The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose [ペーパーバック]

There are gems along the way--including the origin of the name Bullwinkle, the real identity of Ponsonby Britt, how the names Gidney and Cloyd were chosen for the moonmen, and the never-ceasing wars between Ward and Scott and their sponsors and networks--but you have to sift through a lot of gratuitous detail to find them. One of the most engaging parts of the book is the Reference Section. (Curiously, the reference section, the appendices, and the index account for 128 pages of the book's total 442 pages.) In the Reference Section, the reader finds synopses of all the episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Fractured Fairy Tales, Bullwinkle's Corner (aka, Mr. Know-It-All), Mr. Peabody's History, Aesop and Son, and Dudley Doo-Right. Just glancing through the names of the Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes is a delight (e.g., "A Creep in the Deep, or Will Success Spoil Boris Badenov?" "Fast and Moose or Charlie's Antler"). It is a reminder, too, of how much funnier and more engaging this book might have been if better focused and better written.

This is a history of Bullwinkle and his creators, from when they first got into the business until their last creative efforts, i.e., pretty much up until the George of the Jungle movie, though there is mention of the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie as forthcoming.

Though Ward and his cronies were comparatively good at keeping to their artistic vision despite outside pressures, there were enormous complications of business and dollars-and-cents issues that dogged them throughout. Most notably, much of the detailed animation of their key show was done in Mexico City. The goal was to save money, though all it accomplished in the short term was to reduce the quality of the product.

This book covers those issues in detail, which are significant but not that interesting. More interesting is to hear about the madcap antics of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, and the others as they work together and play practical jokes on one another. Ward in particular has a gift for publicity, sending out bizarre weekly notices to the press to publicize the show via mock-pyramid schemes and other parodies of mail-order silliness.

It's harder than usual to make a judgment about this book. Casual readers like me would probably have been happier if it had skimped on the business issues, sticking just to the creative aspects. People wanting to know how showbiz really works, on the other hand, will probably be fascinated by the business details described here, as unbelievable as they frequently are.