The Monster Mash

Halloween 2010 and here we are at our neighborhood party. I'm a flapper and Jeff is my guy. No, it's not a real cigarette - just a prop. Jeff is wearing a fake nose and glasses that he got in China. It also has fake lips with blow-out thingies that whistle. Lots of fun.

So long, Moose and Squirrel

Animation has had plenty of unknown geniuses — from the directors, artists and storymen of Walt Disney's early features to the sly hands behind the silent pornographic cartoon Buried Treasure — but few were more obscure, or more important, than Alexander Anderson, who died Friday at 90 in Carmel, Calif. Anderson created the characters Rocky the flying squirrel, Bullwinkle Moose and Dudley Do-Right, and the vaudeville-style format, for the 1959 animated program Rocky and His Friends and its 1961 spin-off The Bullwinkle Show, known collectively as The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

For many who grew up in the Eisenhower-Kennedy era, and for later generations enthralled by reruns, this megafunny enterprise set a standard for wild comic invention, jam-packed narratives and merciless punnery (as in Bullwinkle's alma mater Wossamotta U., or its archrival college Heckwith U.). The talking cartoon animals suggested it was a kid's show; the smart humor, delivered at warp speed, clued in adults that the series was really for them. The trick that The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy try to master 14 to 24 times a year — populate a cartoon world with indelible characters — Rocky pulled off five times a week. "From watching that show when I was a kid," Simpsons creator Matt Groening told Louis Chunovic, author of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Book, "it was one of my fantasies to grow up and have my own cartoon show. It was a big influence." The middle initial J. in Homer's, Bart's and Abe's names is Groening's tribute to Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose.(See the top 10 cartoon theme songs.)

With his yellow family and their Springfield neighbors, Groening has earned hundreds of millions of dollars, and the thanks of a like number of kids and adults. Everyone knows his name, if not how to pronounce it (Graining). Similarly, most admirers of the squirrel, the moose and their fellow denizens of Frostbite Falls, Minn., know that Jay Ward produced the two series, and that Bill Scott was in charge of writing and directing. The show's voice actors — Scott (who did Bullwinkle), June Frees (Rocky), Hans Conried (Snidely Whiplash) and Edward Everett Horton (narrator of the Fractured Fables) — have secured their fair share of renown. And some fans surely remember the credit, at the end of each episode, for the executive producer, Ponsonby Britt. He didn't exist: Ward and Scott made the name up.

But there was a real person who got almost no credit, and without whom the characters and the show wouldn't have existed. That was Alex Anderson, and it took a lawsuit against Ward's estate, which was settled in 1996, to make his crucial contribution public. Actually, not that public. I've revered Rocky and Bullwinkle since it came on the air, when I was a kid, and until I read of Anderson's death I didn't know either his name or the acclaim he deserved.

 After the war, Anderson went to work full-time for Terrytoons, in New Rochelle, N.Y. Movie attendance was at an all-time high, but Anderson was excited about the infant medium of TV. "I began to think there was a way to do comic strips for television with just enough movement to sustain interest and having a narrator tell the story," he explained. "You use a narrator so the characters don't have to act everything out." In 1948 he dreamed up Crusader Rabbit, the first cartoon series made for TV. "I asked Uncle Paul if we could develop some animated characters for television," he told John Province of the online cartoon-history site Hogan's Alley. "He said if the studio had anything to do with television, 20th Century Fox might cancel his releases. They clearly saw TV as a threat. He told me, however, that if I wanted to tackle it on my own, then Godspeed."

The rest is history.

From Time magazine.

Spanish Eyes

A wonderful weekend visiting St. Augustine, FL, home of the fountain of youth. Spent time in a RV resort with friends Bunny and Keith Montgomery. Jeff and Keith went to prep school together many moons ago and have reconnected on Facebook. We visited them last winter on our Sarasota trip. Unfortunately our dogs didn't love each other and poor Ziggy got a nasty bite and had to have surgery and stitches to close the wound. She is recovering nicely.

There's No Place Like Home

We're Home!!!!
I'm writing at 5 am on Thursday and we arrived home on Monday night. Our sleep schedule is still not right, but we are comfortable in our own bed with our Ziggy happily sleeping with us. She was jumping for joy when we retrieved her from Camp Green Dog and brought her home. She's been stuck to our sides ever since.

We unpacked, did laundry and grocery shopping and then got busy resuming all our activities. Napping at weird hours takes up the rest of our time.

Trips are wondeful, coming home is the best. China and Hong Kong are pleasant memories now and we have almost 2000 photos to sort through to help us remember. Thanks for sharing our adventure on this blog.

Show Me The Way To Go Home

Sunday is our last day and we are looking forward to going home. Another bountiful breakfast buffet and our morning agenda is a visit to the Hong Kong History Museum. While Brian is sleeping and hitting the fitness center, we walked to the museum and found an impressive building adjacent to the science center. Our tour started on the lower level with a look at the evolution of China, a la James Michener. Upstairs was more interesting with diaramas explaining the Opium Wars, WWI and WWII.

During this trip we have learned alot of the history of China and I particularly had known little of ancient or modern Chinese history. The years since WWII have shown much progress and the country seems to be thriving today. I have never seen so much building and the people we met are so optimistic about their future. Our guide, who is a Communist, felt the standard of living would soon be high enough that China could embrace democracy. I guess the Cultural Revolution served its purpose.

After the museum we walked back to the hotel and got ready to leave. Brian left before us and it was hard to say adieu. At 1:30 a guide and bus showed up and took us to the airport. Along the way we passed the Hong Kong port, the world's largest. So many cranes and containers.

Our flight was long, but comfortable, and we were lucky to have a window and aisle seat with no one in the middle so we were able to stretch out. Back at JFK we stayed overnight at a La Quinta and then flew to Atlanta and Savannah the next morning.

So here we are and what a terrific trip we had.

One Day More - V

Top - Our first night in Hong Kong.

Judy and Jeff on Victoria Peak in the wind.

A boat ride in Aberdeen Harbor.

Around the World in 80 Days

Greetings from Hong Kong. Okay we've only been gone for a few weeks, but it feels like 80 days and we are anxious to get home. Jeff and I left Bluffton on September 22nd and flew to New York. We stayed overnight at JFK and left for Beijing the next morning. We have been sightseeing and running ever since and having the most fantastic trip. The icing on the cake is that Brian has met us here in Hong Kong and we are spending the weekend together and all leave tomorrow.

I have been diligently keeping track of all our adventures and, of course, taking many pictures. Above is Jeff and me on The Great Wall wearing tee shirts that say "I Climbed the Great Wall." I will post the day by day diary with photos when we get home. Meanwhile we have one more glorious night in Hong Kong with it's beautiful views and bustling streets. A safe journey for us and best wishes to all of you.