Casper the Friendly Ghost facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Casper the Friendly Ghost
Cover of Casper the Friendly Ghost #1 (March 1991)
Publication information
Publisher	Famous Studios (animation) Harvey Comics (comic books)
First appearance	The Friendly Ghost (1939 children's book and 1945 animated cartoon)
Created by	Seymour Reit, Joe Oriolo and Vincent E. Valentine II
In-story information
Full name	Casper McFadden (1995 film)
Species	Ghost (deceased human in some versions)

Casper the Friendly Ghost is a famous cartoon character. He is the main character of a series of animated cartoons and comic books. Casper is a kind and friendly ghost. However, his three uncles, known as the Ghostly Trio, are often mean to him. They like to scare people, but Casper prefers to make friends.

Casper starred in 55 animated cartoons between 1945 and 1959. He also appeared in many comic books from Harvey Comics starting in 1952. Harvey Comics bought the character in 1959. Casper became one of their most popular characters.

After Harvey Comics bought him, Casper appeared in five TV shows. These include Matty's Funday Funnies (1959–1961) and The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963–1970). He also starred in a live-action movie called Casper in 1995. Later, he appeared in four more movies made for video or TV.

How Was Casper Created?

Casper was created in the late 1930s. Seymour Reit came up with the idea for the character. Joe Oriolo drew the pictures. They first planned for Casper to be in a children's storybook in 1939. But at first, not many people were interested.

During World War II, Seymour Reit was in the military. Joe Oriolo then sold the rights to the book to Paramount Pictures' animation studio, Famous Studios. He received $175 for this. This was a one-time payment, so he didn't get any money from the movies or comic books that came later.

Casper's First Cartoon Appearance

The first cartoon with Casper was called The Friendly Ghost. Paramount released it in 1945. In this cartoon, Casper is a cute ghost-child with a New York accent. He lives in a haunted house with other adult ghosts. These ghosts love to scare people.

But Casper is different. He wants to be friends with humans. He leaves his haunted house to find friends. However, the animals he meets get scared and run away. Then, Casper meets two children, Bonnie and Johnny. They become his friends! Their mother is scared at first. But Casper accidentally scares away a greedy landlord. The landlord tears up the mortgage and gives the house to the family. So, the mother welcomes Casper. The cartoon ends with Casper going to school with Bonnie and Johnny, wearing clothes like a human child.

Early Casper Cartoons

Casper appeared in two more cartoons: There's Good Boos To-Night and A Haunting We Will Go. There's Good Boos To-Night was a bit different from later Casper cartoons. In it, Casper tries to make friends but struggles. He befriends a fox cub named Ferdie. A hunter and his dogs chase Ferdie. Casper scares them away, but Ferdie sadly dies. Luckily, Ferdie comes back as a ghost to join Casper in the afterlife.

These cartoons were part of the Noveltoons series. Then, Paramount started a special Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon series in 1950. It ran until 1959. Many of these cartoons had a similar story. Casper would escape from other ghosts because he found scaring people boring. He would try to make friends, accidentally scare everyone, and then finally find a friend. He would often save his new friend from danger. This led to people accepting him. In 1955, Winston Sharples wrote a special song for Casper's cartoons.

Casper in Comic Books

Casper first appeared in comic books in August 1949. These were published by St. John Publications. In 1952, Alfred Harvey, who owned Harvey Comics, started making Casper comic books. Casper first appeared in Harvey Comics Hits #61 in October 1952. Then, he got his own comic book, Casper the Friendly Ghost #7, in December 1952. In 1959, Harvey Comics bought all the rights to the character.

Casper became the star of many comic book series. He also appeared in other comics. Casper's comics led to three popular spin-off characters: Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost, Wendy the Good Little Witch, and The Ghostly Trio.

Here are some of the comic book titles Casper appeared in:

In 2009, a new Casper comic book series called Casper and the Spectrals was released. It updated Casper and other Harvey characters for new readers.

Casper on Television

Casper has starred in five television shows:

• Matty's Funday Funnies (1959–1961)
• The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963–1970)
• Casper and the Angels (1979–1980)
• The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (1996–1998)
• Casper's Scare School (2009–2012)

After Harvey Comics bought Casper in 1959, they started showing his cartoons on TV. The first show was Matty's Funday Funnies on ABC in 1959. New cartoons were made for The New Casper Cartoon Show in 1963, also on ABC. The original Casper cartoons were also shown again as Harveytoons. Casper has stayed popular through reruns and merchandise.

Hanna-Barbera also made two holiday specials for Casper. These were Casper's First Christmas and Casper's Halloween Special. They also created the Saturday morning cartoon series Casper and the Angels in 1979 on NBC. This show was inspired by popular live-action shows like Charlie's Angels.

In 1996, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Animation Studios made a new Casper TV series for Fox Kids. It was called The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper and was based on the 1995 movie. This show lasted two years.

Two live-action movies were made after the 1995 film. These were Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy. Casper Meets Wendy introduced Hilary Duff as Wendy the Good Little Witch. Later, Casper's Haunted Christmas and Casper's Scare School were made using only CGI (computer animation).

In 2007, MoonScoop Group produced a TV show called Casper's Scare School. In 2020, Casper appeared in an episode of Harvey Girls Forever!, a series based on Harvey Comics characters.

Casper in Movies

Computer-animated Casper as he appears in the live action films

Many Casper cartoons were released on home video. Universal Studios made a live-action movie called Casper in 1995. In this movie, Casper and his uncles, the Ghostly Trio, were created using computer animation. This was the first time a main character in a film was fully made with CGI.

The 1995 movie also explained Casper's past. It said that Casper was a twelve-year-old boy named Casper McFadden. He lived in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father. He sadly died from pneumonia after playing outside in the cold.

In 2001, Harvey Entertainment was bought by Classic Media. Classic Media then managed the rights to Casper. In 2012, Classic Media was bought by DreamWorks Animation. Later, NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks Animation in 2016. This means Universal Studios, which made the first live-action movie, now owns the rights to Casper and his friends.

Casper has also appeared in commercials. He was in a MetLife commercial in 2012 and a GEICO commercial in 2019.

Who Voiced Casper?

Many actors have given Casper his voice:

• An unknown child actor voiced Casper in his first cartoons in 1945, 1948, and 1949.
• Alan Shay and Cecil Roy voiced Casper in most of the early cartoons.
• June Foray voiced a talking Casper doll in 1961.
• Mae Questel voiced him in a record in 1962.
• Norma MacMillan and Ginny Tyler voiced him in The New Casper Cartoon Show.
• Julie McWhirter voiced him in Casper and the Angels.
• Joanna Ruiz voiced him for a British version in 1991.
• Christopher Miron Allport voiced Casper in an early 1990s commercial.
• Malachi Pearson voiced Casper in the 1995 movie Casper and The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper.
• Devon Sawa played Casper as a human boy in a scene from the 1995 movie.
• April Winchell voiced Casper as a baby in a TV episode.
• Lani Minella voiced Casper in Casper: The Interactive Adventure.
• Jeremy Foley voiced him in Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Casper Meets Wendy.
• Brendon Ryan Barrett voiced him in Casper's Haunted Christmas.
• Devon Werkheiser voiced Casper in Casper's Scare School.
• Carolyn Hennesy voiced Casper in Casper: Friends Around the World.
• Oliver Stern voiced Casper in a 2019 commercial.
• Bobby Moynihan voiced Casper in Harvey Girls Forever!.

In Spanish-speaking countries, Casper is known as Gasparín.

Casper's Friends and Supporting Characters

Casper has many friends and characters who help him:

Casper's Enemies

Casper also has characters who are his enemies:

Casper Video Games

Casper has starred in several video games:

Casper (1995 Film Games)

Several video games were made based on the 1995 film. These games were released for PC, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, 3DO, and PlayStation. Later, games for Windows 95 and Game Boy Advance came out as sequels to the movie.

Casper: A Spirited Beginning Activity Center

This PC game was released in 1998. It was based on the film Casper: A Spirited Beginning. Players earned "Casper coins" by playing mini-games like "Casper's Spinning Squares" and "Stretch's Memory Game." Collecting enough coins unlocked a special puzzle.

Casper: Friends Around the World

Released in 2000 for PlayStation, this game was mostly a 2D side-scrolling platformer. The evil Kibosh sends Casper's human friends away. He also hypnotizes the Ghostly Trio. Casper finds a map piece and must travel the world to find his friends. He needs to collect 40 "friendship crystals" in each of the ten levels to reach a bonus level.

Casper: Spirit Dimensions

This was the first 3D Casper game with a movable camera. It came out in 2001 for PlayStation 2 and in 2002 for Nintendo GameCube. In this game, the evil Kibosh takes over the Spirit World and wants to take over the human world too. Wendy the Good Little Witch calls on Casper, who is the only free ghost, to help defeat Kibosh.

Casper and the Ghostly Trio

Released in 2007 for PlayStation 2, this is a 3D game where Casper has legs and can glide. The Ghostly Trio kidnaps Wendy the Good Little Witch. They want to use her magic to get power over Ghostland. Wendy sends a message to Casper, who must go through six levels to rescue her.

Casper's Scare School Games

A series of three games based on the computer-animated film and TV series Casper's Scare School were released in 2008 and 2009. These games were available for PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and Wii.

Images for kids

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  Cover of Casper the Friendly Ghost #1 (March 1991)

See also

In Spanish: Casper the Friendly Ghost para niños