Tooned In: Mister Magoo

Oh ho ho, I tell you, by George, ah ah ah…

Time for another wrestling-related cartoon, and our first dive into the UPA Universe with its signature character, the Nearsighted Mister Magoo. Another breakout star from a throwaway cartoon, Quincy Magoo went on to star in theatrical and TV shorts, as well as a couple of full-length features. Oh yeah, there’s a little adaption of A Christmas Carol that some people like too. Magoo is another character you probably remember from local weekday morning airings, or on cable such as when Nickelodeon ran his cartoons during Weinerville alongside The Alvin Show and Batfink. Get your razzleberry dressing ready and enjoy Magoo as he crosses over into the grappling world in…

HOTSY FOOTSY (1952)

The first version of the typical Magoo title card reminds me…was he meant to look into the giant lenses on the far left of the screen instead of the “O”s? If so, this gag was lost when they updated his logo, which would have no lenses at all. And my bit of useless trivia: Magoo’s utterances during his title card were from his aforementioned first appearance Ragtime Bear. Magoo’s voice is provided by Jim “Thurston Howell III” Backus…but you probably already knew that. What not everyone may know is, he too was a Rutgers alumni, a fact brought up in a few of his cartoons, this one included since he is attending his 62nd annual alumni dance. Magoo starts, however, by commandeering the microphone from the band singer, in time for the lyric about the “Mexican Fandango.” Wasn’t that the gimmick they tried to give him to kill off his popularity, when they paired him with Rosa Mendes and all?

Anyway, we cut to the couple of Charlie and Frances, who is dreading the dance contest at the get-together because Magoo is her partner. And speak of the devil, he arrives as she hides under the table. He asks Charlie where his wife is, only he’s really talking to a roast pig a waiter is serving…because he’s THE NEARSIGHTED MISTER MAGOO. Yes, most of Magoo’s adventures are literally caused by the fact that he cannot see clearly. Originally, the nearsightedness had a double meaning: both Magoo’s vision and him being too stubborn to admit it…though the latter part was toned down and his vision impairment became the main comic vehicle for the character.

The actual Charlie informs Magoo that Frances is on the floor (under the table), but Magoo takes that to mean the dance floor. He leaves but ends up leaving the building and entering the neighboring one: an arena that’s holding a wrestling event, tipped off by the nearby poster which vaguely looks like a wrestling bear is being advertised. It was the ’50s, so it would certainly be the right time for that. Upon closer inspection, the picture on the poster resembles Abobo from Double Dragon a bit more. Or, cutting deeper into the video game world, Karnov of various Data East titles. Of course, Magoo confuses the arena for the lounge, and thinks the injured wrestlers being stretchered out are just undergraduates who can’t handle their booze.

Going through the dressing area, we see other competitors on the card include the Masked Mangler (two ’50s/’60s wrestler caricature tropes in one) and Lord Leer. In the ring is Francis the Terrible (pretty sure “…the Terrible” is another cliched old-time wrestling name) and he has red hair and a red outfit…and between that and his name, you know where this is going. Magoo enters the ring and thinks it’s his dance partner, Frances with an E. Magoo’s put in an armlock, but he escapes and keeps dancing with Francis. A bearhug, but again, escapes, dances. Rinse and repeat. Francis eventually takes out the ref, who Magoo calls another undergrad who tried to cut in. But then the match literally becomes a three-way dance, with the ref joining in the rug cutting. This is reminding me of an ECW comedy match now. Finally, Francis has enough, beating up the ref and tossing Magoo into the ropes…but he returns and literally dances circles around the wrestler, making him dizzy and causing him to fall to the mat. Magoo is on top, only they cut before we can see if he pins him, so I guess a Sportz Entertainment Finish? This was more choreographed than most lucha matches and would it hurt Magoo to sell something? For a nearsighted guy at least he didn’t knock someone’s eye out like Stan Hansen. Still, it wasn’t as Russo as the other cartoon matches I’ve reviewed because no one broke kayfabe this time. So I’ll call it *

Post-match/dance, Frances decided to go home, but Magoo returns to the party and brings Francis back to Charlie.

What else? Well if you are watching on MeTV Toons, it ends with the Sony Pictures Television logo, the mere existence of which triggers closing logo fans for its habit of covering older Columbia and Screen Gems ID’s. Thank goodness someone found the formerly-lost-media TAT Communications Company logo, or we’d never hear the end of that being part of the “Bars of Boredom’s” rap sheet too.