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Interesting Facts about Rocky, Bullwinkle and Friends

Larrylambert
3 min readMar 31, 2023

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I want to take another look at those cartoons.

Creative Commons: monstersforsale

I haven’t watched a lot of old cartoons in a while. But from what I remember, Rocky and Bullwinkle, along with the other cartoons that were featured with them are the most interesting. Jay Ward was a driving force behind the cartoons, which has been described as a mixed of sophisticated and low brow humor. No wonder it appeals to me. Here are some unusual facts about these cartoons.

1: When shopping for a villain, look for the union label.

Rocky and Bullwinkle’s nemesis, Boris Badenov, was a member of Local 12 of the Villains, Thieves, and Scoundrels Union. I’m curious what the union benefits are. I wonder if Pre-Paid Legal is included?

2: Jay Ward sent animation work to Mexico.

Ward had some friends at the ad agency of Dancer, Fitzgerald, & Sample purchase the Gamma Productions, an animation studio in Mexico. That enabled Ward to say money on production, but sometimes at the cost of quality. So that’s why Sweet Nell had a mustache!

3: Would you buy a car from Bullwinkle?

A lot of people did. The character of Bullwinkle was named after a friend of Jay Ward’s, a car…

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Larrylambert
Larrylambert

Written by Larrylambert

You probably don't know my name, but have likely seen my work. I've written for numerous syndicated cartoon strips and my gags have appeared in national pubs.

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