * 2) "Do not insert any toilet humor. Toilet humor is nothing more than the store-brand type of humor."
 * 3) "Chocodile must never go political, except in the face of tyranny."
 * 4) "If you produce a dud, it must be redone until you get it right (this is IMPORTANT)."
 * 5) "Each villain must have a sympathetic backstory and/or motive. Do not make stock villains."
 * 6) "No clichés are allowed."
 * 7) "Do not draw any characters off-model."
 * 8) "Do not make Chocodile a Mickey Mouse ripoff." (This was given to storyboard artists.)

The first cartoon to star Chocodile, "The Brown Crocodile", was released on January 16, 1937, which Perkins directed. The cartoon followed Chocodile evading capture from the Australian hunter Solomon and his shotgun, using a combination of his wits and the ideas of his love interest, Cherridile. In this cartoon, Chocodile had a slightly different design, which had him being thinner with a more sausage-like head. His look was finalized in 1939's "Crocodiles, Crocodiles!".

Films

 * The Chocodile Movie (1942)
 * Chocodile's Second Movie: Tales from Candy World (1947)
 * Chocodile in Sour Town (1955)
 * A Chocodile Adventure (1962)
 * Chocodile on the Run (1968)
 * Chocodile in Space (1974)
 * Chocodile's Haunted House (1977)
 * Chocodile's Cool Movie (1983)
 * Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988; cameo)
 * Chocodile's Hauntbusters (1992)
 * Chocodile in Rome (1999)
 * Chocodile and the Lost Treasure (2006)
 * Super-Choc (2012)
 * Chocodile and Me (2017)

Television

 * Chocodile and Friends (1955-present)
 * The Chocodile Club (1958-1976)
 * Chocodile's Fun House (1976-1983)
 * The Cool Adventures of Chocodile (1984-1987)
 * Chocodile's Movies (1996-2008)
 * Chocodile's Nonsensical Adventures (2016-present)

Anniversary specials

 * 20 Years of Chocodile (1957)
 * A Chocodile Silver Anniversary (1962)
 * Celebrating Chocodile's Next 30 Years (1967)
 * Happy 35th Birthday! (1972)
 * Chocodile and Cherridile's Ruby Anniversary (1977)
 * Happy 45 Years! (1982)
 * A Special Golden Anniversary (1987)
 * 55 Years of Success (1992)
 * A Diamond Anniversary (1997)
 * Chocodile - 65 Years and Counting (2002)
 * C&C Platinum Anniversary (2007)
 * A Celebration of 75 Years (2012)
 * 80 Years Strong! (2017)

Ad campaigns

 * Bathtime (June 2009)

"You all come back now, you hear?"
This line, said by Chocodile (who comes out of a curtain and bows while saying the line) at the end of every Ludicrous Limericks short since 1939, has become iconic, alongside the line "That's all folks" from the Looney Tunes series, and has become a part of the public lexicon.

Theme music
Chocodile's iconic theme song was composed by Mayhew Lester Lake; the rights for the theme are also held by Associated Production Music for use as stock music.