On a Flying Squirrel

.
Companion of Bullwinkle the Moose (his dedication page)

#3 (with Bullwinkle) on TV Guide’s Greatest Cartoon Characters

Of the duo, Rocky is the upstanding, slightly naive, and smarter than Bullwinkle

Proper name is Rocket J. Squirrel

Middle initial J for is from the two J’s: Jay Ward (creator) and Bill J Scott (co-producer, head writer)

Home: Frostbite Falls, MN (a parody on International Falls, MN)

Created by Jay Ward, Alex Anderson, and Bill Scott as part of The Frostbite Falls Review

Voice artist June Foray

Ability to fly with a jet engine sound effect

Debuted November 19, 1959 as Rocky and His Friends on ABC with Jet Fuel Formula

Moved to NBC in 1961 as The Bullwinkle Show

Ended June 27, 1964

It the first episode, Rocky’s flying ability limited to gliding

Learned to fly at Cedar Yorpantz Flying School (get it?)

Appeared in Gary Larson’s The Far Side

Also in video games and comics

Catch Phrases
Hokey Smoke!
Those two look familiar!
That voice, where have I heard that voice?
KNEW we shouldn’t have left him! We haven’t been apart in thirty-five years!
Hokey smoke, are you all right?
Don’t say it!
I don’t think that’s very funny.”
“And now, here’s something we hope you’ll really like!”
Not again.

Rocky: “Look, Bullwinkle, a message in a bottle.”
Bullwinkle: “Fan mail from a flounder?”
Rocky: “This is what I really call a message.”

Enjoy a segment of Jet Fuel Formula (you will have to watch on YouTube)

Read Full Post »

On the Greatest Moose

.
Bullwinkle is more than a classic cartoon character – he is an icon.

#3 (with Rocky) on TV Guide’s Great Cartoon Characters

Resume
Name: Bullwinkle J. Moose

Middle initial J for is from the two J’s: Jay Ward (creator) and Bill J Scott (co-producer, head writer, and Bullwinkle’s voice)

Named after Bullwinkel Motors, a car dealership in Berkeley, California

Gender: Male

Home: Frostbite Falls, MN (a parody on International Falls, MN)

Occupation: Former coat rack

Education: Studied under Francis the Talking Horse, attended M.I.T. (Moose Institute of Toe-dancing), attended Wossamatta U, and received an Honorary Mooster’s Degree from Wossamatta U

Football quarterback at Wossamatta U

As Mr. Know-It-All, received several awards from prestigious universities that have yet to exist

Political: Bull Moose Party

Wealth: Received fortune in the form of a cereal boxtop collection and an Upsidaisium mine from Uncle Dewlap’s will

At one time, a part-owner, part-governor of the island of Moosylvania

Debuted with blue gloves, which became white on the second episode

On to the Show

.
60 episodes of Mr. Know-it-All

.
39 episodes of Bullwinkle’s Corner

.
“Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.”

.
Background
Debuted November 19, 1959 as Rocky and His Friends on ABC with Jet Fuel Formula
Moved to NBC in 1961 as The Bullwinkle Show
Ended June 27, 1964

Created by Jay Ward, Alex Anderson, and Bill Scott

Produced by Jay Ward Productions

With satire and humor, the writing appealed to adults as well as children

Animation outsourced to a studio in Mexico

Music by Frank Comstock (1959–1961) Fred Steiner (1961–1964)

Sponsored by General Mills

Voiced by Bill Scott

.
Narrated by actor William Conrad

.
Show composed of episodes, with each episode ending with a cliffhanger and the announcer giving two titles (actually puns of each other) for the next segment

5 seasons, 163 episodes, 366 segments

27 continuing storylines

Two collection of WAV files sound bites from the show: one and two

Supporting Characters in the Show (tributes linked): Rocky J Squirrel, Boris and Natasha, Peabody and Sherman, Dudley Do-Right, Fractured Fairytales

Ending of a show showing the story continuing another time

Read Full Post »

On a Cute Couple

To those of us who grew up during cartoon’s golden age, Rocky and Bullwinkle are icons. Add the show’s entire cast, now we have a tribute to creator Jay Ward’s brilliance.

J Troplong “Jay” Ward, creator and leader of Jay Ward Productions, is responsible for such characters as Rocky and Bullwinkle, Peabody and Sherman (past post), Dudley Do-Right, Snidely Whiplash, Hoppity Hopper, Tom Slick, Super Chick, Crusader Rabbit, and the two honorees in this post.

Rocky and Bullwinkle debuted in 1959 on ABC, and then moved to NBC two years later. Notables as Frostbite Falls, Wossamatta U, Mr. Know It All, Fractured Fairytales, a way-back time machine for Peabody and Sherman (past post), and more became part of popular culture.

Two villains constantly chasing Bullwinkle – and always foiled by Moose and Squirrel – were Boris and Natasha. Not only was the Cold War prominent in our lives at that time, this event of the era also served as the springboard for these two characters. A few notes about each are below, followed by a wonderful music video about them. Enjoy, and thank you Larry for the find.

Boris Badenov

• From Pottsylvania
• Name is a play on the 16th-century Russian Tsar Boris Godunov
• Degree from The University of Safe-Cracking (USC)
• Taglines: Must capture moose and squirrel;
• Report to Fearless Leader, and occasionally Mr. Big
• List of his disguises

Natasha Fatale

• Taglines: Hello Dollink, Sharrup your mouth,
• A former Miss Transylvania
• Almost always seen in a purple dress, put also wore red in the final season
• Original name Natasha Nogoodnik
• Appeared in two Mr. Know-It-All segments
• Appeared in all but four Rocky and Bullwinkle storylines

Read Full Post »

On Peabody and Sherman

Kid hangs around a genius dog with over-sized glasses who constructed a computer to travel back in time to visit historical events – but when they arrived, something was different enough that history would not happen as it did – so the dog uses his genius mind to solve the problem.

That’s the setting for another brilliant Jay Ward production – the Peabody and Sherman segment on The Bullwinkle Show. The genius dog (Peabody) teaching Sherman (the boy) about history.

Since YouTube blocked this from being embedded, here’s the classic opening to the show.

Ten Points to Remember about Peabody and Sherman

• Name of the segment was Peaboby’s Improbable History
• 91 segments from Napoleon (first segment) to Cleopatra (the last)
• Each segment ended in a pun by Peabody
• Peabody’s computer is the WABAC (“wayback) machine, which he constructed as a birthday present to Sherman
• WABAC was a play on early computers UNIVAC and ENIAC
• They never showed the return trip to the present
• From 1964-67, reruns were part of the Hoppity Hopper Show
• Peabody was named after the producer’s (and the one who did the Peabody’s voice) pet dog
• Ted Key, the creator of the comic Hazel, actually created Peabody
• Sherman referred to Peabody as Mr. Peabody, whose real name is C.C. Peabody – C.C.  for Cave Canom

Here’s a sample episode: Ponce DeLeon

Read Full Post »