Droop-a-Long Coyote, January 14, 1964 (Los Angeles, Calif.) -
VP candidate for Independent (1964)
Running mate with nominee: Magilla Gorilla (b. 1964)
Popular vote: 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
There have been many promotional, flippant, and downright eccentric candidates for President, but not all of them have running mates so it with pleasure that I have the opportunity to cover this particular ticket. It somehow seems fitting that the running mate of Magilla Gorilla is covered on a blog called Third Party Second Bananas.
In promoting their new Magilla Gorilla Show, Hanna-Barbera cooked up the idea of having their new title character run against the more senior anthropomorphic Yogi Bear. In fact, Magilla's sole opponent seemed to be Yogi. The publicity included a 45 single record, a comic book, and campaign buttons.
Magilla's running mate was Droop-a-Long Coyote. And who was he, you non-Boomers might ask?
One of the cartoon segments of the short-lived Magilla Gorilla Show was Ricochet Rabbit who worked as a sheriff in the Old West. He would ricochet off solid objects like a bullet and had the catchphrase "Bing-Bing-Bing" which some viewers, such as myself, found incredibly annoying. His deputy was Droop-a-Long Coyote.
Droop-a-Long Coyote, no doubt named after Western hero Hopalong Cassidy (I was the proud owner of an official Hopalong Cassidy cowboy hat!) was part of the clumsy slow-thinker school of sidekicks. His nickname was "Droopy," not to be confused with Tex Avery's much earlier Droopy Dog character. Droop-a-Long was voiced by the incredible Mel Blanc, who was performing an impersonation of Ken Curtis in the role of Festus Haggen in TV's Gunsmoke as he portrayed the Coyote.
Magilla's campaign manager was Top Cat. No, really. He actually had a campaign manager in the Hanna-Barbera narrative.
Election history: none
Other occupations: deputy sheriff
Buried:
Notes:
Not even a year old in 1964, Droop-a-Long would not be of legal age for the VP office until 1999.
