" The Wreck of the Hesperus " is a narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , first published in Ballads and Other Poems in 1842. It is a story that presents the tragic consequences of a skipper 's pride. On an ill-fated voyage in winter, he brings his daughter aboard ship for company. The skipper ignores the advice of one of his experienced men, who fears that a hurricane is approaching. When the storm arrives, the skipper ties his daughter to the mast to prevent her from being swept overboard. She calls out to her dying father as she hears the surf beating on the shore, then prays to Christ to calm the seas. The ship crashes onto the reef of Norman's Woe and sinks; the next morning a horrified fisherman finds the daughter's body, still tied to the mast and drifting in the surf. The poem ends with a prayer that all be spared such a fate "on the reef of Norman's Woe."
84-599: Mighty Mouse is an American animated character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox . He is an anthropomorphic superhero mouse , originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short The Mouse of Tomorrow . The name was changed to Mighty Mouse in his eighth film, 1944's The Wreck of the Hesperus , and the character went on to star in 80 theatrical shorts, concluding in 1961 with Cat Alarm . In 1955, Mighty Mouse Playhouse debuted as
168-411: A CGI Mighty Mouse feature film that was tentatively scheduled to be released some time in 2013. In April 2019, Jon and Erich Hoeber signed on to script the film for Paramount Animation while Karen Rosenfelt ( Wonder Park ) and Robert Cort ( Terminator Genisys ) are set to produce. The film will be a live action/animated production. In November 2024, it was announced Matt Lieberman took over as
252-814: A Saturday morning cartoon show on the CBS television network, which popularized the character far more than the original theatrical run. The show lasted until 1967. Filmation revived the character in The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle , which ran from 1979 to 1980, and animation director Ralph Bakshi revived the concept again in Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures , from 1987 to 1988. Mighty Mouse also appeared in comic books by several publishers, including his own series, Mighty Mouse and The Adventures of Mighty Mouse , which ran from 1946 to 1968. Mighty Mouse
336-566: A band of solid, flexible matter. In several of the cartoons, when Mighty Mouse achieves the impossible feats, the narrator exclaims, first in a normal voice: " What A Mouse!!!!!", followed by his louder triumphant voice: "WHAT A MOUSE!!!!!" In a 1969 interview, Terry said that Mighty Mouse's power had a religious aspect: "When a man is sick, or down, or hurt, you say, 'There's nothing more we can do. It's in God's hand.' And he either survives or he doesn't according to God's plan. Right? So, 'Man's extremity
420-548: A children's cartoon, its heavy satirical tone, risqué humor and adult jokes made the Bakshi Mighty Mouse series a collector's item for collectors of older television series. The best-remembered episode of this series featured a crossover with Mighty Mouse and another Bakshi creation, the Mighty Heroes (Strong Man, Tornado Man, Rope Man, Cuckoo Man and Diaper Man). In the 1988 episode "Heroes and Zeroes",
504-510: A cultural icon on television. In 1955, Paul Terry sold the Terrytoons studio to CBS , which repackaged the theatrical cartoons as a popular Saturday morning show, Mighty Mouse Playhouse . The show aired from December 1955 through September 1967, using the existing film library. Only three new cartoons were produced after the sale. The final season also included a new feature, entitled The Mighty Heroes . Tom Morrison of Terrytoons provided
588-548: A huge, dim-witted, but super-strong cat named Julius "Pinhead" Schlabotka (voiced by Dayton Allen ) whose strength rivals Mighty Mouse's. In rare moments, he confronts non-feline adversaries such as human villain Bad Bill Bunion and his horse, or the Automatic Mouse Trap, a brontosaur-shaped robotic monster. In The Green Line (1944), the cats and the mice live on either side of a green dividing line down
672-399: A massive chest and powerful biceps. His costume is like Superman's, with a flowing red cape, and his powers are similar, too: He can fly through the air and repel bullets with his chest. Super Mouse soars to the rescue of his fellow mice and dispatches the neighborhood cats to the moon. Returning to earth, he is hoisted on the shoulders of his happy comrades, as the narrator declares, "Thus ends
756-465: A parody of late-night talk shows with Heckle and Jeckle serving as hosts of the show, along with their assistant Dinky Duck, and would have featured new cartoons featuring Terrytoon characters like Deputy Dawg, Sidney the Elephant, and Mighty Mouse. Curbside features talented voices of Toby Huss and Bobcat Goldthwait as Heckle & Jeckle, Dee Bradley Baker as Dinky Duck, Mighty Mouse and Sidney
840-480: A particularly hungry cat and runs for shelter into an enormous supermarket. He examines the goods on the long lines of shelves and sets to work on a total transformation: He bathes in Super Soap, swallows Super Soup, munches Super Celery and plunges head first into an enormous piece of Super Cheese -- from which he emerges in a flash as Super Mouse! He's no longer a tiny rodent, but a two-footed, humanized mouse with
924-491: A poor mouse girl attempts to sell flowers, and is repeatedly harassed by a rich man who crushes her flowers. She runs out of flowers and makes new ones from sundry items she finds, such as tomato slices, but the man crushes these too. Mighty Mouse attempts to purchase the flowers with his chunk of cheese, and to avenge the girl, but she gives Mighty Mouse the crushed flowers and insists that others need help more than she does. After successfully saving several different characters, he
SECTION 10
#17327973892921008-487: A predecessor of Marvel Comics , in 1942. St. John Publications took over the license from 1947 to 1956, Pines Comics published Terrytoons comics from 1956 to 1959, Dell Comics made an attempt from 1959 to 1962 (and again later from 1966 to 1967), and finally Western Publishing published Mighty Mouse comics from 1962 all the way up to 1980. The lead title, Terry-Toons Comics , was published by Timely from Oct. 1942–Aug. 1947. With issue #60 (Sept. 1947), publication of
1092-418: A red costume, with a yellow cape. This is also the first time that the character was portrayed as living among the stars, hurtling down from the heavens to save the day. The final design of the character debuted in the 15th cartoon, The Sultan's Birthday , released on October 13, 1944. In this cartoon, redesigned by animator Connie Rasinski , Mighty Mouse has a fuller figure with an exaggerated upper body, and
1176-456: A restaurant, utterly unconcerned with a scene of chaos and terror visibly unfolding in the street outside. The commercial was later removed from air following the September 11 attacks . The character appeared in the 1999 pilot Curbside , voiced by Dee Bradley Baker . Until 2019, the rights to Mighty Mouse were divided as a result of the 2006 corporate split of Viacom (the former owner of
1260-515: A show called The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle . The show introduced two new characters: a vampire duck named Quacula (not to be confused with Count Duckula ), and Oil Can Harry's bumbling, large, but swift-running, henchman Swifty. The show premiered in 1979 and lasted two seasons. In the Filmation series and movie, Mighty Mouse and Oil Can Harry were performed by veteran voice artist Alan Oppenheimer , and Pearl Pureheart
1344-417: A single entity, ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global ), officially reuniting the rights to Mighty Mouse under the same company. In 2017, during his 75th anniversary, Mighty Mouse made his return with a 5-issue comic book series produced by Dynamite Entertainment . As early as 2004, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced their intention to bring Mighty Mouse back to the motion picture screen with
1428-703: A star or a cloud, up in the heavens, and that he became "a Christ-like figure, a savior of all 'mouse-kind'." While his typical opponents are nondescript cats, Mighty Mouse occasionally battles specific villains, though most appear in only one or two films. Several of the earliest "Super Mouse" films (having been made during World War II ), feature the cats as thinly veiled caricatures of the Nazis , hunting down mice and marching them into concentration camp –like traps to what would otherwise be their doom. The Bat-cats, alien cats with bat wings and wheels for feet, appeared in two cartoons; in two others between 1949 and 1950 he faces
1512-504: A tenor who often sang on radio and first started doing cartoon voices for J. R. Bray 's studio. In the operatic melodramas to follow, Halee and his quartet provided all of the vocals. In Super Mouse's next film, he spoofed the popular Universal Monsters films ( Frankenstein's Cat , 1942). In Pandora's Box (1943), he battled bat-winged cat demons, and his origin story was changed: now he becomes Super Mouse by eating vitamins A through Z. The hero made seven films in 1942–1943 before his name
1596-425: Is God's opportunity.' So, taking that as a basis, I'd only have to get the mice in a tough spot and then say, 'Isn't there someone who can help?' 'Yes, there is someone; it's Mighty Mouse!' So, down from the heavens he'd come sailing down and lick the evil spirit, or whatever it was. And everything would be serene again." Biographer W. Gerald Harmonic notes that as of the mid 40s, Mighty Mouse would be pictured living on
1680-487: Is clad in a yellow outfit, with a red cape and trunks. Like his inspiration, Superman, Mighty Mouse's superpowers are vast and sometimes appear limitless. His main powers include flight, super-strength and invulnerability. The early cartoons often portray him as a ruthless fighter; one of his most frequent tactics is to fly under an enemy's chin and let loose a volley of blows, subduing the opponent through sheer physical punishment. However, his powers can vary, depending on
1764-493: Is known for his theme song, "Mighty Mouse Theme (Here I Come to Save the Day)", written by composer Marshall Barer . The character originated in 1942 from an idea by animator Isadore Klein at the Terrytoons studio, who suggested a parody/homage to the popular Superman character, making some sketches of a superhero fly. Paul Terry , the head of the studio, liked the idea but suggested a mouse rather than an insect. The character
SECTION 20
#17327973892921848-460: Is reminded of the girl, and attempts to smell the flowers she gave him (now a pink powder), inhaling them in the process. He then finds the man that has been harassing the girl, and spanks him. The girl is sympathetic to the man, and he is so moved that the two are married. A family in Kentucky saw the episode and reportedly interpreted the scene as Mighty Mouse snorting cocaine. The family called
1932-470: Is tied up in the other room, but refuses to give up hope. Harry manages to knock out Mighty Mouse, and leaves him tied to the railroad track with a bomb on his head, and the 5:15 train due to pass by. Harry drives Pearl away to his home, where he woos her in song, to no avail. Mighty Mouse manages to blow out the fuse, stop the train and escape from his bonds, and rushes to Pearl's rescue. At Harry's house, they fight with fists, guns and swords, as Pearl slips out
2016-581: The Deputy Dawg series for television in 1959. Another television production for the Captain Kangaroo show was The Adventures of Lariat Sam , which was written in part by Gene Wood , who would later become the announcer for several TV gameshows including Family Feud . Phil Scheib continued as the studio's musical director through the mid-1960s when he was replaced by Jim Timmens and Elliott Lawrence. The best-known talent at Terrytoons in
2100-535: The American Family Association in Tupelo, Mississippi . The group demanded Bakshi be removed from production of the series. Bakshi and CBS denied the allegations, Bakshi stating the whole incident "smacks of McCarthyism . I'm not going to get into who sniffs what. This is lunacy." To defuse the controversy, Bakshi agreed to cut the 3.5 seconds from the episode. Rev. Donald Wildmon claimed that
2184-609: The CBS Films subsidiary. Later, in 1957 CBS put it under the management of UPA alumni Gene Deitch , who had to work with even lower budgets. Deitch's most notable works at the studio were the Tom Terrific cartoon segments for the Captain Kangaroo television show. He also introduced a number of new characters, such as Sidney the Elephant, Gaston Le Crayon, John Doormat, and Clint Clobber . Before Deitch
2268-546: The Farmer Al Falfa series. He would then make a Farmer Al Falfa short for Edison Pictures , called "Farmer Al Falfa's Wayward Pup" (1917), and some later cartoons were made for Paramount Pictures . Around 1921, Terry founded the Fables animation studio, named for its Aesop's Film Fables series, in conjunction with the studio of Amedee J. Van Beuren . Fables churned out a Fable cartoon every week for eight years in
2352-522: The Favorite , a ship from Wiscasset, Maine , on the reef of Norman's Woe off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts . All aboard were lost, one a woman, who reportedly floated to shore dead but still tied to the mast. The name used in the poem is that of another vessel, lost near Boston. The poem is so well known that the loop road leading close to Norman's Woe from Route 127 is named Hesperus Ave. In December 1839, Longfellow wrote in his diary about
2436-455: The public domain and have either been issued on low-budget VHS tapes and DVDs or have been uploaded on sites such as Internet Archive . On January 5, 2010, the first official release of any Terrytoons material by CBS DVD was issued in the form of the complete series of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures . In 1999, Nickelodeon attempted to revive the Terrytoons characters as part of a TV series called Curbside . Curbside would have been
2520-419: The (nonexistent) previous episode: "In our last episode, we left Mighty Mouse at the old Beaver River station. As you remember, folks, he was locked in a desperate struggle with a villain. But on with the story..." Mighty Mouse is engaging in "a fight to the finish" with Oil Can Harry, now a villainous cat with a mustache, a top hat and a big black cloak, voiced by Tom Morrison. The blonde heroine, Pearl Pureheart,
2604-456: The 1920s. In 1928, Van Beuren, anxious to compete with the new phenomenon of talking pictures , released Terry's Dinner Time (released October 1928). Van Beuren then urged Terry to start producing actual sound films, instead of post-synchronizing the cartoons. Terry refused, and Van Beuren fired him in 1929. Almost immediately, Terry and much of his staff started up the Terrytoons studio near his former studio. One staff member during that time
Mighty Mouse - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-641: The 1930s, giving the Terry cartoons wide exposure. Following the merger between Fox Film and 20th Century , the newly formed 20th Century Fox withdrew its support from Educational Pictures, and the company both backed and distributed Terrytoons. Farmer Al Falfa was Terry's most familiar character in the 1930s; Kiko the Kangaroo was spun off the Farmer Al Falfa series. Most of the other cartoons featured stock generic animal characters and designs, one of which
2772-527: The 1960s was animator/director/producer Ralph Bakshi , who started with Terrytoons in the 1950s as an opaquer, and eventually helmed the Mighty Heroes series. Bakshi left Terrytoons in 1967 for Paramount 's own cartoon studio , which closed its cartoon unit later that year. He would later go on to produce Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures for television in 1987, which was also produced by future Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi . After
2856-412: The 1970s Terrytoons cartoons (especially Mighty Mouse and Deputy Dawg ) being syndicated to many local TV markets, and they were a staple of after-school and Saturday-morning cartoon shows for over three decades, from the 1950s through the 1980s, until the television rights to the library were acquired by USA Network in 1989. However, any new cartoons of the studio's stars came from other studios. In
2940-493: The 3-D issue sold an extraordinary 1.2 million copies at 25 cents each, more than twice the standard comic price of 10 cents. At least one episode, Wolf! Wolf! , has fallen into the public domain and is available at the Internet Archive. In 1988, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures was the subject of media controversy when one scene was interpreted as a depiction of cocaine use. In the episode "The Littlest Tramp"
3024-468: The Elephant, Billy West as Deputy Dawg, Haley Joel Osment as Tom Terrific, and additional voices of Baker, West, Charlie Adler , and Rob Paulsen . However, it was never picked up, making it the only Terrytoons show that was never officially released. Between 2001 and 2002, the Terrytoons characters returned to television in original commercials for Brazilian blue cheese (for what is now America's Dairy Farmers) and fine wine. One such infamous commercial
3108-590: The Mighty Heroes were middle-aged men (except for Diaper Man, who was 36) and were all accountants with the firm of Man, Man, Man, Man, and Man. Marvel Comics produced a 10-issue comic book series (set in the New Adventures continuity ) in 1990 and 1991. Since then, little else new has been produced using the Mighty Mouse character except for a 2001 "The power of cheese" television commercial. That commercial shows Mighty Mouse dining calmly on cheese in
3192-563: The Terrytoons franchise) into two separate companies. CBS Operations (a unit of the CBS Corporation ) owns the ancillary rights and trademarks to the character, while Paramount Home Entertainment/ CBS Home Entertainment holds home video rights. The first official release of Mighty Mouse material has been announced and what is now CBS Media Ventures has television syndication rights (the shorts are currently out of circulation). On December 4, 2019, CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merged into
3276-604: The Timely run. That series eventually ran 71 issues with St. John, moving to Pines for 16 issues from Apr. 1956 to Aug. 1959, to Dell for 12 issues from Oct./Dec. 1959–July/Sept. 1962, and Western for 17 issues from Oct. 1962 to Jan. 1980 (with a hiatus from Sept. 1965 to Mar. 1979), finally ending with issue #172. St. John's Terrytoons comics include the field's first 3-D comic book, Three Dimension Comics #1 (Sept. 1953 oversize format, Oct. 1953 standard-size reprint), featuring Mighty Mouse. According to Joe Kubert , co-creator with
3360-438: The adventure of Super Mouse... he seen his job and he done it!" The trade journal Variety said The Mouse of Tomorrow "just misses being outstanding, mainly because of faulty narration and too much kidding of Superman. Idea of super-rat conquering prowling beasts of feline world is good, but too closely follows pattern of that super hero." Super Mouse (and his later alias, Mighty Mouse) was originally voiced by Roy Halee Sr.,
3444-520: The brothers Norman Maurer and Leonard Maurer, it sold an exceptional 1.2 million copies at 25 cents apiece at a time when comics cost a dime. Dell Comics published eight issues of a New Terrytoons title from June/Aug. 1960 to March/May 1962. The Wreck of the Hesperus The poem was published in the New World , edited by Park Benjamin , which appeared on January 10, 1840. Longfellow
Mighty Mouse - Misplaced Pages Continue
3528-577: The characters (such as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky Duck, Deputy Dawg, and others) were slated to make cameos in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit , but only Oscar the Timid Pig, Looey Lion, and a character resembling Gandy Goose appeared. They can all be seen during the film's finale. They were also planned to appear in the deleted scene of Marvin Acme's funeral. In 1994, Fox would sell its Terrytoons theatrical distribution to Paramount, which
3612-641: The concept from their earlier Fanny Zilch series, a melodrama spoof that ran for seven cartoons from 1933 to 1937. Fanny was constantly tormented by a human version of Oil Can Harry, and protected by her lover, J. Leffingwell Strongheart. A Fight to the Finish begins with a snatch of Cole Porter's song "And The Villain Still Pursued Her", which had also been used as the theme for the Fanny Zilch cartoons. The narrator opens with an urgent recap of
3696-418: The demands of the story; he is sometimes knocked unconscious or rendered temporarily immobile by the villain, only to rise again by the end of the cartoon and save the day. In some films, he uses X-ray vision and psychokinesis . He was also able to turn back time in 1946's The Johnstown Flood . Other cartoons, like 1945's Krakatoa , show him leaving a red contrail during flight that he can manipulate like
3780-513: The departure of Ralph Bakshi , the studio petered out, and finally closed in 1973. As a result of the FCC banning TV networks from owning cable television and syndication of television programs, CBS created Viacom Enterprises to handle all network programs beyond TV production and network broadcasting. On July 4, 1971, Viacom Enterprises spun off from CBS; neither Viacom Enterprises nor CBS had any interest in Terrytoons. The Terrytoons film library
3864-520: The editing was a "de facto admission" of cocaine use, though Bakshi maintained that the episode was "totally innocent". It's because of Fritz that they're going after Mighty Mouse. I grew up in Brownsville in Brooklyn and attended High School for Industrial Arts. I remember teachers who quit. Because of McCarthyism they weren't able to teach what they wanted. This is the same thing. Mighty Mouse
3948-521: The environment. The total cartoons produced for the series were 32 Mighty Mouse cartoons, 32 Heckle & Jeckle cartoons, 16 episodes of "The Great Space Chase" and 16 Quacula cartoons. The "Space Chase" episodes were edited together into a theatrical matinee movie, Mighty Mouse in the Great Space Chase , which was released on December 10, 1982. In 1987 and 1988, animation producer Ralph Bakshi (who began his career at Terrytoons in
4032-481: The late 1950s and worked on the last Mighty Mouse shorts filmed by that company) created a new series of Mighty Mouse cartoons entitled Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures for the CBS Saturday morning children's lineup. In this series, Mighty Mouse has a real identity, Mike Mouse (both identities voiced by Patrick Pinney ), and a sidekick, Scrappy Mouse (voiced by actress Dana Hill ), the little orphan. Though
4116-420: The late 1970s, Filmation Studios licensed the rights to make the new Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle series from Viacom International. The series was The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle and aired from 1979 to 1980 on CBS. Ralph Bakshi would later produce Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures in 1987, which lasted for two seasons. Bakshi and his friend John Kricfalusi inspired
4200-472: The middle of their town's main street. They agree to keep the peace as long as no one crosses it. An evil entity, a Satan cat, starts the cats and mice fighting. At the end, Mighty Mouse is cheered by mice and cats alike. In 1945, Mighty Mouse and the Pirates was the first Mighty Mouse cartoon to feature sung dialogue, in the operetta style. Gypsy Life (1945) and The Crackpot King (1946) followed in
4284-432: The musical melodrama spoofs that were soon to emerge, they didn't have an overwrought narrator, or the suggestion that the cartoon is an episode of a continuing story. In November 1947, A Fight to the Finish was the first in a series of musical melodrama spoofs, with Mighty Mouse saving damsel in distress Pearl Pureheart (sometimes "Little Nell") from the villainous, mustache-twirling cat Oil Can Harry. Terrytoons revived
SECTION 50
#17327973892924368-446: The pair have a brief romantic chorus together as the cartoon delivers a happy ending. The melodrama spoofs continued as an occasional series over the next six years, with Oil Can Harry and Pearl Pureheart returning in thirteen more cartoons. Another memorable short was 1949's The Perils of Pearl Pureheart , in which Oil Can Harry hypnotizes Pearl into singing " Carry Me Back to Old Virginny " on stage at an old saloon, where he vacuums up
4452-416: The same style. Gypsy Life was particularly successful, earning Terry his third nomination for an Academy Award for Short Subjects (Cartoon). There was a romantic, damsel in distress element in these cartoons—in each one, Mighty Mouse saves a dark-haired beauty from terrible trouble, and in the latter two, the camera fades out on the hero and the girl in a romantic clinch. While these were very similar to
4536-564: The series. The "New Terrytoons" period of the late 1950s through the mid-1960s produced such characters as Clint Clobber , Tom Terrific , Deputy Dawg , Hector Heathcote , Hashimoto-san , Sidney the Elephant, Possible Possum, James Hound, Astronut , Sad Cat , The Mighty Heroes , and Sally Sargent. Also during that time, Ralph Bakshi got his start as an animator, and eventually as a director, at Terrytoons. Terrytoons shorts were originally released to theaters by 20th Century Fox from 1935 until 1973. After Paul Terry had retired, Terrytoons
4620-648: The sound cartoon trend of the late 1920s and early 1930s very quickly. Background music was entrusted to one man, Philip Scheib, and Terry's refusal to pay royalties for popular songs forced Scheib to compose his own scores. Paul Terry took pride in producing a new cartoon every other week, regardless of the quality of the films. Until 1957, screen credits were very sparse, listing only the writer (until 1950, solely John Foster; then Tom Morrison thereafter), director (Terry's three main directors were Connie Rasinski , Eddie Donnelly, and Mannie Davis), and musician (musical director Philip A. Scheib). Terrytoons' first distributor
4704-447: The speaking voice of Mighty Mouse in the show's new framing sequences. The show's theme song was credited on some early records to "The Terrytooners, Mitch Miller and Orchestra". However, writer Mark Evanier credits a group called The Sandpipers (not the 1960s easy listening group of the same name ). In 1979–1980, Filmation made television cartoons starring Mighty Mouse and fellow Terrytoon characters Heckle and Jeckle in
4788-455: The staff to try to get as much Jim Tyer-style drawing in the show as possible. Tyer, a stand-out Terry animator of the original cartoons with a unique style, became a strong influence on the artists of the Bakshi series, such as now recognizable artists and animators— Bruce Timm , Doug Moench , Andrew Stanton , Rich Moore , Lynne Naylor , Jim Reardon , Tom Minton , and Bob Jaques . Many of
4872-507: The studio spoofed another classic, Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , under the title Mighty Mouse Meets Jeckyll and Hyde Cat . By summer, Mighty Mouse's costume got an overhaul as well. Until this point, he'd been wearing Superman's colors—a blue costume with a red cape—but in the June 16, 1944, cartoon Eliza on the Ice , Mighty Mouse appears for the first time in
4956-544: The studio to a ghost studio with executive producer Bill Weiss and story supervisor Tom Morrison; Viacom kept the studio open until 1972. By October 1972, Viacom International announced that Terrytoons would leave New Rochelle and relocate to Viacom International's office in New York City. By December 29, Viacom sold the now abandoned New Rochelle studio, and the company's fate was forever sealed. Bill Weiss continued Terrytoons production from his New York City office with
5040-703: The tips thrown by the audience. Hypnotized for three and a half minutes of the six-minute cartoon, Pearl continues to sing as the battle between Harry and Mighty Mouse rages around her, even underwater. To vary the formula, the melodramas started traveling to exotic locales, including Italy ( Sunny Italy , 1951), Switzerland ( Swiss Miss , 1951), Holland ( Happy Holland , 1952) and even prehistoric times ( Prehistoric Perils , 1952) and medieval times ( When Mousehood Was in Flower , 1953). The fourteen Oil Can Harry melodrama theatricals were: Mighty Mouse had little theatrical impact, but became Terrytoons' most popular character and
5124-440: The title was taken over by St. John Publications, which published another 27 issues until issue #86 (May 1951). The series continued in 1951 (with duplicate issues #85–86) as Paul Terry's Comics , publishing another 41 issues until May 1955, when it was canceled with issue #125. Timely launched the Mighty Mouse series in 1946. The first St. John Terrytoons comic was Mighty Mouse #5 (Aug. 1947), its numbering also taken over from
SECTION 60
#17327973892925208-528: The window and onto a passing log which is floating down the river into a mill. Mighty Mouse throws Harry into the river and rushes to rescue Pearl, who's heading for the buzzsaw. The narrator asks, "Is our little heroine doomed to destruction in the sawmill? Will Mighty Mouse arrive in time? See the following episode, next week!" The camera starts to iris out, but then stops, as the narrator relents, "Stop! Gosh, we can't wait until next week. Please, show us what happens, won't you?" Mighty Mouse grabs Pearl in time, and
5292-400: The writer for the film and Mighty Mouse will be voiced by Ryan Reynolds . The first seven films starred the character named Super Mouse. In these early films the character's costume is much closer in design to that of Superman (blue tunic and tights with red trunks and cape). In the eighth cartoon, the character's name was changed to Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse's first comic book appearance
5376-429: The writing of "The Wreck of the Hesperus": ...suddenly it came into my mind to write, which I accordingly did. Then I went to bed, but could not sleep. New thoughts were running in my mind, and I got up to add them to the ballad. It was three by the clock. I then went to bed and fell asleep. I feel pleased with the ballad. It hardly cost me an effort. It did not come into my mind by lines, but by stanzas. "The Wreck of
5460-450: The year, but 20th Century Fox continued to release Terrytoons to theaters for the next two decades. With a new emphasis on "star" characters, Terrytoons featured the adventures of Super Mouse (later renamed Mighty Mouse ), the talking magpies Heckle and Jeckle , silly Gandy Goose , Dinky Duck , mischievous mouse Little Roquefort, and The Terry Bears. Despite the artistic drawbacks imposed by Terry's inflexible business policies, Terrytoons
5544-648: Was Art Babbitt , who went on to become a well-known Disney animator. Through much of its history, the studio was considered one of the lowest-quality houses in the field, to the point where Paul Terry noted, "Let Walt Disney be the Tiffany's of the business. I want to be the Woolworth's !" Terry's studio had the lowest budgets and was among the slowest to adapt to new technologies such as sound (in about 1930) and Technicolor (in 1938). While its graphic style remained remarkably static for decades, it actually followed
5628-629: Was Educational Pictures , specialists in short-subject comedies and novelties. Audio-Cinema in the early 1930s backed the production of Terrytoons, and distributed the Educational library internationally, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland where the library was distributed by Educational and Gaumont-British in partnership with the Ideal Film Company . The Fox Film company then released Educational shorts to theaters in
5712-454: Was a scruffy dog with a black patch around one eye; Terry ultimately built a series around this character, now known as Puddy the Pup. Paul Terry may have realized that Educational was in financial trouble because he found another lucrative outlet for his product. In 1938, he arranged to release his older cartoons through home-movie distributor Castle Films . Educational went out of business within
5796-562: Was cancelled and has been in development hell since then. However, development later revived in April 2019 for Paramount Animation with Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay and both Karen Rosenfelt and Robert W. Cort to produce. Among the many licensed Terrytoons products are comic books, mainly published throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The company's characters — including Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky Duck, Gandy Goose, and Little Roquefort — were initially licensed to Timely,
5880-496: Was changed. In 1944, Paul Terry learned that another character named "Super Mouse" was to be published in Standard Comics ' Coo-Coo Comics , so his character's name was changed to Mighty Mouse. The first short under the character's new name was The Wreck of the Hesperus , released February 11, 1944, adapting the celebrated poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with the addition of a superhero mouse. A couple months later,
5964-432: Was dubbed "Super Mouse", and his first theatrical short, The Mouse of Tomorrow , debuted on October 16, 1942. In his book Of Mice and Magic , critic Leonard Maltin describes the character's origin story: Cats of the city have imposed a reign of terror on the rodent community. The mice have barely a chance to live in peace, with endless traps and clever feline footwork sealing their doom. One mouse manages to escape from
6048-517: Was fired in 1959, Bill Weiss took complete control of the studio. Under his supervision, Heckle and Jeckle and Mighty Mouse went back into production. Besides the three core directors of the Terry era who were still involved as animators and directors, two Famous Studios stalwarts joined the crew, Dave Tendlar and Martin Taras . Other new theatrical cartoon series included Hector Heathcote , Luno and Hashimoto San . The studio also began producing
6132-411: Was folded into CBS Entertainment Group after releasing Jexi on the same day, Paramount Pictures now owns the theatrical distribution on behalf of Paramount Animation and CBS Entertainment Group, while CBS Media Ventures (formed in 2006) owns the television distribution on behalf of CBS Eye Animation Productions to the Terrytoons film library. However, some Terrytoons shorts are believed to be in
6216-463: Was founded by Paul Terry , Frank Moser , and Joseph Coffman, and operated out of the "K" Building in downtown New Rochelle. The studio created many cartoon characters including Fanny Zilch , Mighty Mouse , Heckle and Jeckle , Gandy Goose , Sourpuss, Dinky Duck , Little Roquefort, the Terry Bears, Dimwit, and Luno ; Terry's pre-existing character Farmer Al Falfa was also featured often in
6300-410: Was happy after smelling the flowers because it helped him remember the little girl who sold it to him fondly. But even if you're right, their accusations become part of the air we breathe. That's why I cut the scene. I can't have children wondering if Mighty Mouse is using cocaine. In the book Astro Boy Essays , author Frederik L. Schodt quotes Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka as saying that Mighty Mouse
6384-578: Was in Terry-Toons Comics #38 (November 1945), published by Timely Comics . Mighty Mouse was featured in: Mighty Mouse was also featured in two main titles by several different publishers: Mighty Mouse and The Adventures of Mighty Mouse . In 1953, Mighty Mouse was featured in Three Dimension Comics #1, the first three-dimensional comics publication, produced by St. John Publications. According to co-creator Joe Kubert ,
6468-520: Was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film : All Out for V in 1942, My Boy, Johnny in 1944, Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life in 1945, and Sidney's Family Tree in 1958. The studio was sold outright by the retiring Paul Terry to CBS in 1955, but 20th Century Fox (TCF) continued distribution. The deal closed the following year in 1956, and it became a division of
6552-472: Was paid $ 25 for it, equivalent to $ 760 in 2023. Longfellow combined fact and fiction to create this poem. His inspiration was the great blizzard of 1839, which ravaged the north-east coast of the United States for 12 hours starting January 6, 1839, destroying 20 ships with a loss of 40 lives. The poem appears to combine two events. Longfellow probably drew for the specifics on the destruction of
6636-439: Was sold to CBS , which would later purchase the entire library. Paramount Pictures would eventually take theatrical rights ownership of the Terrytoons library in 1994 (which was then already purchased by Viacom ), and would purchase CBS in 2000. As of 2019, Paramount Pictures has owned the rights to the studio and its library after the re-merger of Viacom and CBS. Terry first worked for Bray Studios in 1916, where he created
6720-479: Was still regularly re-released to theaters by Fox. The studio's one of the last short was an unsold TV pilot called Sally Sargent , about a 16-year-old girl who is a secret agent. Soon after Sally Sargent was completed, Viacom International ended their relationship with Fox and re-releases ceased. Terrytoons’ existence soon came to an end. Art Bartsch, who kept the studio running after Bakshi left, would soon die along with Connie Rasinski, and Bob Kuwahara , reducing
6804-502: Was the Mighty Mouse ad (entitled "Dining With Cheese") dining calmly on cheese in a restaurant, utterly unconcerned with a scene of chaos and terror visibly unfolding in the street outside. That said commercial was then pulled from airing following the September 11th attacks . In 2004, a supposed live-action/animated hybrid Mighty Mouse film adaptation was announced for Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures with Steve Oedekerk of Omation Animation Studio to produce and direct, but
6888-545: Was the influence that inspired him to name his well-known character Mighty Atom (also known as Astro Boy). He also chose to imitate Mighty Mouse's signature flying pose with one arm stretched ahead with a clenched fist. Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio headquartered in New Rochelle, New York that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in-name only). It
6972-517: Was then purchased by Viacom that same year, and would go on to purchase CBS six years later in 2000. However, through the years that have followed since the last Terrytoons TV series material in 1988, the rights have been scattered as a result of prior rights issues and the corporate changes involving Viacom and CBS, especially in 2005. Since CBS Corporation re-merged with Viacom to form ViacomCBS ( Paramount Global as of February 2022), reuniting CBS with Paramount, on December 4, 2019, and CBS Films
7056-418: Was voiced by Diane Pershing . Frank Welker played Heckle, Jeckle and Quacula, and Norm Prescott played Theodore H. Bear. Each episode included two traditional Mighty Mouse cartoons, as well as an episode of a Mighty Mouse science-fiction serial, "The Great Space Chase". The hour was rounded out with two Heckle & Jeckle cartoons and one Quacula cartoon, plus short bumpers with tips about safety and
#291708