Seldom a ratings superstar,m but it’s longevity speaks volumes. From the originals to reruns to syndication to remakes to movies and more, Rocky, Bullwinkle, and their friends are legends.
Based on The Frostbite Falls Review, a proposal that never aired
Premiered on November 1959 as Rocky & His Friends on ABC for airing on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons
Original series in black and white
Moved to NBC (1961) in a Sunday night timeslot
After moving the series into different timeslots, the last show aired June 27, 1964
5 seasons provided 163 episodes
Created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott
Produced by Jay Ward Productions
Voices by Bill Scott, June Foray, Paul Frees, Walter Tetley, Daws Butler, Charlie Ruggles, Hans Conried, William Conrad, and Edward Everett Horton
Previously-Honored Characters – Visit as many as you want … Which did you visit?
#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)
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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
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60 episodes of Mr. Know-it-All
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39 episodes of Bullwinkle’s Corner
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“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
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Narrated by actor William Conrad
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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
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.
Now that’s a 17-second classic and the basis for this post.
Growing up in the 1960s sparks images of the turbulent late 60s, which were vastly different from the early 1960s, but it is the early 1960s that motivated Ted Turner to create today’s Cartoon Network.
Whether it was tuning in after school to WSAZ’s Mr. Cartoon through the week at 4 o’clock, or a few hours on Saturday morning with the characters from Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes, I loved them. When going to the local theater, cartoons preceded the movie – thus I anxiously anticipating the cartoon was part of the evening.
Last weekend I posted several of the introductions to cartoon shows. Several comments by readers sparked an idea of a potential weekend series of posts about cartoons of that time. Although this is not a commitment, the idea is still in my head – so just in case I pursue the idea, here are some key events in history of animated cartoons.
