Today would have been Jay Ward’s 102 birthday. He was the genius who used the animated tales of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota to delightfully warp the comic sensibility of an entire generation.
I imagine the Walt Disney company would like to be known as the great source of all that is wondrous in American animation. But nothing in the Disney canon can compare with the demented humor of Moose and Squirrel, their no-goodnik foes, Peabody and his pet boy, or a certain Canadian mountie.
Even after all these years, I can still hear all the lyrics of Super Chicken running through my head. I think that’s a good thing.
Jay, I know you have gone to that great Wassamatta U in the sky. But here on Earth, we need you more than ever.