The Pink Phinx (1964)

Directed by Friz Freleng

Co-directed by Hawley Pratt

Debuting on December 18 of 1964, The Pink Phink was the first animated short from Blake Edwards' Pink Panther, the first Pink Panther animated short produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and was successful critically and financially winning the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film; it became the first time that a studio won an Academy Award with its very first animated short.

It was traditionally animated in 2D and features various layers, especially in the backgrounds, to give it it's graphic aesthetic. It also has a simplistic and sleek style with very subtle coloring as they wanted to highlight the panther's pink most of the time.

An unrestored poster of The Pink Phink sold on March 16, 2014.

The short begins with the Pink Panther curiously checking out what the Little Man is doing and after disagreeing with his color choices, the Pink Panther comes back with a bucket of pink paint and begins painting pink over the blue the Little Man has already painted.

Each time the painter attempts to paint something blue, the panther challenges him in a new way and paints the areas pink.

Soon enough, the painter loses his mind and after a chaotic explosion of color and being tricked into painting the house all pink himself, the panther wins.

The poor painter, frustrated and angry, can't do anything else but watch as the panther joyfully moves into his brand new pink house.

De-Patie-Freleng began producing shorts in quick succession, around eight to twelve per year, with their peak year being 1968 with 17 released that year alone. Pratt directed many of the early shorts and it was the beginning of a long running series of theatrical cartoons, several television series and specials plus a flood of merchandise.

Theatrically released in the USA with Kiss Me, Stupid, it was pretty well received by the audicne and has had it's fair share of recognitions like in an episode of the animated series Dexter's Laboratory named "A Silent Cartoon". It kis a homage to The Pink Phink, featuring Dexter trying to construct a blue laboratory while an all-pink version of his sister Dee Dee finds clever ways to turn the blue lab into a completely pink lab.

In the 2010 series Pink Panther and Pals, a scene from "A Pinker Tomorrow" shows the Pink Panther tricking the Little Man to cover the outside of the house in paint, which is in tiself another homage to the original short.