Look up simpson in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Simpson may refer to:

Places[link]

Antarctica[link]

• Simpson Peak, a mountain in the Scott Mountains (Antarctica)

Australia[link]

• Simpson, Victoria, a small town
• Simpson Desert

Canada[link]

• Simpson, Saskatchewan
• Simpson Pass, a mountain pass on the British Columbia-Alberta boundary
• Simpson Peak (Canada), the northernmost named peak in the Cassiar Mountains, British Columbia
• Simpson Peninsula, Nunavut
• Simpson River, a river in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia (also North Simpson River)
• Simpson's River, an historical name for the Nass River

Chile[link]

• Simpson River

United Kingdom[link]

• Simpson, Buckinghamshire

United States[link]

• Simpson, Pope County, Arkansas
• Simpson, Illinois
• Simpson, Indiana
• Simpson, Kansas
• Simpson, Louisiana
• Simpson, Minnesota
• Simpson, North Carolina
• Simpson County, in Kentucky
• Simpson County, Mississippi
• Simpson Creek, in West Virginia
• Simpson Township (disambiguation)

People[link]

This article is incomplete. Please help to improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (April 2012)

• Cody Simpson, Australian pop/R&B singer
• Jessica Simpson, American pop singer and actress
• Ashlee Simpson, American pop singer and actress, younger sister of Jessica Simpson
• Galton and Simpson, scriptwriters
• John Simpson Kirkpatrick, iconic Australian figure of World War I ("Simpson and his donkey")
• O. J. Simpson

In fiction[link]

• The Simpsons, popular animated sitcom airing from 1989 through present
  • The Simpson family, central characters of the series The Simpsons

Schools[link]

• Simpson College, in Indianola, Iowa
• Simpson University, in Redding, California

Other uses[link]

• Simpson (appliance manufacturer), former manufacturer and brand of whitegoods in Australia
• Simpson index, a diversity index in ecology
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, law firm
• Simpson Performance Products, an American motorsports parts supplier
• Simpsons (department store), defunct Canadian department store
• Simpsons of Piccadilly, a defunct clothing store in London
• Simpson's paradox, in statistics
• Simpson's rule, in mathematics

See also[link]

• Simson (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company which debuted December 17, 1989.

Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart and Lisa. She is often seen sucking on her pacifier and, when she walks, she trips over her clothing and falls on her face (this being a running gag, being used much more in earlier seasons). Being an infant, she cannot talk. Therefore, she is the least seen and heard in the Simpson family.

Maggie's squeaking and occasional speaking parts are currently provided by Nancy Cartwright, but she has also been voiced by guest stars James Earl Jones, Elizabeth Taylor and Jodie Foster, and by series regulars Yeardley Smith and Harry Shearer. Maggie has appeared in various media relating to The Simpsons – including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials and comic books – and has inspired an entire line of merchandise.

[edit] Role in The Simpsons

The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age, and as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes.^[2] Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart and Lisa. When Marge became pregnant with Bart, she and Homer got married at a chapel in Las Vegas. To support his impending family, Homer all but demanded a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, impressing its owner, Mr Burns, with his aggressive submissiveness.^[3] When Marge became pregnant with Lisa, two years later, she and Homer bought their first house. Another six years later, Homer felt financially secure enough to finally quit his job at the Power Plant and take his dream job at Barney's Bowlarama. However, Marge became pregnant with Maggie, so Homer, once again unable to support his family, was forced to reapply for his old job. By the time Maggie was born, Homer had shown great signs of distress, but he managed to find motivation in the form of his newborn baby girl.^[4]

During the earlier seasons of the show, Maggie's equivalent of a hallmark was to trip over her clothing and fall on her face while trying to walk, causing a loud thud on the floor,^[5] but this was toned down in the later seasons. She has penchant for her pacifier, on which she is always seen sucking.^[5]

Maggie has performed a number of feats that suggest she is a baby genius. She has spelled out E=MC² with her baby blocks, driven Homer's car, escaped from the Springfield daycare center,^[6] and written her name on an Etch A Sketch.^[5] Maggie is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. She shows a high degree of dexterity, and she once hit Homer on the head with a mallet and shot a dart at a photograph of him in imitation of Itchy and Scratchy.^[7] Despite her age, Maggie is a formidable marksman, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" where she shoots Mr. Burns with a handgun that falls into her hands,^[8] and in a more intentional manner during "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" where she is able to non-fatally shoot a group of mobsters in rapid succession with a rifle that she apparently hides in her crib.^[6]

Maggie is usually frightened and exasperated by Homer's attempts to bond with her, but has on several occasions stepped in to save Homer's life: once from drowning,^[9] once from being shot by mobsters,^[6] once from being kidnapped by a tow truck driver,^[10] and once from being shot by Russ Cargill, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency‎.^[11]

Character[link]

Creation[link]

Matt Groening first conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction,^[12] and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family. The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening's youngest sister.^[13][14] Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19, 1987 in the short "Good Night".^[15] In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series that would air on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show.^[16]

The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.^[17] The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.^[12] Maggie's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Lisa shares her hairline.^[18] While designing Maggie and Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles".^[19] At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white and when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".^[20]

Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but was scripted to show any emotions that the scene required.^[21] Maggie's comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk, and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the Tracey Ullman period. In the early seasons of the show, Maggie would suck her pacifier over other character's dialogue, but this was discontinued because the producers found it too distracting.^[22]

Voice[link]

With few exceptions, Maggie never speaks but is very participatory in the events around her, emoting with subtle gestures and facial expressions. Maggie's first lines were spoken in "Good Night", the first short to air on The Tracey Ullman Show, after the family falls asleep. On this occasion, Liz Georges provided the voice of Maggie.^[23]

Although she had previously spoken in fantasies and dream sequences, Maggie's first word spoken in the normal continuity of the series occurred in "Lisa's First Word", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor.^[24][25] Although it was only one word ("Daddy"), Taylor had to record the part numerous times before the producers were satisfied.^[26] James Earl Jones voiced Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V".^[27] Maggie would later have brief dialogue in "Treehouse of Horror IX", voiced by Harry Shearer, who used his Kang voice.^[28] In earlier episodes, Yeardley Smith did many of Maggie's squeaks, cries, laughs and occasional speaking parts,^[29] although in the later seasons her parts are done by Nancy Cartwright.^[30] Jodie Foster voiced a Howard Roark-inspired Maggie in the season 20 episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure".^[31]

Reception[link]

In 2000, Maggie, along with the rest of the Simpson family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Nancy Basile at About.com said her favorite Maggie scenes on The Simpsons are the ones that show her acting more like an adult than a one-year old. Some of her favorite Maggie scenes include scenes from "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" and "Lady Bouvier's Lover" where Maggie meets her unibrowed archenemy, Baby Gerald, and the one scene from "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" in which Bart is supposed to babysit Maggie, but she escapes and takes Homer's car for a ride.^[32] Basile also added that "whether watching 'The Happy Elves' or falling down, Maggie is the cutest baby in the Simpson family".^[32] Comedian Ricky Gervais named "And Maggie Makes Three" his second favorite episode of the show and said that the scene in the end where Homer puts up pictures of Maggie over his desk gave him "a lump in the throat thinking about it".^[33] Todd Everett at Variety called the scene in "Lisa's First Word" where Maggie speaks her first word "quite a heart-melter".^[34]

In 2006, Elizabeth Taylor was named thirteenth on IGN's "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances" list for her performance as Maggie in "Lisa's First Word".^[35] James Earl Jones, voice of Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V", was named the seventh greatest guest star on the show in the same list.^[35] In 2000, Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.^[36]

Merchandising[link]

Four children's books, written by Maggie Groening (after whom Maggie was named) and illustrated by Matt Groening, entitled Maggie Simpson's Book of Animals, Maggie Simpson's Counting Book, Maggie Simpson's Book of Colors and Shapes and Maggie Simpson's Alphabet Book were released on September 12, 1991.^[37] Other merchandise includes dolls, posters, figurines, jigsaw puzzles, and T-shirts.^[38] Maggie was made into an action figure as part of the World of Springfield toy line, and was released in the wave one playset "Living Room", featuring her and Marge in the living room of the Simpsons house.^[39] Maggie has appeared in commercials for Burger King, Butterfinger, C.C. Lemon, Domino's Pizza, Ramada Inn and Subway.

Maggie has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons. She is a character in every one of The Simpsons video games, including the most recent, The Simpsons Game.^[40] Alongside the television series, Maggie regularly appears in issues of the Simpsons comics, which were first published on November 29, 1993 and are still issued monthly.^[41][42] Maggie also plays a role in The Simpsons Ride, launched in 2008 at Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood.^[43] Maggie stars in the 3D short-film The Longest Daycare, which will be shown in theaters before Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012).^[44]

On April 9, 2009, the United States Postal Service unveiled a series of five 44 cent stamps featuring Maggie and the four other members of the Simpson family. They are the first characters from a television series to receive this recognition while the show is still in production.^[45] The stamps, designed by Matt Groening, were made available for purchase on May 7, 2009.^[46][47] In a USPS poll, Maggie's stamp was voted the most popular of the five.^[48]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. New York City: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. 

External links[link]

	The Simpsons portal
	Animation portal
	Television portal
	Comedy portal
	Fictional characters portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Maggie Simpson

• Maggie Simpson at TheSimpsons.com
• Maggie Simpson at the Internet Movie Database
• Maggie Simpson's profile at IGN.com

Cody Simpson
Simpson on Radio Disney in August 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Cody Robert Simpson
Born	(1997-01-11) 11 January 1997 (age 15) Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Origin	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Genres	Pop, R&B[1]
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician and dancer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar and piano
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records/Atlantic (2010–present)
Website	codysimpson.com

Cody Robert Simpson (born 11 January 1997) is an Australian pop singer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who is currently signed to US record label Atlantic Records.^[2]

Early life[link]

Simpson was born to Brad and Angie Simpson. He has two younger siblings, Tom and Alli.^[3] He is also a talented swimmer, winning two gold medals at the Queensland Swimming Championships.^[4] Simpson trained at the Miami Swimming Club under coach Ken Nixon.^[5] Simpson's mother Angie works as a volunteer at the club.^[6]

Simpson began to record songs in his bedroom during the summer of 2009 on YouTube, performing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz,^[7] "Cry Me a River"^[8] and "Señorita"^[9] by Justin Timberlake, "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5,^[10] and his own songs, "One"^[11] and "Perfect".^[12] He was subsequently discovered on YouTube by Shawn Campbell,^[13] a Grammy-nominated record producer who has produced for Jay-Z and other artists.

Career[link]

Simpson's rise to recognition was featured on The 7.30 Report in December 2009.^[14] He released his debut single, "iYiYi" (which features American rapper Flo Rida), on 15 May 2010. It was digitally released on 30 May 2010.^[15] The music video for "iYiYi" was released on 30 June 2010.

^[16] The music video for Simpson's second single, "Summertime", was released on 20 September 2010.^[17]

Simpson relocated to Los Angeles in June 2010 with his family to record his songs with Atlantic Records and his producer Shawn Campbell.^[18] His manager is Michael 'Blue' Williams. ^[19] That same month, Simpson appeared on Sunrise.^[20] On 22 June 2010, it was announced that Simpson would participate in the Camplified 2010 Tour, along with other artists, touring across the United States. The tour began on 5 July 2010 and ended on 14 August 2010. It was also Simpson's first public tour.^[21] While on tour, Simpson performed a song called "Love So Strong". In an interview with Popstar Magazine, Simpson stated that his inspiration for the song was "A girl, back home. That's all I can say."^[22]

On 4 December 2010, it was announced on Simpson's official website that an EP entitled 4 U would be released through iTunes on 21 December 2010. The EP includes five tracks in total, four of them being previously unreleased.^[23]

Simpson recorded a remake of the song "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves as the main theme song for the Easter-themed live-action/CGI-animated film Hop.

On 23 April 2011, Simpson released the single "On My Mind" through his website. It was released on iTunes on 23 May 2011 and the music video was released on 17 June 2011.

Simpson is currently working on tracks for an upcoming EP on Atlantic Records. It will be released on 20 September 2011. Simpson's best friend, Campbell Carsley announced the release date on twitter on 18 July 2011. It will be called Coast To Coast, the same name as his current mall tour. On 22 September, it was announced that Cody Simpson hired Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun as his manager.^[24][25]

In December 2011 The Wish Factory released a Cody Simpson doll in two formats.^[26]

Touring[link]

Simpson in concert at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell, Connecticut on 5 June 2011

Simpson has been on tour recently promoting his new EP, making stops at various locations in the United States. Most notably, Simpson participated in the "Camplified 2010" tour in June.^[27] Other tours include a middle school tour that took place from October–November 2010 and covered 9 U.S states.^[28]

In May 2011, Simpson was "egged" during a live performance at Miranda Fair in Sydney. Simpson told Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he wasn't in fact hit by the eggs and that he was upset on behalf of his fans because the remainder of his show was cancelled because of security concerns.^[29][30]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Paradise (2012)

Extended plays

• 4 U (2010)
• Coast to Coast (2011)

Tours[link]

• Waiting 4U Tour
• Coast to Coast Mall Tour
• Welcome to Paradise

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cody Simpson

• Official website
• Cody Simpson at the Internet Movie Database
• Cody Simpson on Twitter
• Cody Simpson's's channel on YouTube

Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Bart was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on Life in Hell but instead decided to create a new set of characters. While the rest of the characters were named after Groening's family members, Bart's name was an anagram of the word brat. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family received its own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989.

At ten years old, Bart is the eldest child and only son of Homer and Marge, and the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Bart's most prominent character traits are his mischievousness, rebelliousness and disrespect for authority. He has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons, including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, and comic books; he has also inspired an entire line of merchandise. In casting, Nancy Cartwright originally planned to audition for the role of Lisa, while Yeardley Smith tried out for Bart. Smith's voice was too high for a boy, so she was given the role of Lisa. Cartwright found that Lisa was not interesting at the time, so instead auditioned for Bart, which she thought was a better role. Hallmarks of the character include his chalkboard gags in the opening sequence; his prank calls to Moe the bartender; and his catchphrases "Eat my shorts", "¡Ay, caramba!", and "Don't have a cow, man!"

During the first two seasons of The Simpsons (1989–1991), Bart was the show's breakout character and "Bartmania" ensued. Bart Simpson T-shirts sporting various slogans and catchphrases became popular, selling at a rate of a million per day at their peak. The song "Do the Bartman" became a number one charting single and the seventh best-selling song of 1991 in the United Kingdom. Bart's rebellious attitude and pride at underachieving caused many parents and educators to cast him as a bad role model for children. A T-shirt reading "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?" was banned in several public schools. Around the third season, the series started to focus more on the family as a group, although Bart remains one of the most prominent characters on the series. Time named Bart one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, and he was named "entertainer of the year" in 1990 by Entertainment Weekly. Nancy Cartwright has won several awards for voicing Bart, including a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 and an Annie Award in 1995. In 2000, Bart, along with the rest of his family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[edit] Role in The Simpsons

The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not age, and as such the show is always assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Bart's year of birth was stated in "I Married Marge" (season three, 1991) as being in the early 1980s.^[1] He lived with his parents in the Lower East of Springfield until the Simpsons bought their first house. When Lisa was born, Bart was at first jealous of the attention she received, but he soon warmed to her when he discovered that "Bart" was her first word.^[2] Bart's first day of school was in the early 1990s. His initial enthusiasm was crushed by an uncaring teacher and Marge became worried that something was truly wrong with Bart. One day during recess, Bart met Milhouse and started entertaining him and other students with various gestures and rude words. Principal Skinner told him "you've just started school, and the path you choose now may be the one you follow for the rest of your life! Now, what do you say?" In his moment of truth, Bart responded, "eat my shorts".^[3] The episode "That '90s Show" (season nineteen, 2008) contradicted much of the backstory's time frame; for example, it was revealed that Homer and Marge were childless in the early 1990s.^[4]

Bart's hobbies include skateboarding, watching television (especially The Krusty the Clown Show which includes The Itchy & Scratchy Show), reading comic books (especially Radioactive Man), playing video games and generally causing mischief.^[5] His favorite movies are Jaws and the Star Wars Trilogy. For the duration of the series, Bart has attended Springfield Elementary School and has been in Edna Krabappel's fourth grade class. While he is too young to hold a full-time job, he has had occasional part time jobs. He works as a bartender at Fat Tony's social club in "Bart the Murderer" (season three, 1991);^[6] as Krusty the Clown's assistant in "Bart Gets Famous" (season five, 1994);^[7] as a doorman in Springfield's burlesque house, the Maison Derrière in "Bart After Dark" (season eight, 1996);^[8] and briefly owns his own factory in "Homer's Enemy". (season eight, 1997)^[9]

Character[link]

Creation[link]

Matt Groening created Bart while waiting in James L. Brooks' office.

Matt Groening first conceived of Bart and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986, while waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights, Groening decided to go in another direction.^[10] He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, naming the characters after members of his own family. For the rebellious son, he substituted "Bart", an anagram of the word brat, for his own name,^[10] as he decided it would have been too obvious for him to have named the character 'Matt'.^[11] Bart's middle initial J is a "tribute" to animated characters such as Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, who received their middle initial from Jay Ward.^[12][13] According to the book Bart Simpson's Guide to Life, Bart's full middle name is "JoJo".^[14]

Bart had originally been envisioned as "a much milder, troubled youth given to existential angst who talks to himself", but the character was changed based on Cartwright's voice acting.^[15] Groening has credited several different figures with providing inspiration for Bart: Matt Groening's older brother Mark provided much of the motivation for Bart's attitude.^[16][17][18] Bart was conceived as an extreme version of the typical misbehaving child character, merging all of the extreme traits of characters such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn into one person.^[11] Groening describes Bart as "what would happen if Eddie Haskell [from Leave it to Beaver] got his own show".^[19] Groening has also said that he found the premise of Dennis the Menace disappointing and was inspired to create a character who was actually a menace.^[20]

Bart made his debut with the rest of the Simpson family on April 19, 1987 in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night".^[21] In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series airing on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Bart and the Simpson family remained the main characters on this new show.^[22]

Design[link]

The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.^[23] The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.^[10] Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. The number was later limited to nine spikes, all of the same size.^[24] At the time Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that [Bart] would eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes which appear to be an extension of his head.^[25] The features of Bart's character design are generally not used in other characters; for example, no other characters in current episodes have Bart's spiky hairline, although several background characters in the first few seasons shared the trait.^[26]

The basic rectangular shape of Bart's head is described by director Mark Kirkland as a coffee can. Homer's head is also rectangular (with a dome on top), while spheres are used for Marge, Lisa, and Maggie.^[27] Different animators have different methods of drawing Bart. Former director Jeffrey Lynch starts off with a box, then adds the eyes, then the mouth, then the hair spikes, ear, and then the rest of the body. Matt Groening normally starts with the eyes, then the nose, and the rest of the outline of Bart's head. Many of the animators have trouble drawing Bart's spikes evenly; one trick they use is to draw one on the right, one on the left, one in the middle, then continue to add one in the middle of the blank space until there are nine. Originally, whenever Bart was to be drawn from an angle looking down so the top of his head was seen, Groening wanted there to be spikes along the outline of his head, and in the middle as well. Instead, Wes Archer and David Silverman drew him so that there was an outline of the spikes, then just a smooth patch in the middle because "it worked graphically."^[28] In "The Blue and the Gray", Bart (along with Lisa and Maggie) finally questions why his hair has no visible border to separate head from hair.

In the season seven (1995) episode "Treehouse of Horror VI", Bart (along with Homer) was computer animated into a three dimensional character for the first time for the "Homer³" segment of the episode. The computer animation directors was provided by Pacific Data Images.^[29] While designing the 3D model of the character, the animators did not know how they would show Bart's hair. They realized that there were vinyl Bart dolls in production and purchased one to use as a model.^[29]

Voice[link]

Nancy Cartwright is the voice of Bart Simpson.

Bart's voice is provided by Nancy Cartwright, who voices several other child characters on The Simpsons, including Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and Kearney.^[30] While the roles of Homer and Marge were given to Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner because they were already a part of The Tracey Ullman Show cast,^[31] the producers decided to hold casting for the roles of Bart and Lisa. Yeardley Smith had initially been asked to audition for the role of Bart, but casting director Bonita Pietila believed her voice was too high. Smith later recalled, "I always sounded too much like a girl. I read two lines as Bart and they said, 'Thanks for coming!'"^[32] Smith was given the role of Lisa instead.^[33] On March 13, 1987, Nancy Cartwright went in to audition for the role of Lisa. After arriving at the audition, she found that Lisa was simply described as the "middle child" and at the time did not have much personality. Cartwright became more interested in the role of Bart, who was described as "devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, [and] clever".^[34] Matt Groening let her try out for the part instead, and upon hearing her read, gave her the job on the spot.^[35] Cartwright is the only one of the six main Simpsons cast members who had been professionally trained in voice acting prior to working on the show.^[36]

Cartwright's normal speaking voice is said to have "no obvious traces of Bart".^[37] The voice came naturally to Cartwright; prior to The Tracey Ullman Show, she had used elements of it in shows such as My Little Pony, Snorks, and Pound Puppies.^[37] Cartwright describes Bart's voice as easy to perform, saying, "Some characters take a little bit more effort, upper respiratory control, whatever it is technically. But Bart is easy to do. I can just slip into that without difficulty."^[37] She traditionally does five or six readings of every line in order to give the producers more to work with.^[35] In flashforward episodes, Cartwright still provides the voice of Bart. For "Lisa's Wedding", (season six, 1995) Bart's voice was electronically lowered.^[38]

Despite Bart's fame, Cartwright is rarely recognized in public. On occasions when she is recognized on the street and asked to perform Bart's voice in front of children, Cartwright will refuse because it "freaks [them] out".^[37] During the first season of The Simpsons, the Fox Network did not allow Cartwright to give interviews because they did not want to publicize that Bart was voiced by a woman.^[39]

Until 1998, Cartwright was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices.^[40] The dispute was resolved and Cartwright received $125,000 per episode until 2004, when the voice actors demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode.^[40] The dispute was resolved a month later,^[41] and Cartwright's pay rose to $250,000 per episode.^[42] After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors receive approximately $400,000 per episode.^[43]

Hallmarks[link]

In the opening sequence of many Simpsons episodes, the camera zooms in on Springfield Elementary School, where Bart can be seen writing a message on the chalkboard. This message, which changes from episode to episode, has become known as the "chalkboard gag".^[44] Chalkboard messages may involve political humor such as "The First Amendment does not cover burping",^[45] pop culture references such as "I can't see dead people",^[46] and meta-references such as "I am not a 32 year old woman" and "Nobody reads these anymore".^[44] The animators are able to produce the chalkboard gags quickly and in some cases have changed them to fit current events. For example, the chalkboard gag for "Homer the Heretic" (season four, 1992) read, "I will not defame New Orleans." The gag had been written as an apology to the city for a controversial song in the previous week's episode, which called the city a "home of pirates, drunks and whores".^[47][48] Many episodes do not feature a chalkboard gag because a shorter opening title sequence, where the chalkboard gags are cut, is used to make more room for story and plot development.

One of Bart's early hallmarks were his prank calls to Moe's Tavern owner Moe Szyslak in which Bart calls Moe and asks for a gag name. Moe tries to find that person in the bar, but rapidly realizes it is a prank call and angrily threatens Bart. These calls were based on a series of prank calls known as the Tube Bar recordings. Moe was based partly on Tube Bar owner Louis "Red" Deutsch, whose often profane responses inspired Moe's violent side.^[49] The prank calls debuted in "Homer's Odyssey", (season one, 1990) the third episode to air, but were included in "Some Enchanted Evening", the first episode of the series that was produced.^[50] As the series progressed, it became more difficult for the writers to come up with a fake name and to write Moe's angry response, so the pranks were dropped as a regular joke during the fourth season.^[50][51] They have occasionally resurfaced on the show, the most recent being the season 20 episode "Lost Verizon" (2008), although in that case Bart called various bartenders around the world and not Moe.^[52]

The catchphrase "Eat My Shorts" was an ad-lib by Cartwright in one of the original table readings, harking back to an incident when she was in high school. Cartwright was in the marching band at Fairmont High School, and one day while performing, the band chanted "Eat my shorts" rather than the usual "Fairmont West! Fairmont West!"^[32] Bart's other catchphrases, "¡Ay, caramba!" and "Don't have a cow, man!", were featured on t-shirts manufactured during the production of the early seasons of The Simpsons.^[53][54] "Cowabunga" is also commonly associated with Bart, although it was mostly used on the show after it had been used as a slogan on the T-shirts.^[55] The use of catchphrase-based humor was mocked in the episode "Bart Gets Famous" (season five, 1994) in which Bart lands a popular role on Krusty the Clown's show for saying the line "I didn't do it."^[56] The writers chose the phrase "I didn't do it" because they wanted a "lousy" phrase "to point out how really crummy things can become really popular".^[57]

Bart commonly appears nude in the show, although in every case only his buttocks are visible.^[58] In The Simpsons Movie (2007), Bart appears in a sequence where he is skateboarding while fully nude; several different items cover his genitalia, but for a brief moment his penis can be seen. The scene was one of the first worked on for the film, but the producers were very nervous about the segment because they thought it would earn the movie an R rating.^[59] The film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America and PG by the British Board of Film Classification.^[60] The scene was later included by Entertainment Weekly in their list of "30 Unforgettable Nude Scenes."^[61]

Personality[link]

Bart's character traits of rebelliousness and disrespect for authority have been compared to that of America's founding fathers, and he has been described as an updated version of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, rolled into one.^[63] In his book Planet Simpson, Chris Turner describes Bart as a nihilist, a philosophical position that argues that existence is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.^[62]

Bart's rebellious attitude has made him a disruptive student at Springfield Elementary School, where Bart is an underachiever and proud of it.^[64] He is constantly at odds with his teacher Ms. Krabappel, Principal Skinner, and occasionally Groundskeeper Willie.^[65] Bart does poorly in school and is well aware of it, having once declared, "I am dumb, okay? Dumb as a post! Think I'm happy about it?"^[64] On one occasion, Lisa successfully proves that Bart is dumber than a hamster.^[66] In "Separate Vocations" (season three, 1992) Bart becomes hall monitor and his grades go up, suggesting that he struggles mainly because he does not pay attention, not because he is stupid.^[67] This idea is reinforced in "Brother's Little Helper", (season eleven, 1999) in which it is revealed that Bart suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder.^[68] His lack of smarts can also be attributed to the hereditary "Simpson Gene", which affects the intelligence of most male members of the Simpson family.^[69] Although he gets into endless trouble and can be sadistic, shallow and selfish, Bart also exhibits many qualities of high integrity. He has, on a few occasions, helped Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel:^[70] In "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" (season five, 1994), Bart accidentally got Skinner fired and befriended him outside of the school environment. Bart missed having Skinner as an adversary and got him rehired, knowing that this would mean that the two could no longer be friends.^[71]

Due to Bart's mischievousness and Homer's often uncaring and incompetent behavior, the two have a turbulent relationship. Bart will often address Homer by his given name instead of "Dad", while Homer in turn often refers to him as "the boy".^[72] Homer has a short temper and when enraged by Bart will strangle him on impulse in a cartoonish manner.^[73] One of the original ideas for the show was that Homer would be "very angry" and oppressive toward Bart, but these characteristics were toned down somewhat as their characters were explored.^[74] Marge is a much more caring, understanding and nurturing parent than Homer, but she also refers to Bart as "a handful" and is often embarrassed by his antics.^[75] In "Marge Be Not Proud", (season seven, 1995) she felt she was mothering Bart too much and began acting more distant towards him after he was caught shoplifting. At the beginning of the episode, Bart protested at her over-mothering but as her attitude changed, he felt bad and made it up to her.^[76] Despite his attitude, Bart is sometimes willing to experience humiliation if it means pleasing his mom.^[77] Marge has expressed an understanding for her "special little guy" and has defended him on many occasions. She once said "I know Bart can be a handful, but I also know what he's like inside. He's got a spark. It's not a bad thing... Of course, it makes him do bad things."^[75]

Bart shares a sibling rivalry with his younger sister, Lisa, but has a buddy-like relationship with his youngest sister Maggie, due to her infant state. While Bart has often hurt Lisa, and even fought her physically, the two are often very close.^[66][72] Bart cares for Lisa as deeply and has always apologized for going too far.^[79] He also believes Lisa to be his superior when it comes to solving problems and frequently goes to her for advice.^[67] Bart is also highly protective of Lisa: When a bully destroys her box of cupcakes in "Bart the General", (season one, 1990), Bart immediately stands up for her.^[80]

Bart is best friends with Milhouse Van Houten, although Bart has at times shown embarrassment about their friendship.^[81] Bart is a bad influence on Milhouse, and the two have been involved in a lot of mischief together. Because of this behavior, Milhouse's mother forbids Milhouse from playing with Bart in "Homer Defined" (season three, 1991). While at first he pretended that he did not care, Bart eventually realizes that he needs Milhouse, and Marge manages to convince Mrs. Van Houten to reconsider.^[75] While Bart is portrayed as a popular cool boy,^[81] he and Milhouse are frequent targets for bullies, including Dolph, Jimbo, Kearney, and Nelson Muntz. Milhouse describes their social standing as "Three and a half. We get beat up, but we get an explanation."^[70] While Bart and Nelson have been adversaries in the past, with Bart once declaring war on him,^[80] they have also been close friends at times.^[82]

Bart is one of the biggest fans of children's television host Krusty the Clown. He once declared, "I've based my whole life on Krusty's teachings," and sleeps in a room filled with Krusty merchandise. He has helped the clown on many occasions, for example, foiling Sideshow Bob's attempt to frame Krusty for armed robbery in "Krusty Gets Busted" (season one, 1990), reuniting Krusty with his estranged father in "Like Father, Like Clown".^[83] and helping Krusty return to the air with a comeback special and reignite his career in "Krusty Gets Kancelled".^[84] For his part, Krusty has remained largely ignorant of Bart's help and treats Bart with disinterest.^[83] One summer, Bart enthusiastically attended Kamp Krusty, which turned out to be a disaster, with Krusty nowhere to be seen. Bart keeps his hopes up by believing that Krusty would show up, but is soon pushed over the edge, and finally decides that he is sick of Krusty's shoddy merchandise and takes over the camp. Krusty immediately visits the camp in hopes of ending the conflict and manages to appease Bart.^[85][86] One of the original ideas for the series was that Bart worshiped a television clown but had no respect for his father, although this was never directly explored.^[87][88] Because of this original plan, Krusty's design is basically Homer in clown make-up.^[32] When Bart foiled Sideshow Bob's plans in "Krusty Gets Busted", it sparked a long-standing feud between the two. The writers decided to have Bob repeatedly return to get revenge on Bart. They took the idea of the Coyote chasing the Road Runner and depicted Bob an intelligent person obsessed with catching a bratty boy.^[89] Bob has appeared in eleven episodes, generally plotting various evil schemes, but is always foiled in the end.^[90]

Reception and cultural influence[link]

Bartmania[link]

While later seasons would focus on Homer, Bart was the lead character in most of the first three seasons. In 1990, Bart quickly became one of the most popular characters on television in what was termed "Bartmania".^{[91][92][93][94]} He became the most prevalent Simpsons character on memorabilia, such as T-shirts. In the early 1990s, millions of T-shirts featuring Bart were sold;^[95] as many as one million were sold on some days.^[96] Believing Bart to be a bad role model, several American public schools banned T-shirts featuring Bart next to captions such as "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?" and "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')".^[97][98][99] The Simpsons merchandise sold well and generated $2 billion in revenue during the first 14 months of sales.^[97] The success of Bart Simpson merchandise inspired an entire line of black market counterfeit items, especially T-shirts. Some featured Bart announcing various slogans, others depicted redesigns of the character, including "Teenage Mutant Ninja Bart, Air Simpson Bart, [and] RastaBart".^[100] Matt Groening generally did not object to bootleg merchandise, but took exception to a series of "Nazi Bart" shirts which depicted Bart in Nazi uniform or as a white power skinhead.^[101] 20th Century Fox sued the creator of the shirts, who eventually agreed to stop making them.^[102]

Michael Jackson, who was a fan of Bart, wrote the song "Do the Bartman".

Due to the show's success, over the summer of 1990 the Fox Network decided to switch The Simpsons' timeslot so that it would move from 8:00 p.m. EST on Sunday night to the same time on Thursday, where it would compete with The Cosby Show on NBC, the number one show at the time.^[55][103] Through the summer, several news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry.^[55][96] The August 31, 1990 issue of Entertainment Weekly featured a picture of Bill Cosby wearing a Bart Simpson T-shirt.^[104] "Bart Gets an F" (season two, 1990) was the first episode to air against The Cosby Show, and it received a lower Nielsen rating, tying for eighth behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating. The rating is based on the number of household televisions that were tuned into the show, but Nielsen Media Research estimated that 33.6 million viewers watched the episode, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week. At the time, it was the most watched episode in the history of the Fox Network,^[105] and it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.^[106] Because of his popularity, Bart was often the most promoted member of the Simpson family in advertisements for the show, even for episodes in which he was not involved in the main plot.^[107]

Bart was described as "television's king of 1990",^[108] "television's brightest new star"^[109] and an "undiminished smash".^[96] Entertainment Weekly named Bart the "entertainer of the year" for 1990, writing that "Bart has proved to be a rebel who's also a good kid, a terror who's easily terrorized, and a flake who astonishes us, and himself, with serious displays of fortitude."^[110] In the United States congressional, senatorial and gubernatorial elections of 1990, Bart was one of the most popular write-in candidates, and in many areas was second only to Mickey Mouse amongst fictional characters.^[111][112] In the 1990 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Bart made his debut as one of the giant helium-filled balloons for which the parade is known. The Bart Simpson balloon has appeared at every parade since.^[113] This was referenced in The Simpsons in the episode "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", which aired the same day as the parade, where Homer tells Bart, "If you start building a balloon for every flash-in-the-pan cartoon character, you turn the parade into a farce!" Meanwhile, behind and unbeknownst to him, the television briefly shows a Bart Simpson balloon.^[79][114]

The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in September 1990 and was a success, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200^[115] and becoming certified 2x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[116] The first single from the album was the pop rap song "Do the Bartman", performed by Nancy Cartwright and released on November 20, 1990. The song was written by Michael Jackson, although he did not receive any credit.^[117] Jackson was a fan of The Simpsons, especially Bart,^[118] and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show.^[119] Jackson eventually guest starred in the episode "Stark Raving Dad" (season three, 1991) under the pseudonym John Jay Smith.^[120] While the song was never officially released as a single in the United States, it was successful in the United Kingdom. In 1991 it was the number one song in the UK for three weeks from February 16 to March 9 and was the seventh best-selling song of the year.^[121] It sold half a million copies and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on February 1, 1991.^[122]

Bart as a role model[link]

Bart's rebellious nature, which frequently resulted in no punishment for his misbehavior, led some parents and conservatives to characterize him as a poor role model for children.^[124][125] Robert Bianco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that "[Bart] outwits his parents and outtalks his teachers; in short, he's the child we wish we'd been, and fear our children will become."^[126] In schools, educators claimed that Bart was a "threat to learning" because of his "underachiever and proud of it" attitude and negative attitude regarding his education.^[127] Others described him as "egotistical, aggressive and mean-spirited".^[128] In response to the criticism, James L. Brooks said, "I'm very wary of television where everybody is supposed to be a role model, you don't run across that many role models in real life. Why should television be full of them?"^[129] Elizabeth Thoman, executive director of the Center for Media and Values in Los Angeles, commented, "If kids look up to Bart Simpson, we need to ask why we use television for all the role models in our society, a much larger issue. [...] As long as we perpetuate the idea of television as a place where you get all your role models, we're allowing television to become a school system."^[129]

In 1990 William Bennett, who at the time was drug czar of the United States, visited a drug treatment centre in Pittsburgh and upon noticing a poster of Bart remarked, "You guys aren’t watching The Simpsons, are you? That’s not going to help you any."^[130] When a backlash over the comment ensued, Bennett apologized, claiming he "was just kidding"^[131] and saying "I'll sit down with the little spike head. We'll straighten this thing out."^[132] In a 1991 interview, Bill Cosby described Bart as a bad role model for children, calling him "angry, confused, frustrated". In response, Matt Groening said, "That sums up Bart, all right. Most people are in a struggle to be normal he thinks normal is very boring, and does things that others just wished they dare do."^[133] On January 27, 1992, then-President George H. W. Bush said, "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons."^[97] The writers rushed out a tongue-in-cheek reply in the form of a short segment which aired three days later before a rerun of "Stark Raving Dad" in which Bart replied, "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too."^[134][135]

Although there were many critics of the character, favorable comments came from several quarters. Peggy Charren, president of Action for Children's Television, a grassroots organization dedicated to improving the quality of television programming offered to children, commented that "the Simpson family is one of the few thoughtful cartoons on commercial television. [...] How can you teach the Constitution if you ban Tshirts?"^[127] Columnist Erma Bombeck wrote, "Kids need to know that somewhere in this world is a contemporary who can pull off all the things they can only fantasize about, someone who can stick it to their parents once in a while and still be permitted to live."^[127] In 2003, Bart placed first in a poll of parents in the United Kingdom who were asked "which made-up character had the most influence" on children under 12 years old.^[136]

Commendations[link]

In 2000, Bart, along with the rest of the Simpson family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1998, Time named Bart one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. He was the only fictional character to make the list.^[54] He had previously appeared on the cover of the December 31, 1990 edition.^[137] He was also ranked #48 in TV Guide's "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time" in 1996^[138] and both he and Lisa ranked #11 in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" in 2002.^[139]

At the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1992, Cartwright won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing Bart in the season three episode "Separate Vocations". She shared the award with five other voice-actors from The Simpsons.^[140] Various episodes in which Bart is strongly featured have been nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program, including "Radio Bart" in 1992, "Future-Drama" in 2005, "The Haw-Hawed Couple" in 2006 and "Homer's Phobia", which won the award in 1997.^[141] In 1995, Cartwright won an Annie Award for "Voice Acting in the Field of Animation" for her portrayal of Bart in an episode.^[142] In 2000, Bart and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.^[143]

Merchandising[link]

Alongside t-shirts, Bart has been included in various other The Simpsons-related merchandise, including air fresheners, baseball caps, bumper stickers,^[96] cardboard standups, refrigerator magnets, key rings, buttons, dolls, posters, figurines, clocks, soapstone carvings, Chia Pets, bowling balls and boxer shorts.^[144][145] The Bart Book, a book about Bart's personality and attributes, was released in 2004.^[146][147] Other books include Bart Simpson's Guide to Life. The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer, which is not an official publication, includes a chapter analyzing Bart's character and comparing him to the "Nietzschean ideal".^[148]

Bart has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons. He has appeared in every one of The Simpsons video games, including Bart vs. the World, Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly, Bart vs. the Space Mutants, Bart's House of Weirdness, Bart vs. The Juggernauts, Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, Bart's Nightmare, Bart & the Beanstalk and The Simpsons Game, released in 2007.^[149] Alongside the television series, Bart regularly appears in issues of Simpsons Comics, which were first published on November 29, 1993 and are still issued monthly, and also has his own series called Bart Simpson Comics which have been released since 2000.^[150][151] Bart also plays a role in The Simpsons Ride, launched in 2008 at Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood.^[152]