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The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo

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The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo
GenreAnimation
Written byWalter Black
Barbara Chain
Directed byBob McKimson
Voices ofJim Backus
Marvin Miller
Paul Frees
Dal McKennon
Joan Gardner
Howard Morris
Shepard Menken
Everett Sloane
Julie Bennett
Theme music composerCarl Brandt
ComposerCarl Brandt
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerHenry G. Saperstein
EditorSam Horta
Running time30 minutes
Production companyUnited Productions of America
Original release
NetworkNBC
Release19 September 1964 (1964-09-19) –
24 April 1965 (1965-04-24)

The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo is an American animated television series produced by United Productions of America that aired for one season on NBC from September 19, 1964 to April 24, 1965.[1] It is the follow-up to the 1960/61 series Mister Magoo, with Jim Backus reprising the title role.[2]

Unlike the theatrical cartoons, which focused on the extremely nearsighted Quincy Magoo's bumbling, the show features the Magoo character as an actor in adaptations of such literary classics as Don Quixote and "Gunga Din".[3] Each of these roles is played seriously, with few, if any, references to Magoo's nearsightedness. However, introductory segments in each program feature Magoo backstage stumbling into scenery and talking to props, thus connecting the older cartoons to this series. Some stories are contained in a single half-hour episode, but others run for two to four episodes. As UPA did not have its own studio facility, the production was farmed out to the Grantray-Lawrence and Format Films studios.

Among the most ambitious adaptations mounted in this format were the four-part Robin Hood, in which he took the role of Friar Tuck; Treasure Island, in which he played the villainous Long John Silver; and a version of Snow White in which he portrayed all seven of the Seven Dwarfs.

The series was inspired by the success of the 1962 television special Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, a serious remake of the Charles Dickens classic novel with Magoo playing Ebenezer Scrooge.

The series was re-shown in the early 1970s on early Saturday mornings and the early 1980s as part of certain channels' weekday afternoon cartoon blocs. Certain episodes were released on VHS, but these have since gone out of print.

The series was originally shown in prime time and not as part of an animated block for juvenile viewers. Therefore, certain more mature elements were present. These included death threats (William Tell, Robin Hood, Don Quixote, The Three Musketeers, Sherlock Holmes), children in danger (Treasure Island, Gunga Din, William Tell), insanity (Don Quixote, Moby Dick), heroic self-sacrifice (Gunga Din), religious themes (Noah's Ark), and realistic, although mostly bloodless, violence; including swordplay, shooting, clubbing, drowning and character deaths in most of the episodes.

Episodes

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# Broadcast date Title Adapted for Television by
01 September 19, 1964 "William Tell" Barbara Chain
02 September 26, 1964 "Treasure Island"— Part 1 Walter Black
03 October 3, 1964 "Treasure Island"— Part 2 Walter Black
04 October 10, 1964 "Gunga Din" Sloan Nibley
05 October 17, 1964 "Moby Dick" True Boardman
06 October 24, 1964 "The Three Musketeers"— Part 1 Joanna Lee
07 November 7, 1964 "The Three Musketeers"— Part 2 Joanna Lee
08 November 14, 1964 "Robin Hood"— Episode 1 Walter Black
09 November 21, 1964 "Robin Hood"— Episode 2 Walter Black
10 November 28, 1964 "Robin Hood"— Episode 3 Walter Black
11 December 5, 1964 "Robin Hood"— Episode 4 Walter Black
12 December 19, 1964 "Don Quixote de la Mancha"— Episode 1 True Boardman
13 December 26, 1964 "Cyrano de Bergerac" True Boardman
14 January 2, 1965 "Snow White"— Episode 1 Barbara Chain
15 January 9, 1965 "Snow White"— Episode 2 Barbara Chain
16 January 16, 1965 "Rip Van Winkle" Barbara Chain
17 February 6, 1965 "Dick Tracy and the Mob" Sloan Nibley
18 February 13, 1965 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Barbara Chain
19 February 27, 1965 "The Count of Monte Cristo" Walter Black
20 March 13, 1965 "Doctor Frankenstein" Sloan Nibley
21 March 20, 1965 "Don Quixote de la Mancha"— Episode 2 True Boardman
22 March 27, 1965 "Captain Kidd" Walter Black
23 April 3, 1965 "Noah's Ark" Barbara Chain
24 April 10, 1965 "Sherlock Holmes" True Boardman
25 April 17, 1965 "King Arthur" Sloan Nibley
26 April 24, 1965 "Paul Revere" Jerry D. Lewis

Home video

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In November 2011, Shout! Factory released Mr. Magoo: The Television Collection 1960-1977 on DVD in Region 1.[4] This 11-disc collection contains all the episodes from all three Mr. Magoo television series, including all 26 episodes of The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo.

References

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  1. ^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 193–196. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 401–403. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  3. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 554–559. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. ^ "Mr. Magoo DVD news: Box Art and Contents for Mr. Magoo on TV Collection: 1960-1977". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
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