Ralph Phillips is a grade-school daydreamer who escapes every dull moment into adventure. A boring lesson becomes a voyage, a scolding becomes a battle, and every dream ends with Ralph back at his desk. Chuck Jones said plainly that Ralph was based on himself, which makes these two cartoons among the most personal in his filmography.
| Species: | Human |
|---|---|
| First appearance: | From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (1954) |
| Created by: | Chuck Jones (director) and Michael Maltese (writer); designs by Maurice Noble |
| Original voice: | Dick Beals and Daws Butler |
| Frequent co-stars: | None |
Ralph debuted in From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (1954), which was nominated for an Academy Award, and returned in Boyhood Daze (1957). Jones named him after studio artist Jack Phillips. Maurice Noble’s layouts gave the dream sequences a realistic yet dreamlike quality.
Ralph is imaginative, earnest and eager to impress. Audiences responded to his wish to do something heroic for his teacher. Jones put it simply: “Ralph is Chuck Jones as a child.”
“Ralph Phillips was named after the animator Jack Phillips. We knew Jack as the “Japanese Ace” in World War II because he wiped out five American aircraft single-handed while training. Jack was, to put it mildly, an inept pilot, but he looked so precisely like everybody’s idea of the perfect all-American pilot–including the unnecessary white silk scarf wound rakishly around his neck–that none of the generals could ever believe he was not what he seemed, and they kept on promoting him.
“Audiences responded to Ralph–recognizing his desire to do something dramatic to impress his teacher–and to Maurice Noble’s designs, which reinforce the films’ realistic but dreamlike quality. If we took his name from Jack Phillips, Ralph took his character from Chuck Jones. I had no trouble writing dialogue or creating drawings for the Ralph Phillips cartoons, as Ralph is Chuck Jones as a child.”
– Chuck Jones, Chuck Reducks (1996)
Every piece in our Ralph Phillips collection is certified by the Chuck Jones family. Browse originals, limited editions and prints below, or contact our art consultants with any questions.
