Mr. Magoo is a cartoon character created by United Productions of America. Voiced by Jim Backus, he is a little old man who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of being extremely short-sighted.

He first appeared in the theatrical short cartoon The Ragtime Bear (1949). It was a box-office hit, and produced a string of sequels.

As one of the few "human" cartoon characters in a Hollywood full of talking mice, rabbits, and bears, as well as having a unique, simplistic drawing style that contrasted greatly with other cartoons of the day, the Mr. Magoo series won accolades for UPA and made the competing animation studios sit up and take notice. Two Magoo cartoons won Oscars for the studio: When Magoo Flew in 1953 and Mr. Magoo's Puddle Jumper in 1955.

In 1959, Mr. Magoo starred in 1001 Arabian Nights, directed by Jack Kinney , UPA's first feature-length production.

In the 1960s, UPA transferred its attention to television, and began producing Mr. Magoo television series. UPA was forced to churn out cartoons at a far greater quantity than the studio had done for theatrical release; this caused the Mr. Magoo series to sink to an embarrassing level.

One bright moment in the UPA television era came with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, the first episode of an animated TV series entitled The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo which placed Magoo in various well-known stories. Christmas Carol captured the spirit of Charles Dickens' tale in a manner that few of the many re-tellings of the story would, and it is considered to be a holiday classic of the 1960s, ranking alongside A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

In the 1970s, Mr. Magoo appeared in a new television series called What's New Mr. Magoo?. This series was made under license by the DePatie-Freleng studio, as UPA had by this time ceased in-house cartoon production.

In 1997, during a fad for live-action films based on cartoon characters, Mr. Magoo was portrayed by Leslie Nielsen in a live-action Mr. Magoo feature film, which failed to find critical or popular success.

Classic Media/Sony Wonder began issuing the Mr. Magoo cartoon series on DVD in 2001, beginning with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

Characters

• Quincy Magoo - An elderly, bald, nearsighted man.
• Charley - Magoo's Chinese houseboy
• Waldo - Magoo's nephew
• Prezley - an English nephew
• Mother Magoo
• Bowser - Magoo's dog (really a cat)
• Wheeler & Dealer - two children

External links

• Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Mr. Magoo page
• Interview with Henry G. Saperstein
• Magoo at the Internet Movie Database
• Toon Tracker's Mr. Magoo Page