December 17, 2012

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    The Daily News

    1   And to think I thought I was having one of my worst weeks ever…

    2   On Friday, I had just finished admonishing some students for not taking the Benchmark test seriously, when I left and got some lunch. I saw the news on CNN and just stared.

    3    I returned for my last class visibly shaken. I’m ordinarily pretty steady at reporting national stories, which I do anytime a story breaks during school. I try to get the facts as accurately as I can and give the accurate reports to my students.

    4   I used to have cable in the Theatre, and we watched several historical days over the years.

    5   I’m glad I didn’t have cable on Friday. My voice stuttered  as I explained to my students that I had a tough week, and had a tough morning, that I even got loud on two different classes, and this was before I had heard the news out of Sandy Hook.

    6    Most of my students understood. The day continued to be one of the more stressful. Telling the students about the tragic events tore me up. I wanted to get home, and still got stalled. I was exhausted by the time I was able to pack my things and go home.

    7    I left school a bit late, so it was dark as I drove the back roads of the neighborhoods. 

    8   I listened to the radio and kept hearing the same things over and over: his mother was a teacher…she wasn’t a teacher…twenty elementary school children…six adults…all of it.

    9   I decided not to watch the news; it was too unbearable. A friend of mine, Charlie Caudill, quit his job at CNN after Columbine. I can see why.

    10   I just kept thinking about those families, and their children and friends, and asking how ANY parent was going to explain this to their kids.

    11   I wanted to get online and post something, but was at a complete loss.

    12   I think the smartest thing to do is to keep the news off the television so that small children don’t have to see things like that. Mention that there are bad people who did bad things, but that it was far away, and doesn’t happen very often.I wanted to go online and say that, but was having computer breakdowns.

    13   I don’t know how young parents were able to cope with any of it. If it was this overwhelming to me I can’t even imagine.

    14   Has the world simply gone mad?

    15   That was one of the toughest afternoons in my entire career.

    16    I hope you are all okay. I can’t dwell on it. I need to move forward as swiftly as possible and get a bit of normalcy back.

    17    My theme for much of this year has often been that no news is good news.

    18    I count my blessings this fine morning.

    18    I hope you are all okay. I don’t see how. We are all touched and outraged at the same time.Try not to dwell on it; you will get sad.

    19    I love you all.

    20    Moving On, Part the First: On Friday morning, a student asked me who the toughest comic hero is. Like, if there is a war among all the super heroes, who’d win?

    21    Without looking I responded, “Mighty Mouse.” I figured these guys would not have any idea who Mighty Mouse is.

    22    ”Mighty Mouse?”

    23    ”Anthropomorphic upright rodent with powers beyond Superman, and no known vulnerability. Popular teevee hero during the ’50′s and 60′s, according to Wiki.”

    24    ”DUDE!!!”

    25     “He had most of Superman’s powers, and then some, including, according to Wiki, ‘…a form of telkinesis that allowed him to command inanimate objects and turn back time.‘ “ 

    26    Look. I know as a teacher that Wikipedia isn’t the best resource around. It is the digital equivalent of the old World Book encyclopedia. It covers the basics, and often in sore need of citations.

    27    But for fast stuff, it is pretty fun. The article on Mighty Mouse, for example, is filled with some excellent trivia. Mighty Mouse had a girl lead named Pearl Purebright in the short films, and in the comic books of the ’50′s and 60′s his girl lead was “Mitzi.” His arch enemy was a cat named Oil Can Harry.

    28    Honestly, the Wiki peek is a pretty good article. I have it for you, right here and now. Allow me:

     

    This article’s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia’s guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (September 2012)
    Mighty Mouse
    Early Terrytoons Mighty Mouse
    Early Terrytoons Mighty Mouse
    First appearance Mouse of Tomorrow (1942)
    Last appearance Cat Alarm (1961)
    Created by Paul Terry
    Portrayed by Roy Halee, Sr.
    Tom Morrison
    Information
    Species Mouse
    Gender Male
    Significant other(s) Pearl Pureheart

    Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character made its first appearance in 1942 (originally named Super Mouse), and subsequently appeared in 80 theatrical films produced between 1942 and 1961. These films later appeared on American CBS television network on Saturday mornings. The character went through two later revivals, once by Filmation Studios in 1979, and again in 1987 at the hands of animation director Ralph Bakshi, who had worked at the Terrytoons studio during his early career.

    Mighty Mouse has also appeared in comics, in a television commercial about cheese, and has graced the front of a major musician’s guitar. The name Apple, and the character was even accused of promoting cocaine use.

    Contents

    [hide]

    [edit] History

    The character was originally conceived by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Super Fly.[1] Created as a parody of Superman, he first appeared in 1942 in a theatrical animated short titled The Mouse of Tomorrow. The original name of the character was Super Mouse, but after 7 films produced during 1942 to 1943, it was changed to Mighty Mouse in the 1944 cartoon The Wreck of the Hesperus when Marvel Comics interpretation of the character and was nicknamed Terry the First, as he was the first version of the character.[citation needed]

    Mighty Mouse was first drawn wearing a blue costume with red trunks and a red cape, similar to Superman, but over time this outfit changed to a yellow costume with red trunks and a red cape, his most popular colors.[2] Roy Halee, Sr., was the first actor to provide the voice of Mighty Mouse. The role was later taken by Tom Morrison. In The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle Alan Oppenheimer provided the voice, and during the run of Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures Mighty Mouse was voiced by Patrick Pinney.

    As with other imitations of Superman, Mighty Mouse’s super powers include flight, super strength, and invulnerability. In various films he has demonstrated the use of X-ray vision, and has used a form of telekinesis that allowed him to command inanimate objects and turn back time (The Johnstown Flood and Krakatoa). Other cartoons show him leaving a red contrail during flight which he can manipulate at will like a band of solid flexible matter.

    Mighty Mouse has had two recurring female leads. In the cartoon shorts it was a mouse named Pearl Pureheart, while in the comics published in the 1950s and 1960s the character was named Mitzi. His recurring arch-enemy is an evil villain cat named Oil Can Harry (who originated as a human in earlier Terrytoons as the enemy of Fanny Zilch).

    The early formula of each story consists of a crisis which needs extraordinary help to resolve. At the decisive moment, Mighty Mouse comes to the rescue. Beginning with A Fight to the Finish (1947), the story line usually begins with Mighty Mouse and Pearl Pureheart already in a desperate situation, as if they were in the next chapter of the serial.

    Mighty Mouse cartoons spoofed the cliffhanger serials of silent films, as well as the classic operettas of stage that were still popular at the time.

    The characters often sing mock opera songs during these cartoons (e.g., Pearl: “Oil Can Harry, you’re a villain!”; Oil Can Harry: “I know it, but it’s a lot of fun…”). Mighty Mouse sings tenor, Pearl is a soprano, and Oil Can Harry a bass-baritone. Mighty Mouse is also famous for singing, “Here I come to save the day!” when flying into action.

    In several of the Mighty Mouse cartoons, whenever he achieved the most impossible physical tasks, the narrator exclaimed, first softly: “what a mouse!!!”. then loudly: “WHAT A MOUSE!!!”.

    The early Mighty Mouse cartoons often portray Mighty Mouse as a ruthless fighter. One of his most frequent tactics is to fly under the chin of an enemy and let loose a volley of blows, subduing the opponent through sheer physical punishment.

    While his typical opponents are non-decrepit cats, Mighty Mouse occasionally battles specific villains, though most of them appear in only one or two films. Several of the earliest “Super Mouse” films (having been made during World War II) feature the cats as thinly veiled caricatures of the Nazis, hunting down mice and marching them into concentration camp-like traps to what would otherwise be their doom. The Bat-cats, alien cats with bat wings and wheels for feet, appeared in two cartoons; in two other shorts between 1949 and 1950 he faces a huge, dim-witted, but super-strong cat named Julius “Pinhead” Schlabotka (voiced by Dayton Allen) whose strength rivals Mighty Mouse’s own. In rare moments he confronts non-feline adversaries, such as human bad guy Bad Bill Bunion and his horse or the robotic Automatic Mouse Catcher, a brontosaurus shaped mechanical monster. In another cartoon, titled The Green Line (1944), the cats live on one side of the main street of a town and the mice on the other, with a green line down the middle of the street serving as the dividing line. They agree to keep the peace as long as no one crosses it. An evil entity, a Satan cat, starts the cats and mice fighting. At the end, Mighty Mouse is cheered by mice and cats alike.

    At least one episode of Mighty Mouse, Wolf! Wolf! has fallen into Public Domain and is available at the Internet Archive.[3]

    The 1945 film Gypsy Life was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Short Subject (Cartoon).[4]

    [edit] Mighty Mouse Playhouse

    Main article: Mighty Mouse Playhouse

    Mighty Mouse was not very popular in theatrical cartoons, but became Terrytoons’ most popular character and a cultural icon when he appeared on television. Paul Terry sold the Terrytoon company to CBS in 1955. The network began running Mighty Mouse Playhouse on December 10, 1955.[5] It remained on the air until Sep. 2, 1967 (and featured The Mighty Heroes during the final season).

    Although the program was packaged as Saturday morning cartoons for television, the content reused the theatrical film releases. Terrytoons produced only three further Mighty Mouse theatrical cartoons while the show was running on television.

    Some early vinyls credit the original 1955 Mighty Mouse Playhouse theme song to The Terrytooners, Mitch Miller and Orchestra, but recent publishing has generally credited The Sandpipers (not the easy listening group by the same name from the 1960s).[6]

    [edit] The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle

    Main article: The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle

    In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Filmation made television cartoons starring Mighty Mouse and fellow Terrytoon characters Heckle and Jeckle (both voiced by Frank Welker) in a show called The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle. In that show, two new characters were introduced: a vampire duck named Quacula (not to be confused with Count Duckula), and Oil Can Harry’s bumbling, large, but swift-running, henchman Swifty. The show premiered in 1979 and lasted for two seasons. It spawned a limited theatrical release matinee movie, Mighty Mouse in the Great Space Chase, released December 10, 1982. In the Filmation series and movies, Mighty Mouse and Oil Can Harry were voiced by veteran voice artist Alan Oppenheimer, and Pearl Pureheart was voiced by Diane Pershing.

    [edit] Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

    Main article: Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

    Ralph Bakshi’s reimagined Mighty Mouse, circa 1987.

    In 1987 and 1988, animator Ralph Bakshi created a new series of Mighty Mouse cartoons entitled Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures for the CBS Saturday morning children’s lineup. In this series, Mighty Mouse has a real identity, Mike Mouse (both identities voiced by Patrick Pinney), and a sidekick, Scrappy Mouse (voiced by actress Dana Hill), the little orphan. Though a children’s cartoon, its heavy satirical tone, risque humor and adult jokes made the Bakshi Mighty Mouse series a collector’s item for collectors of older TV series.

    [edit] Later years

    Marvel Comics produced a 10-issue comic book series (set in the New Adventures continuity) in 1990 and 1991. Nothing new has been produced using the Mighty Mouse character except for an arcade game by Atari and a 2001 “The power of cheese” TV commercial.[7] That commercial shows Mighty Mouse dining calmly on cheese in a restaurant, utterly unconcerned with a scene of chaos and terror visibly unfolding in the street outside.

    The commercial was hastily pulled off the air in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[citation needed] The rights to Mighty Mouse are now divided as a result of the 2006 corporate split of Viacom (the former owner of the Terrytoons franchise) into two separate companies. CBS Operations (a unit of the current CBS Corporation) owns the ancillary rights and trademarks to the character, while Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD holds home video rights. The first official release of Mighty Mouse material has been announced and what is now CBS Television Distribution has television syndication rights (the shorts are currently out of circulation).

    [edit] Feature film adaptation

    As early as 2004 Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced their intention to bring Mighty Mouse back to the motion picture screen with a CGI Mighty Mouse feature film and is tentatively scheduled to be released some time in 2013.[8]

    [edit] Criticism

    Stills from the Mighty Mouse: The New adventures episode “The Littlest Tramp”. Top left: the flower is crushed by the rich man. Top right: Mighty Mouse receives the remains of the flower, which falls apart in his hand. Bottom left: Mighty Mouse thinks fondly of the girl, and brings out what’s left of the flower. Bottom right: Mighty Mouse smells the flower, inhaling it in the process.

    Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures was the subject of media controversy when one scene was interpreted as a depiction of cocaine use. In the episode The Little Tramp a poor mouse girl attempts to sell flowers, and is repeatedly harassed by a rich man who crushes her flowers.[9] She runs out of flowers and makes new ones from sundry items she finds, such as tomato slices, but the man crushes these too.[10] Mighty Mouse attempts to purchase the flowers with his chunk of cheese, and to avenge the girl, but she gives Mighty Mouse the crushed flowers and insists that others need help more than she does. After successfully saving several different characters, he is reminded of the girl, and attempts to smell the flowers she gave him (now a pink powder), inhaling them in the process. He then finds the man that has been harassing the girl, and spanks him. The girl is sympathetic to the man, and he is so moved that the two are married.

    A family in Kentucky saw the episode and reportedly interpreted the scene as Mighty Mouse snorting cocaine. The family called the American Family Association in Tupelo, Mississippi. The group demanded Bakshi be removed from production of the series.[11] Bakshi and CBS denied the allegations, Bakshi stating the whole incident “smacks of McCarthyism. I’m not going to get into who sniffs what. This is lunacy.”[10] To defuse the controversy, Bakshi agreed to cut the 3.5 seconds from the episode. Rev. Donald Wildmon claimed that the editing was a “de facto admission” of cocaine use, though Bakshi maintained that the episode was “totally innocent”.[12]

    It’s because of Fritz that they’re going after Mighty Mouse. I grew up in Brownsville in Brooklyn and attended High School for Industrial Arts. I remember teachers who quit. Because of McCarthyism they weren’t able to teach what they wanted. This is the same thing. Mighty Mouse was happy after smelling the flowers because it helped him remember the little girl who sold it to him fondly. But even if you’re right, their accusations become part of the air we breathe. That’s why I cut the scene. I can’t have children wondering if Mighty Mouse is using cocaine.
    —Ralph Bakshi, New York Times

    [edit] Cultural Influences

    In the book Astro Boy Essays, author Frederik L. Schodt quotes Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka as saying that Mighty Mouse was the influence that inspired him to name his well-known character Mighty Atom (also known as Astro Boy). He also chose to imitate Mighty Mouse’s signature flying pose with one arm stretched ahead with a clenched fist.[13]

    Mighty Mouse was featured on famed guitarist Tom Scholz‘s Les Paul guitar.[14]

    In a signature act by comedian Andy Kaufman, he would play a recording of the Mighty Mouse theme song, standing silently except for the chorus, which he sang with gusto.

    [edit] Apple Trademark Dispute

    Main article: Apple_Mighty_Mouse#Name

    In 2005, Apple began selling a USB computer mouse called the Mighty Mouse, a name it also gave to a later Bluetooth wireless mouse. Apple licensed the Mighty Mouse name from CBS. However, in 2008 a company called Man and Machine, Inc., sued both Apple and CBS for trademark infringement claiming it had been using the name for mice since 2004 and that CBS did not have the right to license the name for computer peripherals.[15] In 2009 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office agreed and Apple changed the names of their products.[16]

    29  Glad to see that the copy/paste made a successful transfer.

    30  Usually when I try to get something cut and pasted here it goes haywire with the fonts and things.

    31   Success! Note the uppity disclaimer at the top of the article criticizing the tone. I found the freewheeling tone of the article engaging, and worth posting on the DN.

    32   I  enjoyed all of the wonderful trivia, but I particularly enjoyed reading about those Kentucky rednecks who thought the episode with the roses was about cocaine. 

    33   It so clearly isn’t. 

    34   So I have to guess the student who asked me about the super heroes will look up Mighty Mouse and hopefully start a movement. 

    35   Mighty Mouse has to be the toughest hero, because he has the most amount of powers and he is has no vulnerabilities, except perhaps his weakness for opera.

    36   It’s a slam dunk.

    37   Those are the sorts of things that students argue about, so it was fun to stir it up.

    38   I wish to bring that up first thing this morning with the same two students. They had never heard of Mighty Mouse, as many younger people hadn’t.

    39   Moving on, Part the Second: Great football game last night. Nothing like a wet, slippery game. Sloppy, crazy evening of football, but just what was needed. Frankly, I didn’t care which team won or lost; it was just a good, loony game with two fierce teams going toe-to-toe. I never thought for a minute that the Niners were going to keep that lead. Not against Brady. Too much, too early. 

    40   I was a lot of fun. I was in and out of rooms watching, and recorded it so that I could watch it in a more relaxed setting later this afternoon.

    41   I got a LOT done this weekend, including enjoying the entire weekend with a real hero, my Dad.

    42   Two long days, but two productive days in so many ways, and just exactly what was needed after Friday’s tragedy.

    43   I will keep those families in my heart all day, as I will everyone who was touched by those awful events.

    44   I will also move forward, and swiftly.

    45   You all have a safe and good Monday.

    46   Fly low. People are zany out there.

    47   Gottago.

    48   Peace.

    ~H~

    www.xanga.com/bharrington

     


Comments (1)

  • With regard to Line 39:  Being as how I get up at 4 a.m. EST (or, if oversleep, 5 or mebbe later), and it was hard keeping my eyes open, I felt the 31-3 lead was supersafe and went to bed and told Barbara, “The Patriots will never score 28 points against our defense.”Wrong again.I also went to bed at halftime of the Seahawks game, and at least this time I was right.  I missed nothing good.Whaddya mean, you didn’t care who won between the Pats and the Niners?As for Mighty Mouse, if I can’t find my way back here to read what you pasted, I can always go to Wikipedia.Best regards,49er Fan Bob

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