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The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose
 
 
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The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose (Paperback)

by Keith Scott (Author) "P.M., November 19,1959, it was seemingly just one more in a mushrooming number of TV cartoons. But it soon became apparent that this show, starring..." (more)
Key Phrases: ruby yacht, cartoon pilots, fractured fairy tales, Bill Scott, General Mills, Bill Hurtz (more...)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose + Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season + Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete Third Season
Price For All Three: $48.77

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Although Rocky and His Friends remains the cleverest and best-loved cartoon series of the baby boom era, information about the creation of the program is notoriously hard to come by. Jay Ward declined to give interviews in his later years, key artists have died, and virtually nothing survives from the hastily organized studio in Mexico City where much of the animation was done. Despite these handicaps, Australian actor Keith Scott, the voice of Bullwinkle in the 2000 film, has assembled an impressively complete studio history.

Unlike other television cartoon producers, Ward and his partner, writer and voice actor Bill Scott, insisted on making shows they thought were funny. The witty scripts, read by a cast of superb voice artists, remain as entertaining today as they were when Rocky debuted in 1959. And, as Scott documents, what occurred off-camera was often just as zany. The Coney Island Film Festival, a lavish publicity stunt to promote "Fractured Flickers," Ward's send-up of silent films, turned into a spectacular disaster when a rainstorm drenched the park--and the guests. The book has some weaknesses: there are only a few black-and-white illustrations, and Scott fails to address the impact of the cartoons--Matt Groening has frequently cited them as an influence on The Simpsons. The often repetitious text would have benefited from judicious editing. These caveats aside, The Moose That Roared will delight the legions of vociferous fans whose love for Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha, Dudley Do-Right, George of the Jungle, Super Chicken, Fred, and the rest of the Jay Ward characters continues, 40 years after Rocky began its initial run. Also available: the original cartoons on VHS, the large-format episode guide The Rocky and Bullwinkle Book, and Fractured Fairy Tales, updated by an Entertainment Weekly writer. --Charles Solomon --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Cross-marketing efforts are seldom worthwhile, but this cartoonish history of Rocky and Bullwinkle is a fabulous exception. Scott, a lifelong "cartoon junkie" and the voice of Bullwinkle in the upcoming film from Universal Pictures, delves deep into animation lore to reveal the magic and mayhem that went into the most irreverent and grown-up cartoon until The Simpsons. Rocky and Bullwinkle were invented in 1957 by two perpetually goofy guys named Jay Ward and Bill Scott (no relation to the author). When the two men persuaded a distribution company to fund a series based on their characters, a legend was born. The Rocky and Bullwinkle adventures were unlike any cartoon on TV: topical (the Cold War was a favorite subtext), self-referential ("Have you forgotten, BullwinkleAwe're TV heroes!" cries Rocky in one episode) and unapologetically sophisticated (references to Dostoyevski and Aesop were not atypical). But above all, Scott insists, the Rocky and Bullwinkle show was often outrageously, sometimes painfully, funny. The mismatched duo (a squirrel and a moose) entertained adults and children alike for six years and 326 episodes. Although Jay Ward and Bill Scott created a gaggle of other popular cartoon charactersAincluding Dudley Do-Right, George of the Jungle and Cap'n CrunchARocky and Bullwinkle were always their favorites. Scott's enthusiasm for his subject is infectiousAwhen he veers into giddiness, it's forgivable, perhaps even appropriate to this delightful salute to the most famous flying squirrel and dimwitted moose in history. (July) FYI: The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, starring Robert De Niro, Rene Russo, George Alexander and the author, will be released June 30.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (November 20, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312283830
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312283834
  • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #438,976 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Funny & Enchanting in Places, But Largely a Chore to Read, August 12, 2000
By Richard E. Hegner (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I once read a review that began: "This book told me more about penguins than I ever wanted to know about penguins." Similarly, I'm tempted to say that this book told me far more about Jay Ward, Bill Scott, and the ups and downs of their years in show business than I ever wanted to know--and far less about one of the favorite t.v. programs of my long-ago adolescence, Rocky and Bullwinkle. (The book spends a lot of time discussing Ward's and Scott's other ventures into cartoon series, including Crusader Rabbit, Hoppity Hooper, and George of the Jungle as well as ads for Captain Crunch and other Quaker cereals.) If you venture into this book expecting it to be as full of zany humor and excruciating puns as Rocky and Bullwinkle were--as I did--you are in for a disappointment. While parts of the book are quite absorbing, it is on the whole a chore to read. The book badly needs edited down, especially given its repititiousness. The author tends to be a bit too gushingly adulatory of the work of Ward and Scott, too; while they were comic and artistic geniuses, they did misfire a few times.

There are gems along the way--including the origin of the name Bullwinkle, the real identity of Ponsonby Britt, how the names Gidney and Cloyd were chosen for the moonmen, and the never-ceasing wars between Ward and Scott and their sponsors and networks--but you have to sift through a lot of gratuitous detail to find them. One of the most engaging parts of the book is the Reference Section. (Curiously, the reference section, the appendices, and the index account for 128 pages of the book's total 442 pages.) In the Reference Section, the reader finds synopses of all the episodes of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Fractured Fairy Tales, Bullwinkle's Corner (aka, Mr. Know-It-All), Mr. Peabody's History, Aesop and Son, and Dudley Doo-Right. Just glancing through the names of the Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes is a delight (e.g., "A Creep in the Deep, or Will Success Spoil Boris Badenov?" "Fast and Moose or Charlie's Antler"). It is a reminder, too, of how much funnier and more engaging this book might have been if better focused and better written.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A detailed history of Bullwinkle and his creators, February 22, 2001
By Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
There are probably only three truly great houses of animation: Disney (of course), Warner Brothers, and Jay Ward Productions. Of the three, the latter seems to get the least attention, something this book attempts to remedy.

This is a history of Bullwinkle and his creators, from when they first got into the business until their last creative efforts, i.e., pretty much up until the George of the Jungle movie, though there is mention of the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie as forthcoming.

Though Ward and his cronies were comparatively good at keeping to their artistic vision despite outside pressures, there were enormous complications of business and dollars-and-cents issues that dogged them throughout. Most notably, much of the detailed animation of their key show was done in Mexico City. The goal was to save money, though all it accomplished in the short term was to reduce the quality of the product.

This book covers those issues in detail, which are significant but not that interesting. More interesting is to hear about the madcap antics of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, and the others as they work together and play practical jokes on one another. Ward in particular has a gift for publicity, sending out bizarre weekly notices to the press to publicize the show via mock-pyramid schemes and other parodies of mail-order silliness.

It's harder than usual to make a judgment about this book. Casual readers like me would probably have been happier if it had skimped on the business issues, sticking just to the creative aspects. People wanting to know how showbiz really works, on the other hand, will probably be fascinated by the business details described here, as unbelievable as they frequently are.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book for Rocky, Bullwinkle, Jay Ward fans, August 2, 2000
If you are a fan of Jay Ward and Bill Scott's zany animated creations, you really owe it to yourself to read this book. "The Moose That Roared" is filled with entertaining and enlightening quotes, observations, tales and all kinds of enjoyable information about the voice artists, writers, musicians and other folks responsible for these unforgettable programs. I can't imagine any author doing a better job at presenting the vast amount of material Keith Scott has compiled. In short, this is a terrific book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Overview of Jay Ward
This is an excellent overview of Jay Ward and his cartoons and it definitely inspired me to write my book Created and Produced by Total TeleVision Productions, which I would... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mark Arnold

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for die-hard fans
I agree with the general consensus of reviews that the book is too wordy. I'm a huge Moose And Squirrel fan, but I haven't actually managed to plow thru the whole book yet. Read more
Published on February 26, 2007 by David A. Beamer

4.0 out of 5 stars And Now For Something You'll REALLY Like!
Contrary to some other reviews here, I found Mr. Scott's book to be an easily readable, fascinating and fun look into the life and work of Mr. Jay Ward.

Mr. Read more
Published on January 14, 2007 by Lawrence Lomenzo

3.0 out of 5 stars The Moose That Snored?
I really, really wanted to like this book. I was a huge fan of Jay Ward, Bill Scott and the gang who brought us Rocky and Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle, Dudley Do-Right and... Read more
Published on April 15, 2006 by David B. Eck

4.0 out of 5 stars Might overwhelm the reader on a first look; it's funnier, easier going when revisited
Some reviewers have found that Keith Scott's monumental tribute to Jay Ward Productions contains almost too much information to be easily enjoyed. Read more
Published on June 28, 2005 by Scott MacGillivray

1.0 out of 5 stars Good topic, terrible read
In the hands of A.J. Liebling or Jane Kramer, this would have been an excellent book. After all, the subject is superb. Read more
Published on May 30, 2005 by Larry the Lawyer

5.0 out of 5 stars Hokey Smokes! A Book All About Rocky and Bullwinkle!!!
If you love Rocky, Bullwinkle, Dudley-Do Right, Peabody and Sherman and all their zany, wonderful contemporaries, you must have this book. It's as simple as that! Read more
Published on August 25, 2003 by W. C HALL

5.0 out of 5 stars Natasha! Moose and Squirrel have their own book!
This is the best reference to "Rocky and Bullwinkle" out there. In it is information about the show itself, Jay Ward (the show's creator), Bill Scott (coproducer and... Read more
Published on September 28, 2002 by geatornez82

5.0 out of 5 stars The world's no1 moose and squirrel and their friends.
Hi its me again.

I just received the copy of this book and quite frankly, once again its brilliant. Keith Scott has certainly done his homework.

Keep up the good work, Keith.

Published on September 10, 2001 by hazel mckernan

5.0 out of 5 stars The world's no1 moose and squirrel and their friends.
Hi its me again.

I just received the copy of this book and quite frankly, once again its brilliant. Keith Scott has certainly done his homework.

Keep up the good work, Keith.

Published on September 10, 2001 by hazel mckernan

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