Saturday, May 19, 2018

Magoo Goes Mad!


I've been reading MAD magazine collections and related material lately. And I've also been watching The Mr. Magoo Show from 1960 and 1961. So I was well and truly gobsmacked when these two things crashed into one another in the Magoo cartoon "Magoo and the Beanstalk".  As you can imagine from the title, the Magoo animators took the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk and slammed the myopic Magoo into it. Spoilers be below, so tread carefully.


We meet a forlorn giant named Alfred whose face we never see, but who is unhappy that no one has climbed a beanstalk and brought about fame and fortune for him as they did for his dad and mom. Immediately a beanstalk grows in Magoo's garden and the brash old Magoo rides it up into the clouds where he mistakes the giant's castle for his neighbor's house. He makes off with the giant's belt and we see that the giant is left alone once again where it is revealed that he is reading a MAD magazine, (issue twenty-six seen above) and that when his face is revealed he is Alfred E. Neuman and spouts his famous like of "What me worry?" when asked about what will happen next. It's a bit if a shocker really, to see such a specific reference to another character and publication.


I've been unable to find out much about it online, so if anyone can point me in a direction, I'd love to learn more about how this crossover came to be. Here's a little bit at the Big Cartoon Database.

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2 comments:

  1. I think Al's most prominent cameo appearance was in Peanuts.

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    1. Could be. It's a sign of how broadly into the popular imagination that he's become embedded.

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