The Moose That Roared

The Moose That Roared; The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose, Keith Scott, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2000


I work with a group of punsters. Day after day we hear repeated series of achingly bad puns. Any comment can set off the avalanche of word play. In fact, if someone said wordplay someone is likely to say, "That's right!" as in playwright. "Oh, act your age." And so forth until they become not just hideous, tenuous, and awful but they actually bring multiple groans or they become repetitive...i.e., "This is a stupid game. I am not going to play it again." Unsurprisingly one of the guys is a huge fan of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and at one point mentioned something about it to me. He was shocked to discover I have never seen the show. He suggested I should. I did the next best thing...I found a book about them.

Keith Scott has had a lifelong love affair with not just Rocky, Bullwinkle, and the cast of characters that surrounded them but also with all the work put out by Jay Ward and his cronies, from Crusader Rabbit right through Captain Crunch and George of the Jungle. He relates the tale with a warmth that comes through on every page.

He also reveals the warts behind it such as the poor business deals made by Ward, the poor pay he gave his writers, the difficulties with the Mexican studio doing the below the line work...yet he also relates the good; the freedom Ward gave his writers, the loyalty he inspired, the bonuses the writers received, how he defended their work against censorship...

It is not necessarily a balanced look. Scott is an unabashed, unapologetic lover of all things Ward and he spends most of his time relating the story.

He tells the story from the way Ward and Bill Scott got into animation right up through his death. Along the way he explains how Crusader Rabbit was developed and how the rights to it were lost. He explains how the Rocky and Bullwinkle show was conceived, pitched, developed, and brought to television as well as how and why it disappeared from the airwaves. Along the way he relates classic lines, classic puns, and classic episodes as well as a variety of anecdotes.

How good is he at his job? I am now planning on accessing and watching the first season and probably more. He knows his material, presents it entertainingly, and does so in a way I can appreciate, with his love for his material shining through.