103 Mr Magoo

First  watched  :  Uncertain

They  don't  make  them  like  this  anymore. A  cartoon  that  relies  for  its  humour  on  the  misfortunes  of  a  visually  impaired  man ?  I  don't  think  so.

Mr  Magoo  was  the  1949  creation  of  Millard  Kaufman  and  Thomas  Hubley  who  had  both  been  fingered  as  communists  and  in  his  early  shorts  he  was  a  caricature  of  a  blinkered  McCarthyite. When  a  nervous  Hubley  handed  over  the  character  to  the  studio's  creative  director  Pete  Burness  the  character  was  de-politicised  and  as  voiced  by  Jim  Backus  became   a  crotchety  Everyman   who  was  just  too  stubborn  to  admit  the  diminution  of  his  powers. Guilty  pleasure  or  not  it  was  usually  pretty  funny.

Magoo  has  largely  been  put  to  bed  since  the  TV  series  What's  New  Mr  Magoo ?  finished   in  1977. Backus  expired  in  1989  and  a  live  action  film  version  starring  Leslie  Nielsen  died  at  the  box  office  in  1997.