Homer 'Bulldog' Pipsqueak
Created by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna

I swear, this site is going to the dogs. This has just got to be about the lamest entry ever on the site, but here goes:

During it's seemingly endless run of one-hour-long The New Scooby-Doo Movies on 1970s television, the Mystery, Inc. gang of Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo teamed up with cartoon versions of many real-life celebrities (who provided their own voices), including the Harlem Globetrotters, Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller, Sonny and Cher and even Don Knotts, who played both himself and private eye HOMER "BULLDOG" PIPSQUEAK.

Yes, that Don Knotts. This was one of two appearances by Knotts on the show (the other being as sheriff of a small town named Juneberry). In the "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?" episode he played a private investigator investigating the disappearance of Captain Moody. When Scooby and the Mystery Inc. gang show up at Moody Manor, innocently asking for directions, Pipsqueak being the great detective that he is, immediately suspects that one of them may have offed Captain Moody, who is missing, and that the rest of them are relatives gathering to quibble over his estate, and the fun begins. He wears several disguises, portraying the butler, maid, the ghost of Captain Moody and others as he bumbles his way through his investigation. Eventually the gang tumbles to the fact that they are all Homer (although Scooby insists it is Don Knotts). Pipsqueak, however, informs them that his nickname is Bulldog because he never lets go of an investigation and claims to speak every known language.

At least in this one -- and despite the deerstalker's cap -- Knotts actually "plays" a "real" private eye, unlike The Private Eyes, his 1980 theatrical release, where he and co-star Tim Conway actually played inspectors from Scotland Yard.

BURNING QUESTION

• From our vantage point outside the house, we see Don Knotts move past the first and last in a series of windows, so why don't we see him in the middle windows?
  (from Whatsits Galore Presents Glitches from The New Scooby-Doo Movies)
  .
  And they think I'm obsessive.

ANOTHER, EVEN MORE BURNING QUESTION

• Since, theoretically, Mystery Inc. was a detective agency, should Scooby and the gang be considered "private eyes"? Does anyone ever remeber them ever actually being hired to do detective work?
  .
  Actually, I believe they were 'hired' in the 1969 episode, "Decoy for a Dognapper." They heard about a reward being offered for resolution of a string of dognappings and went to the office of the man offering the reward. Not strictly a case of being hired, but there was money at stake. Failing that, try the 1969 episode go "Away Ghost Ship" where the gang goes to meet a "client" at his penthouse at 11:00 pm, scam their way past his butler with a room-service gag and get the story behind his current shipping troubles. It is never stated that they are hired, but the next scene is the gang out on a specially equipped boat pretending to be a freighter to attract the pirates, so the 'hiring' is kind of implied.
  .
  As to whether they should be considered "private eyes," well, yeah, probably they should be if you look at it from a historical perspective. This show introduced many kids to the concept of mysteries, including all of the classic bits (many of them now clichés) that are encountered in crime/mystery fiction. For example: in both of the cases mentioned above, the "client" turns out to be the bad guy. In various episodes, they deal with bank robbers, jewel thieves, and other more common criminals. Scooby himself is summoned to the reading of an eccentric old man's will and learns he will inherit part of a fortune if he spends the night in the spooky mansion, and so on. It is an animated introduction to private investigation for grade schoolers.
  .
  Furthermore, the Mystery Inc. gang was also in a short lived spin-off from Scooby Doo called A Pup Named Scooby Doo that follows their adventures as kids. In these, they call themselves the Scooby Doo Detective Agency and in one episode are given a "Bucket O' Contracts" to sign by a client. This is the most compelling evidence to date that they were in fact 'professional' investigators and not, as often maligned, simply "meddling kids."
  forgotten about all this)
  ..
  But all that being said, do you/we/anyone care? Is it crucial to have this on TD? Is it the kind of thing that folks come there looking for? Probably not, but what makes your site unique is that you stretch the rules to include the Dortmunders and Rhodenbars and other folks that just fit with the overall feel of the site."
  (Dale Stoyer)
  

TELEVISION

• THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES
  (1972-74, CBS)
  60-minute episodes
  Created by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
  Writers: Larz Bourne, Jameson Brewer, Tom Dagenais, Ruth Brooks Flippen, Fred Freiberger, Willie Gilbert, Woody Kling, Bill Lutz, Larry Markes, Norman Maurer, Jack Mendelsohn, Sidney Morse, Ray Parker, Gene Thompson, Paul West, Harry Winkler
  Directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna  
  Associate Producer: Alex Lovy, Zoran Janjic
  Produced by Ashley Nixon
  Starring Don Messick as Scooby Doo
  Casey Kasem as Norville "Shaggy" Rogers
  Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley
  Heather North as Daphne Blake
  and Frank Welker as Freddy Jones
  Guest Starring Don Knotts as HOMER "BULLDOG" PIPSQUEAK/HIMSELF.

• "Guess Who's Knott Coming to Dinner?" (October 7, 1972)

RELATED LINKS

• The Scooby-Doo Episode Guide
  
  
• Let's Get Animated: Cartoon Eyes

Report respectfully perpetrated by Dale Stoyer and Kevin Burton Smith.
Illustration copyright Hanna Barbera.