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Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Although it first aired during the same TV era that also produced the Peanuts Xmas special and Chuck Jones' Grinch, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol isn't a perennial holiday favorite like the other two cartoons. In fact, if I were to go by the turnout on this quiz, I'd conclude that it's practically forgotten today. As a kid, I always liked it best of the three, and after a recent re-watch, I was surprised by how decent it was, especially for a low-budget network show for kids. And compared to most of the TV cartoons that have come since, it looks like Fantasia.

Taking a single, so-so gag-- a half-blind old man who goes around muttering and walking into things-- the Mr. Magoo series went on for decades, mainly thanks to the muttering part, which was supplied by Jim Backus. Backus, most remembered today as Gilligan's rich pal, Thurston Howell III, first played Magoo in 1949, so by the time of Christmas Carol, he'd been doing the character for 13 years. He'd even done a musical Magoo once before, in 1001 Arabian Nights, a putrid version of Aladdin.

Fortunately, with the exception of a typical havoc-wreaking Magoo in the opening and closing, Backus and his character played it straight. So did the rest of the cast, which included veteran Jay Ward players Paul Frees and June Foray (whose career spanned Rocky & Bullwinkle to The Simpsons). It also starred Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit-- he sang the first song in last week's audio clue about having "the Lord's bright blessing." As I watched that part, I couldn't help recalling that Cassidy burned to death after passing out drunk with a lit cigarette.

The songs were written by Jules Styne, and as you can tell by the audio clue, they're pretty annoying in places. They're better when they accompany a minor-key scene, like young Ebenezer left alone on Xmas. After Styne finished the score, he and his partner Bob Merrill wrote a song that they thought would be perfect for the show, but animation being what it is, there was no way to shoehorn a new song into the final cut. They included it in their next project, instead: Funny Girl. So next time you hear "People," just remember it was originally written for Mr. Magoo.

Merry Xmas and a stake of holly to the three wise men of the movie quiz, perhaps the only guys old enough to remember this lame cartoon: Wayne Palmer (still the record holder almost 3 years later, with one win over his nearest competitor), E. Yarber (Wayne's nearest competitor, and a longtime friend of this weblog), and Hank Parmer (likewise longtime blog friend, and fellow Casablanca non-friend).

(I got the last two pics from an enjoyable website dedicated to all the Christmas Carol adaptations.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at December 27, 2005 1:20 AM

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