A great set of images showing the opening scenes of all episodes from the classic Pink Panther cartoon (and other cartoons) are on show at the DePatie-Freleng website . The opening scenes are created by the studio DePatie-Freleng (DFE). Below is a brief history on DePatie-Freleng;

“DePatie-Freleng was founded by director Isadore “Friz” Freleng and producer David H. DePatie in early 1960s, when Warner Brothers shut down their animation department. DePatie-Freleng (often abbreviated DFE) mostly made animated commercials for television, but they’re big break came when Blake Edwards commissioned them to create an animated opening for his movie, “The Pink Panther”. This opening introduced the cartoon character Pink Panther to the world, and the animated opening literally became more successful than the movie itself. Despite theatrical short business dying in 1960s, United Artists agreed to release their theatrical shorts (UA previously released shorts from Walt Disney and Walter Lantz) and continued to do so right until 1980.”

The DePatie-Freleng website covers the studio’s entire history so make your way there to see some great retro cartoon work.