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 ...
Oops. Never get distracted in the middle of writing or you risk messing up antecedents. The DVD’s I mentioned were the Rocky & Bullwinkle ones which just came out in August. I have no idea what Pinky & the Brain DVDs are out.
That’s funny; I thought it was Jay Ward who created those characters.
Fan mail from some flounder?
I remember an episode of either Fractured Fairy Tales or Aesop and Son in which it told the story of a prince who entered the army. It showed him in a line with other recruits getting a physical; and the doctor said "now turn your head and cough"--another line that went over the kiddies' heads.
I was a kid when the show started. Didn't really get into it until around college age when I understood that it was really targeted at adults. I have the 4 available seasons on DVD (and George of the Jungle, too); but have not watched them all. They are coming out with a complete 5-season set, but I have not heard if they will release season 5 as a separate set (which is all I need).
Mmmm-mm-mmmmm, BACON!!!
That scenario works for me! :)
A VERY big childhood favorite. R.I.P.
RIP.
“Crusader Rabbit was one of my favorites.”
Watch me pull a rabbit out of a hat...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMyhH81IV9o&feature=related
self ping for later read
Price: $134.99
This title will be released on January 4, 2011.
This is from Amazon.com. I would think they will also sell Volume #5 by itself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.