“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It Goes On.”
Robert Frost
Showing posts with label moose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moose. Show all posts

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Rocky and Bullwinkle




Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel


It's Throwback Thursday!
Let's go back in time in the WABAC machine and visit The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.




Mr. Peabody and Sherman in front of the WABAC machine
 (pronounced Way Back for you youngsters out there).


The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show was produced from 1959-1961 and later went into syndication and appeared until 1973.  The series was the result of the collaboration of Jay Ward and Alex Anderson.  The show was for children, but had plenty of clever puns and topical references that also appealed to adults. There were lots of outrageous characters and goofy plots that kept everyone entertained. The name of Bullwinkle came from a car dealership in Berkeley, California that was called Bullwinkel Motors.





              Three versions of the Fractured Fairy Tales Intro Theme music.


The fictional town where Bullwinkle lived was called Frostbite Falls Minnesota. Much debate ensued over which real town this was based on. In Minnesota one candidate was the town of International Falls.  The Canadians were also included in the show, who could forget Dudley Do-right the love-struck Canadian Mountie! Other favorite skits within the show were Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody's Improbable History, Mr. Know-It-All and Aesop and Son.





This zany show was created during the cold war and the satirical look at politics was evident in the characters of the no-good-nicks Boris and Natasha. Fortunately for Rocky and Bullwinkle, these spies were incompetent and ended up the victims of there own devilish ways.  I still find the show to be quite funny and now as an adult it has a whole new meaning. It was very cleverly written with lots of innuendos thrown in.



This is just a peek into the past, if you would like to know more about the show or just want to refresh your vintage memory, check out this link at FunTrivia.



Next to Rocky and Bullwinkle the Fractured Fairy Tales were my favorite feature.

The two most memorable lines from the show are....

 "And now, here's something we hope you'll really like!" -- Rocky.
 "Hey Rocky, watch, me pull a rabbit out of my hat." ---Bullwinkle

The joke with Bullwinkle was that he usually pulled a lion or Rocky out of the hat, but never a rabbit!


Here is a trivia question for you.  In the 'Dudley Do-Right' features, Dudley was always trying to gain the affections of the beautiful Nell. She was in love with another. Does anyone remember towards who were Nell's affections directed? 




Saturday, March 10, 2012

Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose by Dr. Seuss

Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose is a Dr. Seuss book that I was not aware of until recently. I found this book at an estate sale in a dark and cluttered basement. There were probably a thousand books in the basement and they were in such a hodge-podge that most of the other buyers just avoided the whole mess and left me and my husband to search through them uninterrupted for an hour or so. There were so many wonderful books that I simply started grabbing handfuls and began stuffing them into the cloth bags we brought with us. By the end of the hour we had collected over two hundred books. I kept reloading the bags and my husband paid for them and took them to the car. Some of the books were in so-so shape and ended up being donated, but most are in great condition and are very interesting and wonderful books such as this early Dr. Seuss. This is the most collectible book I have found in my acquisition, however I am still working on research and it may take some time to go through all of them. Maybe there are more treasures I haven't found yet.

Here are some of the wonderful images from this unusual book.







My research reveals that this is a First Edition second printing. 
The First Edition first printing had a red cloth cover.




Helen Palmer was Seuss' first wife.

Here are a few interesting facts about Dr. Seuss. His real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. Seuss is a Bavarian name and is pronounced Zoice. It was his mother's maiden name. Geisel started out as a cartoonist and began signing his work under the mock title of "Dr. Theophrastus Seuss". He later shortened that to "Dr. Seuss".  Since most Americans pronounced the name Soose not Zoice, he became Dr. Seuss (Soose) for good.

He was not really a doctor and dropped out of graduate school to pursue his love of drawing before ever getting a Ph.D. For over half of his career as a children's author, Dr. Seuss had no children until his second marriage where he acquired two stepdaughters. His first book was rejected numerous times. Seuss worked in advertising and claimed he wrote children's books because it did not compete with his contract with the Standard Oil Company. He credited his style of writing to his parents.
















 Here is a short and not so sweet version of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.


Thidwick is a very happy moose living on the shores of Lake Winna-Bango. He has some very large antlers and a very kind disposition. Unfortunately he is just the sort of kind-hearted soul that is often taken advantage of. Before he knows it a huge number of critters are now living atop his head in those amazing antlers. The new residents keep inviting more and more of their friends to join them.  Poor Thidwick is so burdened down he is unable to cross the lake when winter comes and is facing starvation when things get even worse. Hunters! 

Spoiler Alert! Just at the moment before his imminent death, Thidwicks over ladened antlers let loose with all the critters attached and go rolling down the hill towards the hunters. Thidwick makes his escape across the lake and rejoins his herd to live happily forever, we presume. Not so happily for the free-loading critters who end up as the hunters trophy on the wall. 

Many of the Seuss books had a moral or political message and this one has a few lessons to teach us all. One being "Don't be a lazy freeloader, 'cause look what could happen to you (you might end up stuffed on a wall)!" Another being "Be kind to others, but when someone start's to take advantage of you, you need to stand up for yourself. Learn to say NO! Don't be a pushover like Thidwick!"













In 1991, a few weeks before his death, friends asked Seuss if there were anything he might have left unsaid to all the children out there. Seuss replied, “The best slogan I can think of to leave with the kids of the U.S.A. would be ‘We can . . . and we’ve got to . . . do better than this.’”



Well said, Dr. Seuss, well said.