Monday, October 25, 2010

Alexander Anderson, Jr., R. I. P.

Carmel resident who created 'Rocky and Bullwinkle' dies at 90 - Inside Bay Area: "Mr. Anderson's work included 'Crusader Rabbit,' a cartoon series sold to NBC with a 195 episodes. It was the first created specifically for television.

Another cartoon of his was 'Dudley-Do-Right,' a Canadian Mountie inspired by Nelson Eddy's performance in the film 'Rose Marie.' Most notably, Mr. Anderson is credited with creating Rocky the Flying Squirrel and his pal Bullwinkle, a moose.

In 1996, Mr. Anderson reached an out-of-court settlement with Jay Ward Productions over rights to Bullwinkle, Rocky and Dudley-Do-Right. The terms recognized Mr. Anderson as the creator of the characters. He filed the lawsuit after discovering Ward was the sole holder of the copyrights.

Patricia Anderson said the idea for Bullwinkle came to the cartoonist after he had a dream about a moose sitting in on a game of poker with him and friends. The moose adopted its name after a Berkeley car dealership with a slightly different spelling."

Hat tip to Art Scott.

1 comment:

Karin said...

How could it him take upwards of 40 years to realize his "partner" held all the rights?