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Fictional character

Little Audrey (full name: Audrey Smith) is a fictional character, appearing in early 20th century comics prior to starring in a series of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on the comic strip character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell (a. k. a. "Marge"). Despite some superficial similarities between the two characters, the Famous animators were at pains to design Audrey in contrast to Lulu, adopting an entirely different color scheme and employing the stylistic conventions common to Famous Studios' later 1940s repertoire, as opposed to Buell's individualistic rendering of Little Lulu. Veteran animator Bill Tytla was the designer of Little Audrey, reportedly inspired by his daughter Tammy (who was also his inspiration for Famous' version of Little Lulu, on which he also worked and for which he directed several shorts). The original voice of Little Lulu was performed by actress Cecil Roy (who also provided the voice of Casper the Friendly Ghost). Little Audrey was, instead, voiced by Mae Questel, who also voiced most of Paramount's other major female cartoon characters, including Betty Boop and Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons.

Prior to her adoption by Famous in 1947, Little Audrey had a long career in cartoons but of a series of mostly slapstick gags, some going as far back as the First World War.

Audrey first appeared in the Noveltoon Santa's Surprise (1947), where she was the most prominent member of a multicultural child cast working to clean Santa's workshop while he was asleep, and was briefly seen in the January 1948 Popeye cartoon Olive Oyl for President. Her first appearance in her own series was the short Butterscotch and Soda, released on July 16, 1948. In common with many animated shorts of the period, childlike fantasy played an important role in Audrey's early cartoons, which often used dream sequences as the basis of the storylines. In this way, Audrey could attend a wedding in Cakeland (Tarts and Flowers, 1950), ride the clouds with Mother Goose (Goofy Goofy Gander, also 1950), or face an underwater tribunal of outraged catfish (The Seapreme Court, 1954). Slapstick humor crept into the series with the release of Surf Bored (1953), which pitted the precocious little girl against a hulking, but ultimately brainless, lifeguard. A total of 16 cartoons starring Audrey were produced for theatrical release, several of which were re packaged for television from the late 1950s on. She was the only character in the series to have her own theme song with vocals ("Little Audrey Says", by Winston Sharples and Buddy Kaye). Some other characters (and certain one shots) in the series had their own themes, but were entirely instrumental. Two Noveltoons spin offs, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Herman and Katnip, had their own vocal themes, but only after leaving the series. For Little Audrey, the pre October 1950 cartoons were sold to television distributor U. M. & M. TV Corporation in 1956, which in turn would be acquired by National Telefilm Associates the following year. The post October 1950 cartoons would be sold to Harvey Comics, when they acquired the rights to the character in 1959. Today, they are the property of DreamWorks Animation (via DreamWorks Classics), a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, and distributed by Universal Television. Meanwhile, the Popeye cartoon Olive Oyl for President would become property of Warner Bros. (via Turner Entertainment Co.), and distributed by Warner Bros. Television. Audrey is one of the three (later four) main characters in the DreamWorks Animation Television's animated series Harvey Street Kids, which was re titled Harvey Girls Forever! in its second season. Little Audrey has been modernized, as her classic outfit has been replaced by more contemporary clothing. She also has brown hair, which is more akin to the comics, as opposed to having red hair, like in the theatrical shorts. Unlike her comic book counterpart, Audrey is tomboy ish and energetic. She is voiced by Stephanie Lemelin. Some of her companions from the comics, like Melvin Wisenheimer, Tiny, and Lucretia also appeared in Harvey Girls Forever!