It was 50 years ago today — Nov. 19, 1959 — when the world discovered Rocket “Rocky” J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, two of the finest citizens in all of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota.
The flying squirrel and his good-natured if slow-witted moose pal arrived on ABC as stars of “The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show,” the zany, off-beated animated series created by the late Jay Ward, whose daughter Tiffany Ward, a longtime Orange County resident, still manages the family business.
To mark the golden anniversary of the show, we called up Ward to chat about why the show and the characters and stories her father created still endure.
“My dad always told me that he was writing for the adults, but that the show worked on three levels,” Ward said. “The little kids would get the funny names and voices, the adults would get the humor and the inside jokes, and the kids in the middle would enjoy both ends.
“I suspect that’s why we’re still here 50 years later,” she said. “It was such a unique piece of writing.”
In most episodes, Rocky and Bullwinkle ended up trying to stop the show’s scheming villians, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. Interspersed with those storylines were other characters with their own adventures, including the Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right and Sherman and Peabody, a young boy and his very smart dog, respectively.
Ward, who we first met a few years ago when Cartoon Network launched a new version of “George of the Jungle,” another of Jay Ward’s animated creations of the ’60s, says fans of the various shows have a few new treats coming soon.
The fourth season of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” will be out on DVD soon, and an animated movie version of “Mr Peabody and Sherman” is in development at Dreamworks with Bob Minkoff (”The Haunted Mansion,” “Stuart Little,” “The Lion King”) attached as director.
Ward says she doesn’t remember much about the premiere of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” 50 years ago. She thinks the family just watched at home, and says that’s how she’s planning to celebrate this anniversary, too.
“I’m just going to enjoy that it’s been 50 amazing years that they’ve been around,” Ward said. “And my dad would be so proud.”
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