THE MOOSE THAT ROARED: The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1959 to 1964) featured some of the wittiest, most inspired, and relentlessly hilarious animation ever created. The legendary Jay Ward and Bill Scott produced the gleeful wonder and cumulative joy that transcended the crude drawings and occasionally muddy sound. One of my favorite jokes from the series was during the first season when Boris Badenov convinced Rocky and Bullwinkle to sell him the moose-berry bush for three dollars. Rocky stops for a moment and says, “Hey, I’ve never seen a three-dollar bill before…” To wit, Boris replies, “What? Can I help it if you’re poor?” 

 

The Moose That Roared tells the story of a rare and magical relationship between two artists wildly, exuberantly ahead of their time, and a fascinating account of the struggle to bring their vision of bad puns and talking animals to unforgettable life. Jay Ward was the magnificent visionary, the outrageous showman, while Bill Scott was the genial, brilliant head writer, coproducer, and all-purpose creative whirlwind. With exclusive interviews, original scripts, artwork, story notes, letters and memos, Keith Scott has written the definitive history of Jay Ward Productions.

 

Full disclosure: I know Keith personally and he is a hell of a nice guy. He is an expert on voice actors (radio and cartoon voices) and has done quite a good bit of preservation in book form. As a fan of the television series, which I grew up with as a child, and rushed to buy the DVDs when they were released commercially over the years, I can state that of all the books published about Jay Ward, this is the one you want – especially if you love the Rocky and Bullwinkle series.

RARE EXPORTS (2010) is a Rare Christmas Treat

In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 meters deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve in Finland, Santa Claus is unearthed in an archaeological dig. Soon after, children start disappearing, leading a boy and his father to capture Santa, with the help of fellow hunters.

Very creepy in parts, but with a very enjoyable streak of black comedy, this movie is a must see. The fact it is primarily in Finnish with minimal English did not detract from my enjoyment of the film at all (subtitles are really easy to follow, folks).

 

This is what you call one of those “cult classics,” a film no one would think twice about wanting to see but comes recommended by their friends. After watching this, they find themselves unable to contain the same recommendation to their friends. And, over the years, the movie takes on a cult status of its own. 

 

To say this is a holiday horror movie is an apt description, but less horror and more fascination as the young boy figures out the scenario before his elders and takes matters into his own hands. Beautifully shot with great cinematography, this movie works on all levels that you come to expect in a horror movie. If you are looking for a different Christmas movie to watch this year with your friends, try this one out. You can thank me later.

SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL (Volume 1)

I just finished reading a collection of short stories inspired by the original 1959-1964 television series, THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL (Volume 1) is a short-story anthology with one novella and ten short stories written in the Rod Serling genre or, in the consensus of the editorial board, a story that Serling himself would have liked. Not all of the tales were of fantasy, but all are thought-provoking, focusing on various social and moral relevance. 

The editor's preface was penned by Anne Serling, one of Rod Serling's two daughters, and the editorial board include NIGHT GALLERY authorities Jim Benson and Scott Skelton, and Serling historians Mark Dawidziak and Mark Olshaker. 

Like all short story collections, you get a few duds, a few amusements and one or two winners. I often enjoy watching television anthologies because I find one gem among every five, six or seven decent or duds, and a gem worth sifting through the others. For the printed page, I found from experience that the ratio is diluted to one gem for every ten to twelve stories. Anyway, I am pleased to admit there were three I enjoyed and one of two of those were what I decipher as gems.

But don't take my word for it. If you enjoy THE TWILIGHT ZONE, or the works of Rod Serling, you will enjoy this book, available on Amazon.com.

Sally Phipps: Silent Film Star (Book Review)

In the final years of the silent film era, few careers traced a more unexpected arc than that of a child who began as Hollywood’s tiniest starlet and ended as a world traveler with stories that spanned the golden decades of motion pictures. Barely three years old, the precocious Sally Phipps was already a seasoned veteran of baby beauty contests when she was cast as “the Baby” in Broncho Billy and the Baby, filmed at the Essanay Studio in Niles, California, in late 1914. The film’s leading man, cowboy legend Broncho Billy Anderson, was already a household name, but the toddler who shared the screen with him would go on to live a life as cinematic as any picture of her day.

Sally’s recollections of those earliest studio years were vivid and tender: she remembered perching on Charlie Chaplin’s knee between takes and the terror of a runaway stagecoach during filming. By her teens, she had transformed from a cherubic child actor into a glamorous contract player at Fox Studios, appearing in nearly two dozen films and making a fleeting but memorable appearance in F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise—a masterpiece now regarded as one of the greatest silent films ever produced.

Her ascent, however, was shadowed by tragedy. In 1927, while filming her two-reel comedy Gentlemen Prefer Scotch, word reached her that her father, a respected state senator, had died under scandalous circumstances. The same year, she was chosen as one of the coveted WAMPAS Baby Stars—an honor reserved for Hollywood’s most promising ingénues—alongside future icons whose fame would endure long after the silent era faded.

At the height of her screen appeal, Phipps made the bold decision to leave Hollywood for New York City. There she reinvented herself as a society darling and headline-maker, her name often appearing in the columns of Walter Winchell and other Broadway gossip writers. She performed in two Broadway productions, starred in a Vitaphone short, and married (and soon divorced) one of the heirs to the Gimbel department store fortune. Restless and uncontainable, she embarked on a global odyssey that carried her through Europe, India, and beyond before returning to New York.

Settling into a quieter rhythm, she married again, raised two children, and later made her home in Hawaii. In 1938, she made the newspapers once more when columnist Earl Wilson profiled her under the wry headline, “WAMPAS Ex-Baby Lives on WPA $23 — And Likes It,” chronicling her work for the Federal Theatre Project during the Great Depression. Her final public recognition came in the form of the Rosemary Award, a fitting tribute to a woman whose life and career embodied both remembrance and resilience—a star who never truly faded, but simply changed stages.

Even after her death in 1978, Sally Phipps’s legend endures through photographs—glamorous studio portraits, playful pinups, and rare candid shots from her private albums. Her son, Robert L. Harned, independently wrote a book devoted to her remarkable journey which features more than 150 images chronicling her evolution from silent film cherub to Broadway headliner and beyond. This is the kind of book I wish everyone did for their silent screen parents. Her legacy is preserved, documented, and available for everyone to review. The book is available on Amazon.com through the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/Sally-Phipps-Silent-Film-Star/dp/1511915927/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FIGZ84QG6N1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VUL2-l0GCObIB7KkM1cRPw.B5iD_yrtJaGDlHWivQ7Ag7-qGIqQEHH9-LY9ShLlSTs&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sally+phipps+silent+film+star&qid=1759874169&sprefix=sally+phipps+silent+film+sta%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1