Rocky and Bullwinkle

[Cato]

I have got to find out how they conquer the Metal-Munching Mice!!!

Our school seems infested with those, given the number of things going wrong per week!

I was just talking with a colleague about the satirical nature of Rocky and Bullwinkle.  A 30-something, he had never heard of the show!  "Satirical cartoons" to him are The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, etc. none of which would have been allowed on TV or in comic books 50 years ago.

Progress??? Rocky and Bullwinkle is an example of satire on various levels without crudity.  I can tolerate the modern shows, and see them as Aristophanic (South Park especially), but eventually it is just too much.

[Karl Henning]

And Mr Know-It-All!... "How to Disarm a Live 500-Megaton TNT Bomb in Your Own Workshop in Your Spare Time to Amuse Your Friends or Just Yourself Even."

[Karl Henning]

Rocky and Bullwinkle is an example of satire on various levels without crudity.

Exhibit A: Mr Know-It-All laying down "How To Be a Beatnik," daddy-O!

[Cato]

Exhibit A: Mr Know-It-All laying down "How To Be a Beatnik," daddy-O!

And Mr Know-It-All!... "How to Disarm a Live 500-Megaton TNT Bomb in Your Own Workshop in Your Spare Time to Amuse Your Friends or Just Yourself Even."

Those were (are) really funny!

To be sure, with modern life being a day-to-day satire, it is difficult to know how they would treat it.  How to satirize a satire?!   0:)

[Karl Henning]

The beatnik bit was marvelous, and in its wit, has not aged a day!

Metal-Munching Mice ends on a high arc:  Bullwinkle is revealed as a player of the ukelele (uke-loo-loo, he first calls it), there's a "sing-off" battle with Boris as The Big Cheese . . . Boris recovers to serve as Bullwinkle's agent, Tomsk Parkoff, and it's all a spoof of The King, and Bullwinkle is made over in Elvis's image, in glitter and blond pompadour, though he stands firm against spray-painting his antlers gold.

What stonking great fun!

[bigshot]

I'm friends with June Foray, and she told me that they're doing a Rocky and Bullwinkle revival, and they weren't even interested in having her audition for Rocky.

[Cato]

I'm friends with June Foray, and she told me that they're doing a Rocky and Bullwinkle revival, and they weren't even interested in having her audition for Rocky.

Wow!  I just discovered she is 95!!!

One of the oldest "voices" still active is Johnny Gilbert, the announcer for the game show Jeopardy.  I believe he is 88 this year, but certainly his voice hardly sounds older than 40.

[Karl Henning]

Hokey smoke!

[Karl Henning]

It's always a matter of finding the right balance . . . I've been neglecting moose and squirrel while attending to Rod Serling and Tara King . . . .

[Cato]

It's always a matter of finding the right balance . . . I've been neglecting moose and squirrel while attending to Rod Serling and Tara King . . . .

Perhaps you will receive time enough at last to solve the problem!   

[Szykneij]

Wow!  I just discovered she is 95!!!

One of the oldest "voices" still active is Johnny Gilbert, the announcer for the game show Jeopardy.  I believe he is 88 this year, but certainly his voice hardly sounds older than 40.

Sadly, Dick Beals (the voice of Speedy Alka-Selzter and the original voice of Gumby and Davey from "Davey and Goliath") just passed away at 85.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/31/local/la-me-dick-beals-20120601

[Cato]

I came across this claim today:

His personality has affected other creators, as well. For instance, he is acknowledged as the inspiration for the character of Mr. Peabody on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a fan favorite cartoon series which began in 1961 and continued for several seasons.

In case you do not know Mr. Peabody:



And so...who is the "he" mentioned above?



Clifton Webb

[Karl Henning]

I suppose it depends on how agreeably Mr Webb could be supercilious. (In playing Waldo Lydecker in Laura, he realized a fairly straightforward snob.)

[zamyrabyrd]

The lady behind the voices:

http://www.westernjournalism.com/legendary-voice-actor-dead-at-99/

June Foray, the voice of Rocky (and Natasha Fatale) in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, died Wednesday at the age of 99.

[zamyrabyrd]

Metal-Munching Moon Mice:

https://www.youtube.com/v/8UWWVmR_9v0

[Hollywood]

The lady behind the voices:

June Foray, the voice of Rocky (and Natasha Fatale) in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, died Wednesday at the age of 99.

Sorry to hear about her passing. I had no idea she was still alive. I grew up watching Rocky and Bullwinkle and I love the cartoons from the 1950s and 60s. Unfortunately they just don't make cartoons like that anymore.

The step-father of a good friend of mine was Art Babbitt who was an animator for Disney, Terrytoons and Hanna Barbera. For me he will always be remembered as the creator of Goofy.

[cilgwyn]

I never cared much about Rocky and Bullwinkle. I was always more into Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera cartoons, which I still am.

I especially am a great fan of Droopy the Dog. I love his humor.



Oh, and I absolutely love Space Ghost: Coast To Coast.

A bit like walking into a pub and announcing"I don't care much for alcohol!" Still,it's nice to know someone else likes Hanna Barbera! Living here in the UK,we never seem to get any HB on our tv channels! (My 85 year old dad loves Muttley and Top Cat. And so do I! All we get here is Scooby Bleedin' Doo!!)   And this leads me back to the topic in question......Rocky and Bullwinkle!!! In fact,living here in the Uk,I can't even remember Rocky and Bullwinkle ever being shown here. If I mention it to anyone they just give me a blank look! I had to buy Region 1 dvd box sets before I ever saw this show........at the grand old age of at least 45,I might add!! And yet I hear it is cult viewing in the US,and some other parts of the world. In fact,the nearest we British got to it,was a cartoon show named King Arthur and the Square Knights of the Round Table,which I loved as a youngster,but seems to be totally forgotten here,and not even available on dvd (bar,a paltry eight episodes). I read that Rocky and Bullwinkle may have been an influence,as King Arthur and the Square Knights was made up of several different segments,like Rocky and Bullwinkle!

[Karl Henning]

The lady behind the voices:

http://www.westernjournalism.com/legendary-voice-actor-dead-at-99/

June Foray, the voice of Rocky (and Natasha Fatale) in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, died Wednesday at the age of 99.

A national treasure!  She was also the voice of Witch Hazel.

[Cato]

A bit like walking into a pub and announcing"I don't care much for alcohol!" Still,it's nice to know someone else likes Hanna Barbera! Living here in the UK,we never seem to get any HB on our tv channels! (My 85 year old dad loves Muttley and Top Cat. And so do I! All we get here is Scooby Bleedin' Doo!!)   And this leads me back to the topic in question......Rocky and Bullwinkle!!! In fact,living here in the Uk,I can't even remember Rocky and Bullwinkle ever being shown here. If I mention it to anyone they just give me a blank look! I had to buy Region 1 dvd box sets before I ever saw this show........at the grand old age of at least 45,I might add!! And yet I hear it is cult viewing in the US,and some other parts of the world. In fact,the nearest we British got to it,was a cartoon show named King Arthur and the Square Knights of the Round Table,which I loved as a youngster,but seems to be totally forgotten here,and not even available on dvd (bar,a paltry eight episodes). I read that Rocky and Bullwinkle may have been an influence,as King Arthur and the Square Knights was made up of several different segments,like Rocky and Bullwinkle!

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the guiding lights behind Tom and Jerry cartoons at Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer, where supposedly they were invisible to the studio head, Louis B. Mayer.  One story claims that when a Gene Kelly movie (Anchors Aweigh I believe) was planned with an animation sequence, Mayer suggested hiring Walt Disney for the job.  When an underling said they could get "Bill and Joe" to do it, Mayer supposedly asked: "Who are Bill and Joe?"

When M-G-M closed down their cartoon department in the 1950's (part of the studio's amazingly quick decline because of its failure to adapt to television), the duo formed their own company and produced Ruff and Reddy, which were "adventure" cartoons.  Corners were cut, since the new company did not have much money behind it, so the animation style was rather primitive in comparison with Tom and Jerry.  Then came Huckleberry Hound with Yogi Bear and later their biggest hit The Flintstones.

I recall quite distinctly the first Rocky and Bullwinkle shows: the animation and the soundtrack were awful, and in fact the latter was so full of static that I kept adjusting the antenna.   0:)   But no: the Mexican animation studio hired for the show was not known for quality.  Still, the jokes were great, even if they were hard to hear behind the static!

[zamyrabyrd]

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the guiding lights behind Tom and Jerry cartoons at Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer, where supposedly they were invisible to the studio head, Louis B. Mayer.  One story claims that when a Gene Kelly movie (Anchors Aweigh I believe) was planned with an animation sequence, Mayer suggested hiring Walt Disney for the job.  When an underling said they could get "Bill and Joe" to do it, Mayer supposedly asked: "Who are Bill and Joe?"

When M-G-M closed down their cartoon department in the 1950's (part of the studio's amazingly quick decline because of its failure to adapt to television), the duo formed their own company and produced Ruff and Reddy, which were "adventure" cartoons.  Corners were cut, since the new company did not have much money behind it, so the animation style was rather primitive in comparison with Tom and Jerry.  Then came Huckleberry Hound with Yogi Bear and later their biggest hit The Flintstones.

I recall quite distinctly the first Rocky and Bullwinkle shows: the animation and the soundtrack were awful, and in fact the latter was so full of static that I kept adjusting the antenna.   0:)   But no: the Mexican animation studio hired for the show was not known for quality.  Still, the jokes were great, even if they were hard to hear behind the static!

Actually I find cartoon history quite interesting! Not as improbable as Beethoven's:

https://www.youtube.com/v/mnmiwo79aTg