| Butch | |
| Series: | MGM Cartoons |
| First: | Bad Luck Blackie (early version) January 22, 1949 Wags to Riches (official version) August 13, 1949 |
| Creator: | Tex Avery |
| Designer: | Louie Schmitt |
| Voice: | Tex Avery (1949–1952, 1956–1957)[1] William Hanna (1949–1950, 1952, 1955–1956) Sara Berner (1949–1950, 1952, 1956) Daws Butler (1950–1951, 1957) Carlos Julio Ramírez (1952) Frank Ross (1952) Mary Kaye (1952) Paul Frees (1952, 1955) Norman Kaye (1952) Jeff Bergman (2000, 2010)[2] [3] Jim Cummings (2002) Joe Alaskey (2011–2016) Bill Farmer (2019–present) |
| Alias: | Spike Poochini |
| Species: | Dog (Bulldog) |
| Gender: | Male |
Butch (formerly known as Spike) is an animated cartoon character created by Tex Avery. Portrayed as an anthropomorphic Irish bulldog, the character was a recurring antagonist in the Droopy shorts, and appeared in his own series of solo shorts as well. His name was changed to Butch in 1955's Deputy Droopy to avoid confusion with Spike from the Tom and Jerry cartoons. All of the original 1940s and 1950s shorts were directed by Avery and Michael Lah at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio.[4] Butch would not appear in new material again until in 2002.
| Title | Release Date | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Luck Blackie | January 22, 1949 | Butch's debut. | |
| The Counterfeit Cat | December 24, 1949 | ||
| Ventriloquist Cat | May 27, 1950 | ||
| Garden Gopher | September 30, 1950 | ||
| Cock-a-Doodle Dog | February 10, 1951 | ||
| Magical Maestro | February 9, 1952 | Named as Poochini. | |
| Rock-a-Bye Bear | July 12, 1952 | ||
| Cellbound | November 25, 1955 | ||
| Cat's Meow | January 25, 1957 | The final Butch cartoon; a remake of Ventriloquist Cat directed by Tex Avery and produced by Hanna and Barbera with different coloring for the cat, the dog, and some of the scenery. |
Butch reappeared in direct-to-DVD films such as and Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, alongside Droopy.
His latest appearance was in 2014's The Tom and Jerry Show. He appeared in the episode "Double Dog Trouble", where Spike and Butch are two separate characters who are twins, in order to poke at the character's retitling, while detectives Tom and Jerry mistake each one for the other after Spike buys a room at the town's motel.