Planet X
Situs of Illudium Phosdex, the Shaving Cream Atom. Since supplies on Earth are dangerously low, Dr. I.Q. Hi, Secretary of the Stratosphere, sends the title character of Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (Jones, 1953) to the planet to claim it in the name of the Earth. Since Mars has also sent an expedition to claim the planet, a war breaks out which destroys the planet, and its hauntingly beautiful, X-filled landscape, with X-shaped clouds, yet (kudos to Phil De Guard and Maurice Noble).
X-2, Commander of Flying Saucer
The only name by which Marvin Martian was identified durng the Classic era. It shows up on the instructions he is given in Hasty Hare (Jones, 1952).
Yamamoto, Isoroku
One of the key figures in the Japanese war effort during World War II, Yamamoto (who had studied at Harvard and had been a naval attache in Washington) was Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, and the architect of the raid on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. For all that, Yamamoto had grave misgivings about the war. He stated that if hostilities break out between Japan and the United States, it would not be enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Franscisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. American propagandists got a hold of this phrase, and twisted it into a boast that Yamamoto would dictate the terms of peace in the White House. This is reflected in Tokio Jokio (McCabe, 1943), in which a character (not an accurate depiction) makes the boast, followed by a shot of the room reserved for the Admiral, which has an electric chair.
Irnoically, Yamamoto was already dead by the time the cartoon was released on May 15, 1943. One month earlier, on April 18, 1943, American long-range fighters, tipped off by code-breakers, ambushed the plane carrying Yamamoto, killing him. (In a major intelligence failure, the Japanese failed to catch on that the Americans were reading many of their codes, much to the relief of the American high command.) His death was not publicly announced until Radio Tokyo made an announcement on May 21, 1943, a week after the cartoon was released.
Yehudi
Catch-phrase of Jerry Colonna (which see). This originated in a gag involving the violinist Yehudi Menunin and an appearence by him on the Bob Hope radio show, on which Colonna was a supporting player. Wertheim describes the origin of the gag: apparently, Colonna, not knowing who Yehudi was, asked the cast of the radio show, who didnt know either. The search for the mythical Yehudi became a running gag and, eventually a popular song. Yehudi references can be seen in Hollywood Steps Out (where an invisible figure is sitting next to Colonna, and is identified by Jerry as Yehudi), Farm Frolics (an owl says Whos Yehudi?), and Crazy Cruise (Avery/Clampett, 1942), in which an invisible battleship, the S.S. Yehudi, is seen. There is also the Club Yahoodi in Lights Fantastic (Freleng, 1942), which does not have much of anything.
A fairly recent episode of the PBS series Nova, I have been informed, discussed a so-called Project Yehudi from the World War II era involving camouflage schemes for ships, which gives the Crazy Cruise gag an interesting twist.
Yosemite Sam
Dynamic, short-tempered opponent, largely of Bugs Bunny, for a number of classic Friz Freleng shorts. There is some speculation that Sam was based on Freleng himself, both being short, red-haired chaps with risable tempers; Freleng himself seems to have been a little equivocal as to whether he was the model for the character. Mike Maltese originally considered calling the character Texas Tiny, Wyoming Willie, or Denver Dan, but then settled on the final name.
While Sam had a wide variety of roles, as desert sheik, prison guard (!),English lord, and shifty small town mayor, his two best known roles were as Western outlaw, which was his metier in his first few cartoons, and as a pirate in some of the finest entries in the Bugs Bunny series. Interestingly, the Freleng unit maintained his black mask, even in roles that did not require it.
Freleng developed the character as a counterpoint to Elmer Fudd, who he felt did not provide enough of a challenge to Bugs. The southern sheriff in Stage Door Cartoon (Freleng, 1944) can be seen as something of a dry run for the character. Mel Blasn has pointed out that the character, whose name dervies from a California locale, has the voice of a Texan.
One Freleng entry, Along Came Daffy (1947) features a twin brother to Sam, a black-haired specimen.
Filmography (all Freleng, except where noted):
You Bwoke My Widdle...
Catch-phrase of Red Skelton (which see), involving his character of Junior, the Mean Widdle Kid. Usually used in WB cartoons, in connection with a little character overreacting to some physical stimulus. Examples can be found in Aint That Ducky (Freleng, 1945), The Impatient Patient (McCable, 1942), Birdy and the Beast (Clampett, 1944),Ballot Box Bunny (Freleng, 1951), Case of the Missing Hare (Jones, 1942) and others.
You nahsty man!
One of the tag lines of Joe Penner (which see). A modified version is used by Porky in Ali Baba Bound (Clampett, 1940), as You nahsty spy!
Zero
Japanese fighter aircraft of World War II manufactured by Mitsubishi (the name comes from the fact that it was designed in the 2,600th year of the Nipponese dynasty, which was 1940). A highly efficient fighter, it was not matched by any Allied aircraft until later in the Pacific war. The spider in Meatless Flyday (Freleng, 1943) as he is going down in flames (the result of a multiple hotfoot administered by his prey, a fly) laughingly exclaims that he is a Zero.