The Most Well Connected Poorman in America: The Magoo character was originally conceived as a mean-spirited McCarthy

From The Magoo character was originally conceived as a mean-spirited McCarthy-like reactionary whose mumbling would include as much outrageous misanthropic ranting as the animators could get away with. Kaufman had actually been blacklisted, and Magoo was a form of protest.Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr. Magoo and McBarker.

Quincy Magoo (or simply Mr. Magoo) is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus (also famed in popular culture for his role as Thurston Howell III in the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island), Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, or myopia, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem. Affected people (or animals) consequently tend to think that he is a lunatic, rather than just being nearsighted. In later cartoons he is also an actor, and generally a competent one except for his visual impairment.

History

Mr. Magoo's first appearance was in the theatrical short cartoon The Ragtime Bear (1949), scripted by Millard Kaufman. His creation was a collaborative effort; animation director John Hubley is said to have partly based the character on his uncle Harry Woodruff,^[1] and W. C. Fields was another source of inspiration. Columbia was reluctant to release the short, but did so, only because it included a bear. However, audiences quickly realized that the real star was Magoo, one of the few "human" cartoon characters ever produced in Hollywood at the time. The short became a box-office success.

The Magoo character was originally conceived as a mean-spirited McCarthy-like reactionary whose mumbling would include as much outrageous misanthropic ranting as the animators could get away with. Kaufman had actually been blacklisted, and Magoo was a form of protest. Hubley was an ex-communist who had participated in the 1941 strike. Both he and Kaufman had participated in the blacklist front and perhaps due to the risk of coming under more scrutiny with a hit character, John Hubley, who had created Magoo, handed the series completely over to creative director, Pete Burness. Under Burness, Magoo would win two Oscars for the studio with When Magoo Flew (1955) and Magoo's Puddle Jumper (1956). Burness scrubbed Magoo of his politicized mean-ness and left only a few strange unempathic comments that made him appear senile or somewhat mad. This however was not entirely out of line with the way McCarthy came to be perceived over that same era.

On talk shows, Backus often told the tale of how he originally discovered Magoo's voice when he put on a fake rubber nose that pinched his nose slightly, giving it the nasal sound. He was only able to perform the voice with the help of the rubber nose for some time, but eventually learned how to re-create it without its assistance. He would usually pull out the nose (or a facsimile, since the original had been lost some years before) and put it on and break into the familiar voice.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause, Jim Stark, played by James Dean, made a bitterly sarcastic remark about children ("Drown 'em like puppies!") imitating the voice of Mr. Magoo. This is an interesting example of metafiction, since Jim Stark's father was portrayed by Jim Backus, who even taught Dean how to do the voice properly.

In 1957, the record album Magoo in Hi-Fi was released. Side 1 consisted of a dialog between Magoo and his nephew Waldo taking place while Magoo was attempting to set up his new sound system. Music on the album was composed and conducted by Dennis Farnon and his orchestra. Side 2, the Mother Magoo Suite, was a series of musical pieces which included two solos by Marni Nixon.

In 1959, Mr. Magoo starred in 1001 Arabian Nights, directed by Jack Kinney, UPA's first feature-length production.

In the 1960s, UPA transferred its attention to television, and began producing the series The Mr. Magoo Show for the character. Because UPA shut down its animation studio in 1959, the animation for these cartoons were done at 2 of the 6 units that did the TV Popeyes: Jack Kinney productions and Larry Harmon studios. Because of this, the cartoons suffered from varying character designs and choppier animation, due to rushed production schedules. In these cartoons, Waldo was appeared less fequently with his uncle Magoo, and a character named Charley substituted for him very often, Charley was a Chinese stereotype with huge buck teeth and un-proper English, this made these cartoons even more politically incorrect then the theatrical ones from the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

However, one bright moment in the UPA television era came with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, a shortened but largely faithful retelling of Charles Dickens's tale. It is considered to be a holiday classic of the 1960s, ranking alongside A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.^[2] The special inspired production of an animated TV series titled The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, which placed Magoo as an actor in other well-known stories. After an introduction in Magoo's backstage dressing room, Magoo was depicted in such roles as The Count of Monte Cristo, Merlin in an upbeat retelling of the story of King Arthur, Friar Tuck in Robin Hood, and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In the late 1970s, Mr. Magoo appeared in a new Saturday morning CBS television series called What's New Mr. Magoo? This series was made under license by the DePatie-Freleng studio, as UPA had by this time ceased in-house cartoon production.

In 1997, during a fad for live-action films based on cartoon characters, Mr. Magoo was portrayed by Leslie Nielsen in a live-action Mr. Magoo feature film. It failed to find critical or popular success, in part because many support groups for the disabled protested it on behalf of the blind.

Classic Media/Sony Wonder began issuing the Mr. Magoo cartoon series on DVD in 2001, beginning with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

Mr. Magoo helped advertise the General Electric line of products throughout the 1950s and 60's.^[3] In 2005, Mr. Magoo became the spokesman of the optical retail store Sterling Optical. Magoo also was featured in a series of commercials for Stag Beer in the 1960s.

Mr Magoo's catchphrase was "Oh Magoo, you've done it again!"

Mr. Magoo is an alumnus of Rutgers University. The reason behind this is that his creators wanted him to be "a college alumnus who was still fired up with the old school spirit [and they felt] Rutgers was the embodiment of the 'old school tie' in America."^[4]

Characters

Mr. Quincy Magoo (Jim Backus) - An elderly, bald man whose eye-sight is failing, though he either does not know it or is too stubborn to do anything about it.
Waldo (Jerry Hausner and Daws Butler in the 60's series, Casey Kasem in the 70's series) - Quincy Magoo's nephew.
McBarker (Frank Welker) - Quincy Magoo's dog, in the 70s cartoon series, What's New, Mr. Magoo? A talking bulldog, he shares his owner's facial features and poor eyesight.
Mother Magoo (June Foray) - Quincy Magoo's "momma", Linda.
Charley - Quincy Magoo's Chinese houseboy. Charley's depiction as a Chinese stereotype was controversial. The character was prone to unusual misuses of English, such as referring to himself in the third person as "Cholley", and calling Mr. Magoo "Bloss" instead of "Boss". In the late 1960s, episodes featuring Charley were dropped from the series and his character was never mentioned again.
Grandma "Granny" Magoo -
Prezley (Daws Butler) - Waldo's "partner in crime" in the 1960 cartoon.
Bowser - Quincy Magoo's dog (really a Siamese cat).
Wheeler and Dealer - Two children Quincy Magoo often babysits.
Tycoon Magoo (Mel Blanc) - Quincy Magoo's rich uncle.
Worcestershire (Mel Blanc) - Tycoon Magoo's butler who is always trying to prevent Quincy Magoo from ruining his property.