In the entertainment business, cartoon characters are treated as real celebrities and public figures with full careers and accolades to match.
Elmyra Duff, voiced by Cree Summer in all of her appearances, made her debut in the Warner Bros. television series, Tiny Toon Adventures (3 seasons), executive produced by the great Steven Spielberg on September 14, 1990.
A young, redheaded female human character, who wears a white pleated skirt, a light blue blouse with white collar and frills, a light blue bowed ribbon in her hair that has an gerbil's skull in the middle, black strapped Mary Jane shoes and white socks. The female animation was based superficially on her name derivative and mentor, Elmer Fudd; "Elmyra" being a female form of "Elmer" and her last name, "Duff," as "Fudd" pronounced backwards.
Although, Fudd was not one of the big stars among the Looney Tunes crowd. He appeared in a great number of cartoons, but almost always as a second banana. In Tiny Toon Adventures, which featured modern counterparts to those old characters, Elmyra Duff, the correspondent to Elmer, was more of a featured player, that seemed to have some significance. Yet, she was the only one of two (other being Plucky Duck) to get a regular gig after the Daytime Emmy Award winning series ran its course.
In the series, Elmyra lives in a nice, suburban home in Acme Acres with her parents, older sister and two younger brothers. She attends Acme Looniversity where she also serves as the school nurse. Elmyra's pets are constantly escaping in terror because she is obsessed with animals and cute things, even chasing after animals whom she knows are her classmates at Acme Looniversity, obliviously causing great discomfort or serious injury to potential pets from her overenthusiastic affection and complete lack of even the most rudimentary knowledge of pet care. She does not really mean to mistreat her pets, she simply doesn't understand the negative effects of her behavior - SEE HERE. Her torture of animals became well known and synonymous with her name and image and helped her break out as a star on her own.
Her performance on "Tiny Toons" inspired producer Tom Ruegger to give Elmyra two entire episodes later in the series. The Duff Family, which had been previously unmentioned, appears in two episodes, "Take Elmyra Please" (episode 13 of Season 2 in February 1992) and "Grandma's Dead" (episode 13 of Season 3 in November 1992). As these episodes feature none of the rest of the regular Tiny Toons cast, other than Elmyra's pets Furrball and Byron Basset, they may have been a test to see if Elmyra's character could get her own spin-off series, centered around her family.
"Take Elmyra Please" is the debut of Mr. Skullhead, a character imagined by Elmyra from the skull she wears in the middle of her bow. He later become a recurring character in Animaniacs, notably in the "Good Idea, Bad Idea" sketches, where he and his family would be horribly maimed.
In March of 1992, Elmyra was apart of the film Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, after "Take Elmyra Please" aired. The film has been rated as one of the "Top 20 (U.S.-Produced) Direct-to-Video Animated Films" by The Animated Movie Guide. The VHS release was one of the highest selling videos in the United states; on the Billboard charts, the video ranked 12th in sales in April 1992. In May 1992, How I Spent My Vacation rose to 9th in video sales. On July 18, 1992, How I Spent My Vacation had been on Billboard Magazine's 40 "Top Video Sales" for 16 weeks. On June 27, 1992, the film was ranked the 5th highest on Billboard's "Top Kid Video". On February 6, 1993, How I Spent My Vacation had been on the "Top Kid Video" list for 41 weeks.
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| Elmyra on the cover of a Tiny Toon's comic |
"Tiny Toon Adventures Magazine", debuted in October 1990 and a variety of toys, video games, clothing, figurines, a Tiny Toons comic book series in collaboration with Marvel Comics and other products were released in which Elmyra was merchandised in along with the rest of the Tiny Toons. By 1995, the seven time Daytime Emmy Award winning show came to an end along with her 15 minutes of stardom.
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| Elmyra on the box cover of a Tiny Toons puzzle |
Two years later, Elmyra's second shot at fame came in 1998, when she was added to the cast of Pinky & the Brain, a spin-off of Animaniacs. Warner Bros. network executives had reportedly wanted Pinky and the Brain to be part of a sitcom "more like The Simpsons" after the initial run of their "Animaniacs" spin-off. The idea of a new Pinky and the Brain series was reportedly met with resistance from the producers of the series.
The apparent dissatisfaction with Warner Bros.' decision to change Pinky and the Brain showed up in episodes. The last script that producer Peter Hastings wrote before leaving Warner Bros. for Disney Television Animation was the episode "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets in This Town Again!", in which the demise of Pinky and the Brain is caused by network decisions to change the show.
In September 19, 1998, the new Pinky & the Brain series premiered, with the title characters being joined by Elmyra Duff. Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain was also executive produced by Steven Spielberg and the series was produced by Amblin Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Animation. It aired on Kids' WB. This show would be Spielberg's final collaborative effort with Warner Bros. Animation until the 2020 revival of Animaniacs.
Perhaps because of inconsistencies in comparison with Tiny Toon Adventures, the show was heavily disliked by fans of both Tiny Toon Adventures and Pinky and the Brain alike, and was cancelled after only 13 episodes. The last episode was broadcast April 10, 1999. Although the series did not end without winning a Daytime Emmy Award in 2000 for "Outstanding Children's Animated Program", the screenwriters disliked the series as well. They expressed their disgust in the theme song, in the lyrics, "It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?", as well as Brain's line, "I deeply resent this." Curiously, Pinky and the Brain had earlier made a cameo as two of Elmyra's caged pets in Tiny Toon Spring Break. Also, when Brain makes a cameo in the Tiny Toons Night Ghoulery Special, Elmyra remarks, "I'll play with you later," a possible foreshadowing.
A reboot series titled, Tiny Toons Looniversity, was announced on October 28, 2020 through the Amblin Entertainment website. It was ordered for two seasons, with each episode running 30 minutes. As with the original series, Steven Spielberg will return to his role as executive producer. The series is set to premiere on HBO Max, and simulcast on Cartoon Network.
Shortly after the reboot's announcement, it was reported that several of the original cast members were not going to be involved in the series. It was revealed that Elmyra Duff was excluded.
On July 9, 2022, it was announced that Tiny Toons Looniversity would be part of the "Looney Tunes" panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. On July 22, numerous pieces of concept art were shown, revealing a revamped Acme Looniversity and its interiors. This also confirmed many of the original series' major characters would be returning, some with updated appearances. Most notably, Elmyra was included in one of these pictures, disproving the claims of her removal. On September 8, 2023, Tiny Toons spin-off Tiny Toons Looniversity premiered on Max and simulcast on Cartoon Network the next day. Elmyra is listed on the show's Wikipedia page as apart of the series.
