The Battle of the Boing, Part 4

     If you don’t know what this strange title refers to, you haven’t been following the story that’s been appearing in this space for the past three weeks. You can bring yourself up to speed one of two ways: by clicking on the links and reading Chapters 1, 2, and 3, or by saving the strain on your mouse and your eyes and skimming the quick summary I’m about to give you.

     Long ago, my protégé Sparky found himself embroiled in controversy because of a long-running feud between himself and another cartoon boy. Gerald McBoing Boing, hitherto famous for speaking only in sound effects, made quite a different set of noises to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

 

     Sparky’s name headed the list of alleged Communist sympathizers Gerald handed over to HUAC, in exchange for immunity from prosecution on repeated violations of the Mann Act. Though never officially confirmed, the identity of Gerald’s female correspondent has long been an open secret.

 

     It should have come as no surprise to anyone that Sparky was a fellow traveller. His association with leftist causes dated back to 1920, when he appeared in Debs for Debs, a Socialist Party-sponsored short subject linking Eugene V. Debs’ bid for the presidency with the Nineteenth Amendment.

 

     M’Dear and Miss Moose never mixed entertainment and politics again. (Side note from us: politics are entertaining enough without anybody’s help. –M’Dear and Moose) Sparky, on the other hand, remained active and committed. (Another side note: “committed” is what I’ve always said he should be. –Moose) During the Great Depression, he appeared on screen in support of Socialist candidate Norman Thomas’ presidential campaigns.

 

 

      Sparky’s obscurity, his love of getting in trouble, and his overall recalcitrance mitigated the damage that revelations about his anti-establishment politics might have caused. Others in his field were not so lucky…but more on that in the next chapter. The Funsville Conservatory of Musical Improvisation and Other Contact Sports is, as usual, running behind in the last-minute preparations for its combined Herb Ellis/Maurice “Rocket” Richard birthday celebrations, which are coming up this Sunday. Wrapping 10,000 left-handed hockey sticks with flat-wound jazz guitar strings for the noonday parade and jam session would have been more than enough work for everybody, but it’s nothing compared to wrapping 10,000 arch-top jazz guitars with hockey stick tape for the evening’s charity shinney tournament and free-for-all.

Uncle Fun