Monday, September 26, 2011

Cartoon time

Well, hello again, boys and girls! It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Won’t you be my neighbor?

Oh, wait, that was a different show.

Children today watch Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents and lots of other idiotic cartoons, but in my day the pièce de résistance among animated series, the one we couldn’t wait to see, even when we grew older, was (wait for it, here it comes):

Rocky & Bullwinkle!

Just in case Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle Moose may have slipped under your radar, here in four parts is an episode called “Goof Gas Attack”:

“Rocky and Bullwinkle: Goof Gas Attack - Part 1” (7:24)

“Rocky and Bullwinkle: Goof Gas Attack - Part 2” (7:02)

“Rocky and Bullwinkle: Goof Gas Attack - Part 3” (7:04)

“Rocky and Bullwinkle: Goof Gas Attack - Part 4” (7:03)

So there you have it, not only something hilarious from yesteryear that was able to tickle the funny bones of children and adults alike but also more evidence that helps explain why I am the way I am.

All right, class, your test today consists of the following question:

Whose voice, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, was used for the character Captain Peter Peachfuzz? (Hint: Near the end of his career, he appeared in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Mary Poppins.)

And now, if you are very quiet while teacher is grading your papers, perhaps next time you can watch Dudley Do-Right.

15 comments:

  1. Mmm...the voice. Was it by any chance Solomon Hersh Frees? Sometimes known as Paul Frees? Now how the hell did I remember that Rocky?

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  2. Y.P., the actual person doing the voice was Paul Frees, yes, but that wasn't the question. What I'm after is the name of the old vaudeville comedian whom Paul Frees was imitating in the voice of Captain Peter Peachfuzz. You score 50 points out of 100 for saying Paul Frees, with 25 points off for cheating by looking it up in Wikipedia. Your total score: 25.

    Try again. (Helpful hint: Re-read the helpful hint.)

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  3. Since there was no TV in my family's household until after I was married, I had to watch TV cartoons as my own children were growing up. I remember Rocky & Bullwinkle well, but my favorites were the Wiley Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons.
    I am currently cooling my heels (literally) in Nebraska as I visit my youngest daughter on the occasion of her 50th birthday, which is today. I'm too young to have a child of that age.

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  4. I don't know the answer but enjoyed the cartoons anyway! I remember Paul Frees best from a recording of 'War of The Worlds' from the early 1950's, but I know that he did some of the 'Pirates of The Caribbean' stuff and 'Barney the Bear' before he died. xx

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  5. I LOVE Rocky and Bullwinkle! And so do my boys. Still as funny as it was when I was a kid... maybe funnier! Don't know who the fellow you are referring to is, but I do remember Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang. (Was he the old guy who played Dick Van Dyke's father?)

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  6. We used to have great childrens entertainment in our day.
    I wish our kids had the same but today the tv is full of things and ideas you don't want them learning
    but you can't escape the long arm of pressure groups.Children should be out of bounds to them.

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  7. Ahh...now, we know! I don't remember him in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', but recall him as Uncle Albert floating to the ceiling in 'Mary Poppins' and as the voice of the Hatter in 'Alice in Wonderland', who also looked like him.

    A much better choice than Benny Hill...

    What odd rabbit masks - did they get to decorate them themselves with cotton wool and scrunched up tissue paper? I don't remember any rabbit masks in the English version...

    (Word verification 'unick' and those masks are certainly one-offs.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks to Rosezilla and Lady's Life for commenting!

    And Elizabeth, you are right and I am wrong! It was Mary Poppins!. Ed Wynn wasn't in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As the kids say over here, my bad!

    I will correct the hint in the post.

    ReplyDelete
  9. About the masks, I think that was a one-time thing. What's My Line aired on Sunday nights, so maybe it was Easter Sunday. Maybe it was Mardi Gras time in New Orleans. Stranger things have happened (but I can't think of them now).

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  10. Pat, my oldest just turned 47 last week. How is that possible when I am only 38?

    I like The Roadrunner too.

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  11. From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I learned that the word posh should really be p.o.s.h. and it means "port out, starboard home"!

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  12. P.S., Dictionary.com says that claim is without foundation.

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  13. Well! No wonder we couldn't get it! When the job as quiz setter for 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' becomes vacant, I may not feel able to give you a reference. ♥

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