Petty Girls

In the absolutely delightful film Here Come the Huggetts, perfectly adorable Petula Clark mistakenly believes that her father is involved with a teenage girl. This premise was taken even further a year later in The Romantic Age.

Petula was seventeen when she appeared in this film, playing a girl whose father has fallen under the seductive charms of a classmate. As in the Huggetts, Petula’s sweetness is contrasted with a much more womanly girl her age. But unlike the previous movie, with Diana Dors being only months older than Pet, the libidinous Mai Zetterling was 23 years old.

Taking Sides

Chuck Jones hated Bob Clampett for claiming he created Bugs Bunny. Jack Kirby resented Stan Lee for claiming he created the Marvel Super Heroes. Fans often express their opinions in these matters as if they have a personal stake in them, regardless of whatever the full truth may actually be.

Steve Ditko’s position on the creation of Spider-Man is a particularly frustrating example. Ditko wanted credit that he felt was denied to him by Stan, which wasn’t legally Stan’s to give anyway. But Ditko also acknowledged that he had accepted payment under a work for hire arrangement. The rigid Ayn Rand logic that Ditko followed allows both of these viewpoints to be valid, leaving them irreconcilable.

With that in mind, as a follow-up to yesterday’s post, did Ub Iwerks hate Walt Disney for claiming he created Mickey Mouse, and did Walt resent his studio’s co-founder for leaving to become a competitor? Not likely from this photo, taken not long before Disney’s death.

Ubber

https://youtu.be/kCZPzHg0h80

After the initial success of Mickey Mouse, Ub and Walt had a falling out, and Iwerks headed his own cartoon studio for a time in the 1930’s. Ub eventually returned to Disney, where he was a technical innovator.

The complete podcast about Ub Iwerks is at this link. It’s worth noting that Ub isn’t an obscure figure to anyone with more than a passing interest in animation.

QT on the QT

My buddy Denro received his copy of the Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood novelization on Saturday, but I won’t get mine until tomorrow. Both copies were in the same order, so what’s up with that, Amazon??

Tarantino continues to trash-talk Bruce Lee, but not in this senior-friendly interview for CBS Sunday Morning.

The book is here, a day earlier than expected. Amazon must have seen this blog post. 😉