Mary Melody
Mary Melody is a
fictional female African-American character on the television show
Tiny Toon Adventures. As
Montana Max and
Elmyra Duff do not attend
Acme Looniversity, the show's principal setting, Mary is the only human student on the show with a name an recurring appearances. Mary's name is almost certainly a reference to the
Merrie Melodies shorts produced between 1931 and 1969 by
Warner Bros., the same studio that produced
Tiny Toons. Mary is one of the few characters on
Tiny Toons who does not have a clear analogue to a character in the
Looney Toons cast.
In her first appearance, "Furrball Follies," the character
Furrball escapes Elmyra's house and ends up living with Mary, who is a much better pet owner than the unintentionally destructive Elmyra. Eventually, Furrball leaves Mary and returns to Elmyra, who missed the cat very badly. Later appearances would show that Mary attended school with the other characters on the show. In the episode "Prom-Ise Her Anything," for example, Mary is depicted as being a report on Acme Looniversity's campus news show. No episode of
Tiny Toons ever focused specifically on Mary, however. In team, Mary's character would crack jokes about her small role. In an episode parodying the story of
Robin Hood, for example, Mary appears as one of the Merry Men. She quips, "Another cameo, another paycheck," and then does not speak again for the remainder of the episode.
In an interview with the website Platypus Comix,
Tiny Toons producer
Tom Ruegger discuessed why the character never developed.
In the same interview, Ruegger denies that Mary Melody was designed in reference to the character So White from the Warner Bros.-produced
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs.
The character was voiced by actress
Cindy McGee in her debut episode, but actress
Cree Summer, who also voiced Elmyra, spoke for Mary in all subsequent appearances.
