Red Hair Trivia

Lucille Ball was born a brunette, but dyed her hair blond for her early days in Hollywood. When she was about to make her first film for MGM in 1942 (“Du Barry Was a Lady”), Sydney Guilaroff, the studio’s chief hair stylist, made a discovery that would change her for the rest of her life. “The hair is brown,” he said after looking at the 31-year-old rising star, “but the soul is on fire.” So he dyed Ball’s hair Tango Red (a shade between carrot and strawberry), which it remained until she died.

Incidentally, Betty Boop's original hair color was red.

Cartoon Character Original Names

Tweety was not specifically named in the original cartoon, but staff called him Orson.

Mickey Mouse was originally to be named Mortimer by Walt Disney until his wife suggested the friendlier-sounding “Mickey.”

Pluto was originally Minnie’s dog Rover. He then became Pluto a few months after the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

Goofy was originally Dippy Dawg for a few years until 1934, when he became Goofy.

Elmer Fudd was originally Egghead until the 1940 cartoon “Elmer’s Candid Camera.”

Mighty Mouse was Super Mouse until another cartoon character by the same name came out. It was changed to Mighty to avoid confusion.

Betty Boop was originally called "Nancy Lee" or "Nan McGrew" in a few episodes. She was also originally a poodle. In her first official color cartoon, she was actually portrayed as a redhead. Later she was changed back to black hair and a red dress.