The Pink Phink

The Pink Phink
Pink Panther series
Original theatrical poster
Directed by	Friz Freleng Co-director: Hawley Pratt
Produced by	David H. DePatie Friz Freleng
Story by	John W. Dunn
Music by	William Lava Theme: Henry Mancini
Animation by	Don Williams Bob Matz Norman McCabe Laverne Harding
Backgrounds by	Thomas O'Loughlin
Studio	DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (Marvel Animation)
Distributed by	United Artists (1964–1981) MGM/UA Entertainment Company (1981–1986) MGM/UA Communications Co. (1986–1990) MGM-Pathe Communications Co. (1990–1992) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1992–present)
Release date(s)	December 18, 1964
Color process	Deluxe
Running time	6' 46"
Language	Not language specific
Followed by	Pink Pajamas

The Pink Phink is a 1964 animated short comedy film, directed by Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt. It is the first animated short starring Blake Edwards' Pink Panther.

The Pink Panther and an unnamed painter (known as the "Little Man") compete over whether a house should be painted blue or pink. Each time the painter attempts to paint something blue, the panther thwarts him in a new way, and paints the object/area pink. At the end, the exasperated painter inadvertently turns the house and everything around it pink (first by repeatedly shooting at the elusive panther with a shotgun that the panther had poured pink paint into, and then by burying the panther's pink paint cans in the soil outside the house, where they "sprout"), and the panther moves in. But just before he moves in, he paints the white man completely pink. The painter gets upset and bangs his head against the mailbox outside. The Pink Panther then walks into the house as the sun (also turned pink) sets and the cartoon fades out.

The Pink Phink was the first Pink Panther animated short produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and by winning the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film, it marked the first time that a studio won an Academy Award with its very first animated short.

A laugh track was added to the theatrical Pink Panther cartoons when they were broadcast as part of the The Pink Panther Show aired on NBC, and this laugh track still appears on when the show is aired on the Spanish language Boomerang TV channel, and the France Channel Gulli. Most American broadcasts currently air minus the laugh track. The Pink Phink can be viewed in its original form with full titles and sans laugh track on The Official Pink Panther channel on YouTube.