| Mr. Magoo | |
|---|---|
 Mr. Magoo and McBarker from What's New, Mr. Magoo? | |
| First appearance | The Ragtime Bear (1949) |
| Created by | |
| Adapted by |
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| Portrayed by | Leslie Nielsen |
| Voiced by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Quincy Magoo |
| Family |
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University |
Quincy Magoo, referred to asMr. Magoo, is a fictionalcartoon character created at theUPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced for many years byJim Backus, Mr. Magoo is an elderly, wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his extremenear-sightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem. However, through uncanny streaks of luck, the situation always seems to work itself out for him, leaving him no worse than before. Bystanders consequently tend to think that he is alunatic, rather than just being near-sighted. In later cartoons, he is also an actor, and generally a competent one, except for his visual impairment.
The character became UPA's most popular original property and fronted a successful theatrical cartoon series of his own, which remained in production through 1959 before being revived for television.[2] Four UPAMister Magoo shorts were nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film with two shorts winning the award:When Magoo Flew (1954) andMagoo's Puddle Jumper (1956).
In 2002,TV Guide ranked Mr. Magoo number 29 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[3]
Mr. Magoo's first appearance was in the theatrical short cartoonThe Ragtime Bear (1949), a UPAJolly Frolics short written byMillard Kaufman and directed byJohn Hubley. In the short, the ornery, elderly, and nearsighted Mister Magoo spends a mountain hike mixing up hisraccoon coat-wearing adult nephew Waldo with a wild bear who has stolen Waldo's hat.[2]
Magoo's creation was a collaborative effort: director Hubley is said to have partly based the character on his uncle Harry Woodruff;[4]W. C. Fields was another source of inspiration.[5] UPA's distributor at the time,Columbia Pictures, was reluctant to release a short featuring a human character rather than ananthropomorphic animal such asMickey Mouse orBugs Bunny (or Columbia's ownThe Fox and the Crow, who'd starred in earlier UPAJolly Frolics). Columbia relented only because the short also included a bear.[2] The decision paid off: the short was a box-office success, and Magoo became a notable human cartoon character amongst the much more prominent anthropomorphic animal characters of the time.[2]
The character of Mr. Magoo was originally conceived as a mean-spirited reactionary.[6] Hubley, who had created Magoo, handed the series completely over to creative directorPete Burness. Under Burness, Magoo won twoAcademy Awards for the studio withWhen Magoo Flew (1954) andMagoo's Puddle Jumper (1956).[7] Burness scrubbed Magoo of his meanness and left only a few strange comments that made him appear senile or somewhat mad.[2] At the same time, art directorSterling Sturtevant redesigned the character's appearance.[8] Magoo was frequently accompanied in his on-screen escapades with his nephew Waldo, voiced at various times by eitherJerry Hausner orDaws Butler.
Mr. Magoo was depicted as having graduated fromRutgers University in 1928. His creators wanted him to be "a college alumnus who was still fired up with the old school spirit [and they felt] Rutgers was the embodiment of the 'old school tie' in America.".[9] He would often shout out, "Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Rho – Rutgers, Rutgers, Go – Go – Go!"
A record album featuring Magoo,Magoo inHi-Fi, was released in 1957. Side 1 consisted of a dialogue between Magoo and Waldo taking place while Magoo was attempting to set up his newsound system. Music on the album was composed and conducted byDennis Farnon and his orchestra. Side 2, "The Mother Magoo Suite", was a series of musical pieces which included two solos byMarni Nixon.
In 1959, Mr. Magoo starred in1001 Arabian Nights, directed byJack Kinney, UPA's first feature-length production.[10]
In the 1960s, UPA turned its attention to television and began producing the seriesMister Magoo for the character. Because UPA had shut down its animation studio in 1959, the animation for these cartoons was done byJack Kinney Productions andLarry Harmon Pictures. The cartoons suffered from varying character designs and choppier animation, due to rushed production schedules. Magoo's nephew Waldo (voiced, as in most of the theatrical cartoons, by Jerry Hausner) was seldom seen with his uncle, now appearing in his own episodes, introduced by a brief phone conversation from Magoo's point of view, which acted as a teaser. The Waldo episodes also featured a slick-talking con man named Prezly, and they always ended with a return to Magoo saying, "Oh, that Waldo and Prezly. What'll they be up to next? Hee hee hee!"
Magoo's houseboy Cholly (i.e., "Charlie") took up a lot of Waldo's slack. Cholly was an Asian stereotype with huge buck teeth and fractured English pronunciation. Still other cartoons featured Tycoon Magoo, voiced byMel Blanc, and his bumbling assistant Worcestershire.
In 1962, UPS releasedMister Magoo's Christmas Carol, an abbreviated but largely faithful retelling ofCharles Dickens' tale. It was the first ever animated Christmas special made for television and the first hour-long animated TV special and is considered to be a holiday classic of the 1960s, ranking alongsideA Charlie Brown Christmas andHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!.[11] The special inspired the production of an animated TV series titledThe Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, which placed Magoo as an actor in other well-known stories. After an introduction in Magoo's backstagedressing room, Magoo was depicted in such roles asThe Count of Monte Cristo,Merlin in an upbeat retelling of the story ofKing Arthur,Friar Tuck inRobin Hood, andPuck inA Midsummer Night's Dream.
In 1970, Mr. Magoo starred asUncle Sam in the TV specialUncle Sam Magoo. Magoo later starred in a new Saturday morning television series calledWhat's New, Mr. Magoo?, which ran during the 1977-78 television season onCBS. This series was made under license by theDePatie–Freleng studio, as UPA had by this time ceased in-house cartoon production.
The theatrical UPAMister Magoo cartoons remained in TV syndication throughout the years, including being featured onNickelodeon's mid-1990s variety seriesWeinerville.
Mr. Magoo helped advertise theGeneral Electric line of products throughout the 1950s and 1960s,[12] sometimes under the name Quincy Magoo.[13] In 2005, Mr. Magoo became thespokesman of the optical retail store Sterling Optical. Magoo also was featured in a series of commercials forStag Beer in the 1960s. Also in the 1960s, the Polaner company sold its line of preserves in jars decorated with images of Mr. Magoo which, when empty, could then be used as drinking glasses.
In 2012, Mr. Magoo appeared inMetLife's "Everyone" commercial duringSuper Bowl XLVI.
In 1994, aSega Mega Drive game starring Mr. Magoo was in development and planned to be published byMillennium Interactive but was never released.[14]
In December 1997, the live-action comedy filmMr. Magoo, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starringLeslie Nielsen as the title character,[15] was released to overwhelmingly negative critical reception.[16] Some support groups for thedisabled, including theNational Federation of the Blind, protested it on behalf of the blind and sight-impaired.[17]
In 2010, adirect-to-video animated action-comedy film based on the character,Kung Fu Magoo, was released on DVD on May 11, 2010. It features the voices ofJim Conroy,Chris Parnell,Dylan and Cole Sprouse, andAlyson Stoner.[18] The film is a Mexican–American co-production, produced byClassic Media,Ánima Estudios, and Santo Domingo Films.[19] The film was directed by Andrés Couturier. It made its TV debut on Disney XD in 2011.
Magoo appeared inDreamWorks Animation's 2017 filmThe Boss Baby on the cover of a comic book.
Another television series, simply titledMr. Magoo, began airing in 2019.[20] Produced by the companyXilam, this series depicts a younger-looking Magoo and his pet dog named Mr. Cat (because it meows), who replaces McBarker, the dog depicted in earlier cartoons.[21] An antagonist is added in the form of a hamster named Fizz and his human assistant named Weasel.
ASI Entertainment[22] has used Mr. Magoo cartoons to "warm up" audiences when testing television comedy pilots.[23][24]
The followingMister Magoo cartoons were either nominees for, or recipients of, theAcademy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons):
On February 8, 2005,Sony BMG Music Entertainment's former kids and family entertainment division,Sony Wonder (under license fromClassic Media) releasedThe Mr. Magoo Show: Complete DVD Collection.[26] This four-disc set featured all 26 uncut episodes of the 1960 series, digitally remastered from original film prints and presented in its original broadcast presentation and order, as well as bonus features. This release has been discontinued and is now out of print.
On November 8, 2011,Shout! Factory (under license from Classic Media) releasedMr. Magoo: The Television Collection 1960–1977 on DVD in Region 1.[27] This 11-disc collection contains all the episodes from all three Mr. Magoo television series, including all 26 episodes ofMister Magoo, all 26 episodes ofThe Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, all 16 episodes ofWhat's New, Mister Magoo?, and the prime-time TV specialUncle Sam Magoo, as well as several bonus features.
On December 6, 2011, Sony released the feature film1001 Arabian Nights on DVD through their Screen Classics manufactured-on-demand (MOD) program, now available through a licensing deal through theWarner Archive Collection.
In 2011, animation historianJerry Beck announced the release of a Shout! Factory boxed set of the Mr. Magoo theatrical (UPA) shorts, under license from Sony.[28] Originally scheduled for release in 2012, the set was pushed back for two years as Sony remastered some of the cartoons from higher quality sources, including newly discovered elements.[29] The four-discMr. Magoo Theatrical Collection, containing all 53 of theMr. Magoo theatrical shorts distributed by Columbia through 1959, and the 1959 theatrical film1001 Arabian Nights, was released on April 22, 2014.[30]
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