The Battle of the Boing, Part 5

     If you remember (and isn’t memory a wonderful thing?), I’ve been telling you the story of Sparky’s long-running feud with Gerald McBoing Boing, the cartoon boy who speaks only in sound effects. I left off with Gerald putting his noisy little finger on Sparky in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Sparky’s was just one of a long list of names that Gerald rattled off during his testimony. To make an already bad situation worse, young McBoing Boing’s vocal peculiarities meant that a lot of what he said got lost in translation.

 

 

     This led to a number of unfortunate cases of mistaken identity, such as the one that nearly destroyed a career when Gerald informed on the noted film composer Elmer Bernstein.

 

 

     Sparky largely escaped the worst of this smear campaign’s ill effects, mostly because he didn’t depend on performing to earn his livelihood. In any case, it was hard for anyone who knew Sparky to see him as a hard-core Communist. His dedication to the solidarity of the working masses was always more philosophical than practical…as his fellow members of the Allied Cartoon Characters Guild learned time and again, at the cost of their residual cheques.

 

 

     Others named as left-leaners by Gerald McBoing Boing found themselves shut out of film and television altogether. One of Sparky’s occasional poker-playing pals had been slated for a recurring role on The Flintstones as Fred’s sister, but had to take work in a comic strip instead.

 

     The less politically-charged environment of the funny papers proved a haven for many of those blacklisted due to Gerald McBoing Boing's HUAC testimony. Some of them took full advantage of their new lease on life—for example, this young school chum of Gerald’s who found himself implicated in the Alger Hiss affair.

 

 

     In the long run, the accuser suffered just as much as the accused, if not more so. After causing many of his closest friends, acquaintances, and entertainment industry connections to be ostracized, Gerald McBoing Boing also found himself on the outside looking in. When help finally came for him, it was from a most unlikely source…but I’ll fill you in on the details next time. Right now, I have to finish getting ready for the Funsville Rod and Reel Club’s Izaak Walton Memorial Fishtravaganza and Salmon Derby. This year's grand prize goes to whoever catches the most steelhead in a bowler hat, so I have to re-waterproof my favourite lucky Stan Laurel autographed trolling model, size 7 5/8.

Uncle Fun