Articles on Animation &Daily post 28 Mar 2007 08:12 am

Super Mouse

I guess the big news today comes from a report in Variety that Chris Sanders who left (or was ousted) at Disney, a couple of months ago, has arrived at Dreamworks to direct “Crood Awakenings.” (You can’t invent a title like that, can you?) It’s a caveman story that was being developed with Aardman in mind – before Aardman broke with Dreamworks.
It’s all too incestuous. He’s directed one solid movie but makes the lead on the front page of Variety. Slow story day.
Let’s hope a good film develops out of it, but the title doesn’t give me a lot of hope. Check out the Reuters headline: “Lilo” director shooting “Crood” cartoon.

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– Here’s an I. Klein article published in the Dec. 73 issue of Cartoonist Profiles. Ostensibly, it tells how Izzy klein created Mighty Mouse without getting credit for it. However, more pertinent and interesting to me, and the reason I’m posting it, is that the article details how the Terry story team worked. (Not together, is the answer to that one.) It’s a wonder that their stories are so good.

Without the bangup sound effects their films just wouldn’t have been as good.

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(Click any image to enlarge.)

I find it interesting that this story by Klein details how he created a super bug which Terry pushed to become a super mouse. It obviously took Terry a bit of time to mull the idea over before putting it into action.
Of course, the way Klein tells it there seems to be no doubt that he came up with the core idea, but he had no hand in developing it – even beyond its origin as a bug. He says that in this article.

Yet, if you look anywhere on the interenet, it’s Klein that gets all credit for the creation of Mighty Mouse. We talked once before about sloppy and slippery history appearing on the internet, and this seems to be another good case of it. Klein was a true talent whose work I respected enormously and who, as a person, was very genial and warm.
I also take on face value this story he tells. To be honest, I don’t much care who created Mighty Mouse (though I loved that character as a kid and still have a fondness for the shorts), but I find the heart of this article by Klein to be about the workings of the Terry story department, such that it was. It’s an interesting article that has a lot more than meets-the-eye within it.

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To continue this theme to a more modern era, check out today’s ASIFA Hollywood Animation Blog. Stephen Worth has posted a Yogi Bear storyboard by Warren Foster, the former Warner Bros. story writer.

4 Responses to “Super Mouse”

  1. on 29 Mar 2007 at 11:11 pm 1.Kevin Langley said …

    That’s a great article. I always love hearing about Terrytoons. It must have been maddening to work for someone like Paul Terry. Thanks for sharing.

  2. on 12 Oct 2007 at 4:35 pm 2.John Kemeny said …

    Today is the anniversary of Izzy Klein’s birthday in 1897.

  3. on 12 Apr 2009 at 3:11 am 3.Clara said …

    Can anyone please tell me where i could buy a Mighty Mouse Character. Must be about 10inches high or so with the cape and all .Prferably made in cloth ..not plastic
    I had one for my Son many years ago which He hung in his truck till someone stole it .Would like to get another for his 40th Birthday in May .
    If anyone knows please e-mail me /
    Much Appreciated with thanks .Clara

  4. on 18 Oct 2010 at 2:46 pm 4.Leo said …

    Hello!

    I’m an amatheur cartoonist and fan artsit for The Secret of NIMH artwork. I’ve been watching Disney made some characters as rodent version for famous character in movies some examples are Jake (the Kangooro rat) from The Rescuers UR (Bernard and Bianca)Other example is Chip N dale RR where Chip wears a hat and jacket similar to Indiana Jones. there is a female mouse as evil twin for his friend the lady mouse named Gadget

    I designed my own character as the bizarre version for Timothy Brisby (son of the legendary mouse Jonathan Brisby and this family mice living in a farm like Clark Kent aka superman.

    Coming soon. as honor for Izzy Klein (Mighty Mouse owner and in memory for C Rives I’ll start my new fan fiction named Mouseville ( rodent version for Smallville using characters from Secret of NIMH originals and from others fan artist like myself.

    this would cast

    Jonathan Brisby with Jonahtan Kent role
    Mrs Brisby with Martha kent role
    Cynthia Brisby with Chole Sullivan role
    Racso (son of Jenner)with Lex Luthor role
    Jenny Mc Bride with Lois Lane role

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