Nelson
01-02-2002, 01:24 AM
Welcome to another edition of my monthly tribute to the "Toon Star Of The Month"...
This year 2002 will mark the 60th anniversary of a lengedary cartoon superstar and who is also this month's star here on TTTP..
MIGHTY MOUSE
Many people have always debated just who was Paul Terry's biggest creation.Some people say it was "Heckle And Jeckle" and other's will say it's Mighty, but it was the super rodent who was the main star at the Terrytoon Studio and for very good reasons, not only did Mighty save and protect all good, but he even saved the studio from becoming extinct.
It all started back in 1942 when Terrytoon storyman, I.Klein came up with original concept of Mighty Mouse after joing the studio in early 1940.During this time when animators were drawing humanized animals Klein came up and drew a sketch of a "super fly", with a red Superman-like cape.The drawings qucikly caught the attention of Terry to get started on the new series and work went underway.
Klein recalled "We were putting up ideas for a cartoon at the start of a cartoon story.It crossed my mind that a "takeoff" of the comic strip sensation "Superman", could be the subject for a new Terrytoons cartoon.Terry decided that a mouse would fit the bill rather than a fly and given the past history of mice in Terry's cartoons he knew what would be best.Klein then changed him into a mouse dubbing him the name, ""Supermouse" as he was billed with that name in the first four cartoons begining the his debut cartoon, "The Mouse Of Tomorrow" released on October.16, 1942.
20th Century Fox was one of the most prestigious of the Hollywood studios of the 1940's with their glorious technicolor films, dramas and comedies which gave the studio many Oscar nods."The Mouse Of Tomorrow" is an important film to the studio and for good reasons, the Mighty Mouse series(and that cartoon) saved the cartoon studio from losing it's distrubutor's contract with Fox, which was considering dropping the studio's cartoons from their movie roster and then Fox quickly changed their mind and signed a long term contract with Terry and the studio and the rest is cartoon history.One year later, Terry changed the name of the character not just because of possible legal action from D.C.Comics for copyright infringement, as another story goes.A former Terrytoon employee had came up his own version of a super mouse with a new comic book called "Coo Coo Comics" with the title of the first published print that same month that "The Mouse Of Tomorrow" was relased in theaters, so Terry decided to renamed his super hero to "Mighty Mouse".
The Mighty Mouse films were an instant success with moviegoers nation wide, although he wasn't like Warner's, "Bugs Bunny", MGM'S "Tom And Jerry", Columbia's "The Fox And Crow", and Universal's "Woody Woodpecker" in the early 40s, but he did have his own star quality.Mighty Mouse has the only extinction in cartoon history of being the only major cartoon star to have the least amount of screen time only appearing in the last few mintues of the cartoons.The MM cartoons were animated by such vetrans like, Mannie Davis, Connie Rasinski, Bill Tytla, Eddie Donnelly and one standout Terrytoon animator, Jim Tyler who all contributed on the series and made wonderful shorts for the studio.
Mighty Mouse had several femme fatales and with Tyler's excellent animation of sexy looking female mice in such films as, "At The Circus", Mighty Mouse And The Pirates, and "Gypsy Life" show's Tyle's skilled work in bringing life like girls to the MM cartoons but the studio made the decision to make a permament girlfriend for Mighty Mouse...Enter "Pearl Pureheart".Pearl was the mainstay for the MM series along with an arch enemy for Mighty and who became a cartoon villian legend in his own right, "Oil Can Harry".This what became one of two important storylines for the series, the first was the opera cartoons in which Mighty actually spoke for the first time which wonderful shorts including, "Perils Of Pearl Purehart, , "Triple Trouble.
The other storyline surrounded Mighty Mouse disguised as the ""Mysterious Stranger" in a series of cartoons, which was the title of the first cartoon in which Mighty would don a derby and a long coat with only his eyes being seen during the entire cartoon and during the mid-forties at the hight of the series, Mighty was more popular than his other mouse rival, "Mickey Mouse" which taken as a poll among moviegoers. In 1958 when the studio took a different approach with new animators and new cartoon series. Mighty wasn't included in this roster move and in 1959 the first MM cartoon was released, the first in five years titled, "Outer Space Visitor" and more cartoons were made in the early sixites.
When television was taking over, Mighty Mouse made his first apperance on tv which premeired on CBS on December 10, 1955 under the tv title, "The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" and made Mighty bigger success than he already was.A year later Terry sold his cartoon library to CBS for $ 3.5 million who later sold the library to Viacom years later.Then in the seventies, Filmation brought back the super rodent in a new series that was forgetable and in 1987, Terrytoon vetran Ralph Bakshi made a brand new verison of the cartoon character which became a "Cult" favorite among MM fans and cartoon lovers alike.But the series ran into trouble with the censors in which one scene were Mighty was sniffing a flower was thought to belived(by the censors) of Mighty sniffing cocaine and getting high, which was not the case.
Then last year Mighty was brought back into the public eye, which featured Mighty in the "Power Of Cheese" commercial in which the entire city is getting destroyed by aliens and it's up to Mighty to save the day, but he's eating cheese and will defeat the aliens once he gets done eating...Great commerical.
Today, you can find all sorts of Mighty Mouse merchandise, everything from t-shirts, toys, and dolls, everything but his cartoons and no attempt has been made(by Viacom) to release the MM classics to video/dvd.Petitons are currently being made to see fit to bring these classics back to the MM fans and cartoon fans all over the world.How about it Viacom???
Academy Award Nominee:Best Short Cartoon, 1945
"Gypsy Life"
My Top Three Mighty Mouse Picks:
"TRIPLE TROUBLE" 1948:This one of my all time favorite of the MM opera cartoons.In the short, Mighty is caputred by Oil Can Harry in a desert about to be eaten by man hungry buzzards, while Pearl Pureheart's father is dangling by a rope under the Brooklyn Bridge facing alligators.Oil then goes to Pearl's southern-like mansion(where she lives on top of the Empire Sate Building) and tries to kidnapp and marry her until Mighty comes to her resuce and her father, very funny cartoon.
"OUTER SPACE VISITOR" 1959:In this short, when a bunch of Mice are having a country dance, a small little baby alien(with an egg shaped like head and human feet) lands on earth.The mice a first, tries to destroy the baby, until they take him to a sciencetist only to discover the when the baby alien speaks thru a computer translator, tells the mice that his father is coming to earth destroy everything in sight.Once Mighty arrives, the fight begins with both the father alien beating each other to a pulp.When Mighty takes control, Mighty wacks a punch to the head of the alien when Mighty's arm and fist gets bigger, knocks the ailen(great camera shot) around the world several times until the father gets his son and heads back to mars.
"THE LION AND THE MOUSE" 1943:Originally a one-shot cartoon, not a MM cartoon, the storyline is an old "Aesop's Fable" story.All of the jungle animals are scared silly when it comes to the "King Of Beasts" and when little mouse runs for cover inside a jug of hardcore cider, he gets "stinkin" drunk and goes face to face with the lion.Once the mouse sobers up, he begs for his life from the lion, who he says "I'll can save your life one day" and the lion lets him go free. When the lion gets caught by lion hunters, the druken mouse his the lion's roar and becomes "Supermouse" and defeats the hunters and saves the lion's life.
There will be more facts on Mighty Mouse Jan. "Toon Star Of The Month" later this month !!!!
This year 2002 will mark the 60th anniversary of a lengedary cartoon superstar and who is also this month's star here on TTTP..
MIGHTY MOUSE
Many people have always debated just who was Paul Terry's biggest creation.Some people say it was "Heckle And Jeckle" and other's will say it's Mighty, but it was the super rodent who was the main star at the Terrytoon Studio and for very good reasons, not only did Mighty save and protect all good, but he even saved the studio from becoming extinct.
It all started back in 1942 when Terrytoon storyman, I.Klein came up with original concept of Mighty Mouse after joing the studio in early 1940.During this time when animators were drawing humanized animals Klein came up and drew a sketch of a "super fly", with a red Superman-like cape.The drawings qucikly caught the attention of Terry to get started on the new series and work went underway.
Klein recalled "We were putting up ideas for a cartoon at the start of a cartoon story.It crossed my mind that a "takeoff" of the comic strip sensation "Superman", could be the subject for a new Terrytoons cartoon.Terry decided that a mouse would fit the bill rather than a fly and given the past history of mice in Terry's cartoons he knew what would be best.Klein then changed him into a mouse dubbing him the name, ""Supermouse" as he was billed with that name in the first four cartoons begining the his debut cartoon, "The Mouse Of Tomorrow" released on October.16, 1942.
20th Century Fox was one of the most prestigious of the Hollywood studios of the 1940's with their glorious technicolor films, dramas and comedies which gave the studio many Oscar nods."The Mouse Of Tomorrow" is an important film to the studio and for good reasons, the Mighty Mouse series(and that cartoon) saved the cartoon studio from losing it's distrubutor's contract with Fox, which was considering dropping the studio's cartoons from their movie roster and then Fox quickly changed their mind and signed a long term contract with Terry and the studio and the rest is cartoon history.One year later, Terry changed the name of the character not just because of possible legal action from D.C.Comics for copyright infringement, as another story goes.A former Terrytoon employee had came up his own version of a super mouse with a new comic book called "Coo Coo Comics" with the title of the first published print that same month that "The Mouse Of Tomorrow" was relased in theaters, so Terry decided to renamed his super hero to "Mighty Mouse".
The Mighty Mouse films were an instant success with moviegoers nation wide, although he wasn't like Warner's, "Bugs Bunny", MGM'S "Tom And Jerry", Columbia's "The Fox And Crow", and Universal's "Woody Woodpecker" in the early 40s, but he did have his own star quality.Mighty Mouse has the only extinction in cartoon history of being the only major cartoon star to have the least amount of screen time only appearing in the last few mintues of the cartoons.The MM cartoons were animated by such vetrans like, Mannie Davis, Connie Rasinski, Bill Tytla, Eddie Donnelly and one standout Terrytoon animator, Jim Tyler who all contributed on the series and made wonderful shorts for the studio.
Mighty Mouse had several femme fatales and with Tyler's excellent animation of sexy looking female mice in such films as, "At The Circus", Mighty Mouse And The Pirates, and "Gypsy Life" show's Tyle's skilled work in bringing life like girls to the MM cartoons but the studio made the decision to make a permament girlfriend for Mighty Mouse...Enter "Pearl Pureheart".Pearl was the mainstay for the MM series along with an arch enemy for Mighty and who became a cartoon villian legend in his own right, "Oil Can Harry".This what became one of two important storylines for the series, the first was the opera cartoons in which Mighty actually spoke for the first time which wonderful shorts including, "Perils Of Pearl Purehart, , "Triple Trouble.
The other storyline surrounded Mighty Mouse disguised as the ""Mysterious Stranger" in a series of cartoons, which was the title of the first cartoon in which Mighty would don a derby and a long coat with only his eyes being seen during the entire cartoon and during the mid-forties at the hight of the series, Mighty was more popular than his other mouse rival, "Mickey Mouse" which taken as a poll among moviegoers. In 1958 when the studio took a different approach with new animators and new cartoon series. Mighty wasn't included in this roster move and in 1959 the first MM cartoon was released, the first in five years titled, "Outer Space Visitor" and more cartoons were made in the early sixites.
When television was taking over, Mighty Mouse made his first apperance on tv which premeired on CBS on December 10, 1955 under the tv title, "The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" and made Mighty bigger success than he already was.A year later Terry sold his cartoon library to CBS for $ 3.5 million who later sold the library to Viacom years later.Then in the seventies, Filmation brought back the super rodent in a new series that was forgetable and in 1987, Terrytoon vetran Ralph Bakshi made a brand new verison of the cartoon character which became a "Cult" favorite among MM fans and cartoon lovers alike.But the series ran into trouble with the censors in which one scene were Mighty was sniffing a flower was thought to belived(by the censors) of Mighty sniffing cocaine and getting high, which was not the case.
Then last year Mighty was brought back into the public eye, which featured Mighty in the "Power Of Cheese" commercial in which the entire city is getting destroyed by aliens and it's up to Mighty to save the day, but he's eating cheese and will defeat the aliens once he gets done eating...Great commerical.
Today, you can find all sorts of Mighty Mouse merchandise, everything from t-shirts, toys, and dolls, everything but his cartoons and no attempt has been made(by Viacom) to release the MM classics to video/dvd.Petitons are currently being made to see fit to bring these classics back to the MM fans and cartoon fans all over the world.How about it Viacom???
Academy Award Nominee:Best Short Cartoon, 1945
"Gypsy Life"
My Top Three Mighty Mouse Picks:
"TRIPLE TROUBLE" 1948:This one of my all time favorite of the MM opera cartoons.In the short, Mighty is caputred by Oil Can Harry in a desert about to be eaten by man hungry buzzards, while Pearl Pureheart's father is dangling by a rope under the Brooklyn Bridge facing alligators.Oil then goes to Pearl's southern-like mansion(where she lives on top of the Empire Sate Building) and tries to kidnapp and marry her until Mighty comes to her resuce and her father, very funny cartoon.
"OUTER SPACE VISITOR" 1959:In this short, when a bunch of Mice are having a country dance, a small little baby alien(with an egg shaped like head and human feet) lands on earth.The mice a first, tries to destroy the baby, until they take him to a sciencetist only to discover the when the baby alien speaks thru a computer translator, tells the mice that his father is coming to earth destroy everything in sight.Once Mighty arrives, the fight begins with both the father alien beating each other to a pulp.When Mighty takes control, Mighty wacks a punch to the head of the alien when Mighty's arm and fist gets bigger, knocks the ailen(great camera shot) around the world several times until the father gets his son and heads back to mars.
"THE LION AND THE MOUSE" 1943:Originally a one-shot cartoon, not a MM cartoon, the storyline is an old "Aesop's Fable" story.All of the jungle animals are scared silly when it comes to the "King Of Beasts" and when little mouse runs for cover inside a jug of hardcore cider, he gets "stinkin" drunk and goes face to face with the lion.Once the mouse sobers up, he begs for his life from the lion, who he says "I'll can save your life one day" and the lion lets him go free. When the lion gets caught by lion hunters, the druken mouse his the lion's roar and becomes "Supermouse" and defeats the hunters and saves the lion's life.
There will be more facts on Mighty Mouse Jan. "Toon Star Of The Month" later this month !!!!