Briefly Noted: Moose and Squirrel Never Die

Here is a question that came to mind after Alex Anderson, the long-overlooked artist who created Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, died in October: Why does a grown man (me) work in an office (editor's note: a home office) that contains a Rocky and Bullwinkle lunchbox, along with plush likenesses of Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris Badenov, and Natasha Fatale? 

My fondness for The Bullwinkle Show (available on DVD as Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends) is due partly to nostalgia and partly to the limited TV options for kids in the early '70s, when I was growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania with four channels and no VCR. Like Mad magazine, another important influence on my 10-year-old self, The Bullwinkle Show had a subversive satirical style that set it apart from its competitors and appealed to the anti-authoritarian in me, even if I appreciated "Fractured Fairy Tales" and the show's shaggy-dog puns more than the Cold War jokes. —Jacob Sullum

Comments

[Phil]

Jacob:
Where in NE Pennsylvania are you from? I'm more or less a native of that part of the world as well. My father worked for many years as a miner for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.

[JohnD]

Rocky and Bullwinkle were funny on 2 differant levels. The kids loved them but a lot of their humor was subtle and adult.

Alex Anderson never got the recognition he deserved.

[Remove Before Flight *TAG*]

"And now for something we hope you'll really like!"

Rockey used to say this before Fractured Fairy Tales. I also used it as a ring tone for suppliers many years ago.

[Mensan]

I always have a little chuckle when I see one of the moose crossings where someone has added a silhouette of Rocky to the sign.

[H]

Watch the episode where Bullwinkle becomes a bigtime college quarterback at Watsamatta U. As true today as when it aired.

[The Man]

*Wossamotta U

[Michael Slivka]

Wasn't one of the characters in that troupe named Merkin Muffly? I never realized the entendre until I looked up "merkin" in the dictionary: "a toupee for the female genitalia". Talk about subversive! Not to mention that David Merkin works on "The Simpsons". I'm proud to be a 'merkin!

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[?? ??????]

Wasn't one of the characters in that troupe named Merkin Muffly? I never realized the entendre until I looked up "merkin" in the dictionary: "a toupee for the female genitalia". ???? ????? ??? ???????
Talk about subversive! Not to mention that David Merkin works on "The Simpsons". I'm proud to be a 'merkin!