Oliver Owl[1] is a character featured in the 1935 Silly Symphony short "Who Killed Cock Robin?". He is the judge in the proceedings against a number of suspects accused of "killing" Cock Robin.
Background[]
Personality[]
Oliver serves as the judge who works in a courtroom ruled by birds almost equivalent to a real-world courtroom. Ever since an incident happened with Cock Robin, he became anxious about the incident that happened to him last night. He is shown to be extremely strict and serious when it comes to incidents that occur within such as trying to find a culprit involved with Cock Robin. Additionally, he is shown to be zero-tolerant in silencing commotions when he is present during a court meeting where he would occasionally pound his gavel to silence the overlapping noises. Despite this, he is also shown to be awed when he stared at Jenny Wren who is looking for the culprit behind Cock Robin.
Physical appearance[]
Oliver is a large owl with light brown plumage all over his body. He is also shown to have a rounded face mixed with dark brown plumage with a pale gray face as well as a pair of yellow eyes. He wears a large black judge coat around his body with a red bowtie for his neck with a white collar sticking out. He also wears professor hat as well as a pair of glasses.
Role in the short[]
Oliver is first seen banging his gavel, silencing the commotion in the courtroom during the "Criminal Court No. 1" event. He asks the audience of birds to know who is the culprit who killed Cock Robin while the District Attorney asks a blackbird if he was the one behind this, which he doesn't know if he really did, just before the Blue-Jay Cops send him to jail while Legs Sparrow arrives at the witness box. Oliver approaches Legs and asks him if he really is the true culprit behind this, which the latter denies just before the cops take him away, followed by a cuckoo placed onto the nest. Oliver and the District Attorney later approach the cuckoo, telling him if he is the real culprit. The two get no response from the cuckoo, just as neither Oliver, the Attorney, nor the Jury knows who really "killed" Cock Robin.
Furious that the case is still not solved yet, Oliver goes into rage trying to find the culprit behind Cock Robin, only for the conversation to be interrupted when Jenny Wren appears and approaches him. Jenny introduces herself to Oliver and tries to figure out who is the culprit behind this just as Jenny suggests to the judge to hang all the culprits who "killed" Cock Robin. This, however, was disrupted, when Dan Cupid was revealed to be the real culprit where he tells Oliver that he fired an arrow at Cock Robin as he tells him that he is not dead. As a result, this closes the case of the culprit (also cancelling the hangings of the respective witnesses' bad reputations of feeling guilty) involved with Cock Robin as Jenny finds out that he is alive after all.
Trivia[]
- Oliver's name was not mentioned in the short and his name was only revealed in the character model sheet.
- Oliver Owl shared the same name and species of a character from the earliest Looney Tunes cartoons.