Speedy Gonzalez


April 13, 2002


BROOKE GLADSTONE: People who follow children's television closely may have noticed that Ted Turner's Cartoon Network has stopped broadcasting the old Warner Bros. Speedy Gonzales cartoons. When asked about the absence of the "Fastest Mouse in all [SPANISH PRONUNCIATION] Mexico" from their air waves, Cartoon Network officials admitted that Speedy was no longer part of their lineup, partly because he wasn't very popular, but mostly because of the cartoons' offensive portrayal of Mexicans. This triggered a variety of exasperated protest from Latino groups in the United States who claim that Speedy's cartoons offer positive and heroic images of Mexicans in U.S. culture. Adrian Villegas is an Austin-based comic whose one man show is called Six Mexicans Named Gonzalez and he joins us now to talk about his personal take on Speedy. So Adrian what is your personal take on Speedy?

ADRIAN VILLEGAS: Well I didn't give much thought to what Speedy meant culturally, really, until I started writing the show Six Mexicans named Gonzalez. I discovered that there weren't many--positive or heroic images of Latinos and Mexican-Americans in particular throughout the last, you know, 50, 60 years of, of popular entertainment -- except for Speedy [LAUGHS] Gonzales. Unfortunately I don't know if much has changed [LAUGHS] since the time the original cartoons were produced, so everybody I talk to that's Latino has a-- I mean has a special place, [LAUGHS] you know when I ask them about Speedy Gonzales, nobody dislikes Speedy Gonzales.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:But I mean come on -- is Speedy Gonzales occasionally racist? I mean the cohorts were not a particularly impressive group of mice.

ADRIAN VILLEGAS: I don't see anything as necessarily black and white, but I think the bigger presence of, of the character and what he represents I think overwhelms-- the concerns for, for the supporting characters which are, are not always in the cartoons and-- I think it's somewhat negligible. That's my opinion.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well we know what Speedy sounds like -- he sounds like this:

SPEEDY GONZALES:[FAST-TALKING CARTOON VOICE] Arriba, arriba, ayeehah! [...?...] Ole, ole, ole [...?...]!!! Hello, pussycat. You looking for a nice, fat mouse for dinner?

BROOKE GLADSTONE: But when you do him in your act, you know, you do Speedy Gonzales when he's out of character--

ADRIAN VILLEGAS: Right. [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE]

BROOKE GLADSTONE: -- and, and how that Speedy sound?

ADRIAN VILLEGAS: I know what part of the-- I'll give you the part of the monologue that actually addresses that.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Mm-hm?

ADRIAN VILLEGAS:[SPEEDY GONZALES-ACTOR'S VOICE] Recognize me? Ahhh! I think you do, amigo! That's right. Soy yo! Soy Speedy Gonzales! Ah! Why do you look so surprised? Ah, it's the voice, isn't it. Yes, that throws quite a lot of people I'm afraid. But you didn't really think I talk like in the cartoons, did you? Oh, no, no, no. I do not talk like that! -- any more. [LAUGHTER] Make no mistake. What you are hearing is the voice of a veteran mouse thespian with years of training in the classical arts of [SPANISH PRONUNCIATION] elocution! Y Projection! And 3 semesters worth of English as a Second Language.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: [LAUGHS] Now you never play Speedy doing his cartoon-speedy accent, right?

ADRIAN VILLEGAS:No. You know. In the rest of the monologue he begins to explain his humble beginnings and, and basically that character that he played in the cartoons was just that -- a character. Like he goes: [AS SPEEDY'S ACTOR] You see, previously I had been offered nothing but the typical degrading Mexican stereotype type roles, you know. The sniveling and cowardly farm mouse, or the evil switchblade-carrying sewer rat. [LAUGHTER] But when I read this script I said ahhhh! Now here's something fresh! Something new!! A mexican character con power, corazon y fuego!! A lone mouse, [LAUGHTER] a proverbial every-Mexican, if you will, a defender of the weak who is constantly battling the injustices of la systema, embodied in the character of the evil "gringo" gatto, and who, against all odds always ends up triumphant in the final frame -- a character who is brash, fearless and crafty --a fighter! -- and a lover. [LAUGHTER] In short, a character who was all the things that I already was. [LAUGHTER] [LAUGHS] I kind of projected a lot of-- a lot of cultural responsibility on to-- his - the fictionalization you know, of, of his alter--of his real character, alter ego, whatever, you know.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:And part of what you're saying is right now there aren't a lot of-- positive Latino images out there and he may be animated but he's still the best there is.

ADRIAN VILLEGAS: [LAUGHS] I never thought I'd be having this deep of a conversation [LAUGHS] about Speedy Gonzales. It, it, it's amazing, but the most popular Latino character in the history of popular culture is Speedy Gonzales. You know, he's, he's-- always messing with this "gringo" gatto; he's-- always talking so much trash --and yet he still lives [LAUGHS] from episode to episode, so in that sense he's practically a subversive revolutionary, you know. Granted, yes, he is a cartoon character but--you know - we'll take whatever [LAUGHS] we can get.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Okay. Thanks very much.

ADRIAN VILLEGAS: Thank you.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Adrian Villegas is an Austin-based comic who's one man show is called Six Mexicans Named Gonzalez. [THEME MUSIC]

BOB GARFIELD:That's it for this week's show. On the Media was produced by Janeen Price and Katya Rogers with Sean Landis and Michael Kavanagh; engineered by George Edwards and Dylan Keefe, and edited-- by Brooke. We had help from Jim Colgan and Lu Olkowski. Our web master is Amy Pearl.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Mike Pesca is our producer at large, Arun Rath our senior producer and Dean Capello our executive producer. Bassist/composer Ben Allison wrote our theme. This is On the Media from National Public Radio. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield.

SPEEDY GONZALES: I go take my siesta now. [MUSIC TAG]