Monday, February 06, 2006

Don't you want a little gorilla you can call your own?

Reflecting upon the role of cartoonism in so many avoidable deaths, I am drawn almost against my will to the sad case of Magilla Gorilla, an early victim of Hanna Barbera’s barbarous trade.


We've got a gorilla for sale
Magilla Gorilla for sale.
Won't you buy him,
Take him home and try him,
Gorilla for sale.

Don't you want a little gorilla you can call your own,
A gorilla who'll be with ya when you're all alone?

Take our advice,
At any price,
A gorilla like Magilla is mighty nice.
Gorilla, Magilla Gorilla for sale.



Week after week we watch Mr Peebles’ increasingly desperate and insensitive attempts to get shot of him. Discount after discount whittles away at his self-esteem, and time after time the sale that offers escape ends in a humiliating return to the shop window. How can one doubt that this is a deeply traumatised individual, ripe for an eventual explosion of irrepressible rage given frightening force by his sheer size and strength? And yet Mr Peebles continues to hawk this unhappy ape to any passing child for a nickel.

Naturally it would be perverse to blame Magilla for his sad situation or resultant state of mind, but one can’t help but fear that it will all end in tears…


All the signs were there, but we just didn’t want to see them.

9 comments:

Pat said...

I'm not trying to be 'your man in UK' but recently there was a Hoo Ha here when one of the 'Big Brother'contestants (no of course - like most of my friends I never watch TV - I just happened to glimpse a moment} Anyway this contestant - a transvestite named Pete, wore what was suspected to be a gorilla coat and the police locked the contestants in the bedroom and arrested the coat.

Ivan the Terrible said...

Well, at least we know it wasn't Magilla's fur - he wouldn't have gone so quietly...

The Aunt said...

I'll be interested to see what Gorilla Bananas has to say about this.

Gorilla Bananas said...

You might well ask, Aunty. First of all the creature wearing the gorilla coat should be forced to wear it in a sauna for a couple of hours. It would be like forcing a child caught smoking to finish the whole pack. That would teach it.

As for Magilla, I think he's better off in the shop window. He'll see far more interesting things there than in a typical surburban home.

Ivan the Terrible said...

Make a kid finish a packet of cigarettes nowadays and Social Services will shoot you. Then they'll take the kid into care for ten years of pass-the-parcel among all the local council-employed paedophiles, whereupon cigarettes will be the last of his or her problems.

By comparison, that shop window keeps on looking better and better.

Anonymous said...

As it happens, our friend GB has been made wise by a protracted proximity to us foolish hairless apes, but I hope Mr. M. Night's Magilla is still in touch with its...um...Darwinian side, and will do humanity a favor by tearing McConaughey and Gellar to small pieces.

It is the right thing to do. The long-suffering populace has had enough of their uninspired acting antics.

--Desargues

Anonymous said...

HA! Does it make me old if I remember this? As I watch my kids grow up, I laugh at how stupid media was for us as children. Road runner .. Mr. Magoo .. (Of course, throw in a few of your UK toons) ... Not like what my boys are growing up where Barney (people hate him .. but I differ in opinion) teaches about all the good things and Blue's Clues is proven to increase cognitive ability while the kids listen to Mozart.

I should subject them to some old Disney movies (Of course, we had not VCRs then - so the only choice was Disney, Sunday night 6pm) so they know how good they had it. I can see it now .. "yes son, that is a car that is talking and yes it does look really fake." I can see it now ..

Ivan the Terrible said...

Hi Des - I'm not generally in favour of ripping people limb from limb, altho' there are special cases, one of which I'll deal with tomorrow or Wednesday. But a strategically placed banana or three could go a long way to seeing justice done upon that pair. Assuming no pineapples are available...

And welcome Michael! Yes, you are indeed showing your age, but that's ok - you're among friends here. Take the weight off your mobility carriage and have a cup of tea.

FeathersMcGraw said...

Loved your dissertation about poor Maguilla. The poster is brilliant!

Greeting from San Diego,