Little Audrey (full name:
Audrey Smith) is a
fictional character, appearing in early 20th century folklore prior to her appropriation as the star in a series of
Paramount Pictures'
Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better-known
Little Lulu, devised after Paramount decided not to renew the license on the comic strip character created by
Marjorie Henderson Buell (AKA: "Marge"). Despite some superficial similarities between the two characters, the Famous animators were at pains to design Audrey in contrast to Lulu, adopting an entirely different color scheme and employing the stylistic conventions common to Famous Studios' later 1940s repertoire, as opposed to Buell's individualistic rendering of Little Lulu. Veteran animator
Bill Tytla was the designer of Little Audrey, reportedly inspired by his daughter Tammy (who was also his inspiration for Famous' version of Little Lulu, which he also worked on and directed several shorts with that character). The original voice of Little Lulu was performed by actress Cecil Roy (who also provided the voice of
Casper the Friendly Ghost). Little Audrey was instead voiced by
Mae Questel, who also voiced most of Paramount's other major female cartoon characters including
Betty Boop and
Olive Oyl.