Posted on 10/25/2010 7:40:11 AM PDT by billorites
Alex Anderson, 90, the artist who created the cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle, the flying squirrel and hapless moose who were TV fixtures in the early 1960s, died Oct. 22 at a nursing facility in Carmel, Calif. His wife said he had Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Anderson, who grew up in a cartooning family in California, was also the creator of Crusader Rabbit, which became television's first animated cartoon series in 1949. He spent much of his career in advertising, and his role in creating Rocky and Bullwinkle was overlooked with time. He fought a long legal battle late in life to reclaim recognition as the cartoon characters' artistic father.
Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose first landed on network TV in 1959. They lived in the town of Frostbite Falls and found themselves embroiled in all manner of absurd plots involving espionage and devious villains. The show contained outrageous puns and veiled Cold War commentary that sailed over the heads of the children who were its primary audience.
The Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons also featured another of Mr. Anderson's popular creations, Dudley Do-Right, a Canadian Mountie in constant pursuit of his nemesis, the mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplash.
Mr. Anderson was not part of the production of the original series, which ran on ABC from 1959 to 1961 and NBC from 1961 to 1964. As the years passed, his role in developing the characters was largely forgotten. He received nothing when a lucrative video deal was struck for the burgeoning Bullwinkle franchise.
"I'm thrilled that something I did has become so popular," he told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1991. "But I'm sorry that I don't get any credit for it."
He decided to take legal action after seeing a documentary about Bullwinkle that didn't mention his name at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“No doubt about it. I gotta get another hat.” Thanks Alex!!
Rest in peace
“You ain’t nothing but a Moon Mouse, crying all the time. yo ho ho!” - Boris in a Metal Moon Mouse Suit
Crusader Rabbit was one of my favorites.
Moose, cheese,
Rest in peas
RIP
” The show contained outrageous puns and veiled Cold War commentary that sailed over the heads of the children who were its primary audience “
FYI - HULU.com has 111 episodes (4 seasons) available for streaming...
One of my guilty pleasures is to retreat there when politics and the world’s problems start to get too intense.... ;)
Hopefully there will be a memorial placed at Anderson's alma mater, Whattsamatta U ;-)
A graduate of Whatsamatta U. RIP
Love it that the evil enemies of Moose and Squirrel were portrayed as commies.
Frostbite Falls, Minnesota will never be the same...............
However, that pic is wrong. It's a pet peeve of mine that so many illustrations (including VHS and DVD covers) show Bullwinkle with gold-colored antlers. Bullwinkle was brown all over.
I loved all the great Cold War jokes they slipped into the cartoons.
Hokey smoke! RIP!
Secret Agent: Does this mean anything to you? Army Intelligence.
Rocky: Sounds like a contradiction in terms.
“” The show contained outrageous puns and veiled Cold War commentary that sailed over the heads of the children who were its primary audience “”
Isn’t that the formula for a successful kiddie show, one with jokes the parents can get a laugh out of too?
My absolute all-time favorite cartoon.
“Nuthin’ up my sleeve...Prestooo!”
RIP
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