The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose

Although Rocky and His Friends remains the cleverest and best-loved cartoon series of the baby boom era, information about the creation of the program is notoriously hard to come by. Jay Ward declined to give interviews in his later years, key artists have died, and virtually nothing survives from the hastily organized studio in Mexico City where much of the animation was done. Despite these handicaps, Australian actor Keith Scott, the voice of Bullwinkle in the 2000 film, has assembled an impressively complete studio history.

Unlike other television cartoon producers, Ward and his partner, writer and voice actor Bill Scott, insisted on making shows they thought were funny. The witty scripts, read by a cast of superb voice artists, remain as entertaining today as they were when Rocky debuted in 1959. And, as Scott documents, what occurred off-camera was often just as zany. The Coney Island Film Festival, a lavish publicity stunt to promote "Fractured Flickers," Ward's send-up of silent films, turned into a spectacular disaster when a rainstorm drenched the park--and the guests. The book has some weaknesses: there are only a few black-and-white illustrations, and Scott fails to address the impact of the cartoons--Matt Groening has frequently cited them as an influence on The Simpsons. The often repetitious text would have benefited from judicious editing. These caveats aside, The Moose That Roared will delight the legions of vociferous fans whose love for Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha, Dudley Do-Right, George of the Jungle, Super Chicken, Fred, and the rest of the Jay Ward characters continues, 40 years after Rocky began its initial run. Also available: the original cartoons on VHS, the large-format episode guide The Rocky and Bullwinkle Book, and Fractured Fairy Tales, updated by an Entertainment Weekly writer. --Charles Solomon