From: Jamal Mazrui 
Subject: Magoo debate on National Public Radio (Forward From 
dandrews@visi.com)
Below is a transcript of a National Public Radio story on the
Magoo controversy, followed by the related listener comments that
aired a week later.  I have left the typographical errors intact.
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    Content and programming copyright (c) 1997 National Public
        Radio, Inc. All rights reserved. Transcribed by Federal
        Document Clearing House, Inc. under license from National
         Public Radio, Inc. Formatting copyright (c) 1997 Federal
            Document Clearing House, Inc. All rights reserved.
                                      NPR
                    SHOW: MORNING EDITION (NPR 10:00 am ET)
                           AUGUST 6, 1997, WEDNESDAY
                           Transcript # 97080617-210
HEADLINE: Boo to Magoo
HIGHLIGHT:
Alex Van Oss reports on the controversy surrounding the Wal
Disney movie based on the Mr. Magoo cartoon character.  The
National Federation for the Blind is protesting the film because
it says that the near-sighted Mr. Magoo is insulting to people
with impaired vision.
ALEX CHADWICK, HOST: In Hollywood, the Walt Disney Studio is a
leader in turning old television sitcoms and cartoons into films.
It's got "George of the Jungle" out now.
Disney has another cartoon-based film slated for release later
this year, a live action motion picture starring actor Leslie
Nielsen, based on the old cartoon character Mr. Magoo.  He's the
extremely nearsighted little man who won't put on his glasses and
gets into trouble from time to time.
Now, one group is saying enough is enough.  The National
Federation of the Blind, which has more than 50,000 members, says
"Mr.  Magoo" is derogatory.
Alex Van Oss reports.
ALEX VAN OSS, REPORTER: Mr. Magoo was never much to look at: a
tiny figure with a round face, round ears, round nose, all
bunched up in a perpetual squint.  But for many, Magoo was comic
and certainly resilient as he fumbled and stumbled his way
through one misadventure after another.
Mr. Magoo was a temperamental sort of fellow, and also vain.  He
refused to wear his glasses and hence made all kinds of mistakes.
Here, for example, he mistakes a dog for a human baby.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP OF "MR. MAGOO")
SOUND OF DOG WHIMPERING
JIM BACKUS (PH), ACTOR, "MR. MAGOO": Homer, Homer, come back and
get your sleepers on.  Now, now, Homer, bedtime is bedtime.
Nightie- night.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ANN MARIE COOK (PH), RECORDING FOR THE BLIND AND DYSLEXIC: I
don't know a single person who's ever talked to a coat rack or a
chair and thought it was a real human being.  I don't know anyone
who's taken a record player record and washed it in a dish pan
because they thought it was a dinner plate.
VAN OSS: Ann Marie Cook is with the national organization
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.
COOK: When I was a kid I didn't know anyone who was blind or
visually impaired. I always wore glasses.  But I never viewed him
in
any other way than a child might view a cartoon character, as
entertainment. And as my own life has progressed and I have lost
vision and become a visually impaired person, "Mr. Magoo" is not
funny.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
"MR. MAGOO" SINGING: Dear Mother Magoo, My mom, sweet and true.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VAN OSS: "Mr. Magoo" first appeared in 1949, a product of the UPA
Pictures Company, which departed from the Disney style of
animation and pioneered a new cartoon look: simpler, flatter
drawings and characters, and pastel tones instead of bright
colors.
Henry Sapperstein (ph) is chairman of UPA Pictures, and he likes
"Mr. Magoo."
HENRY SAPPERSTEIN, CHAIRMAN, UPA PICTURES: Every "Magoo" film
ends with Magoo saying, "By George, Magoo, you've done it again,"
because Magoo is heroic, courageous, dignified, and always ends
up a winner, despite all the catastrophe that reigns around him.
So, he finishes everything off with his happiness that he did it
again.
And I think that's a good, uplifting message for everybody.  You
don't let a handicap in any way hold you back.
VAN OSS: Sapperstein says that Magoo started out a rather nasty
and sarcastic character like W.C. Fields, but then he won a
couple of Academy Awards and was toned down and made better
humored for the sake of younger viewers.  Magoo appeared in more
than 200 films.
Over the decades, says Henry Sapperstein, "Mr. Magoo" gained a
lot of credibility with the public, and also a lot of marketing
potential.
SAPPERSTEIN: Big companies used him as their spokesman very
successfully: General Electric, RCA, Proctor & Gamble.  The U.S.
Navy wanted to use Magoo for recruiting purposes.  And then the
U.S.  Treasury had him selling bonds because people listened to
what Magoo had to say, he had credibility.
VAN OSS: Viewers might have enjoyed and believed in the Magoo
character. Nevertheless, the cartoon also had an unfortunate
effect, says Mark Mauer (ph) of the National Federation of the
Blind.
MARK MAUER, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND: Many times blind
people were spit upon and kicked and otherwise sometimes struck
and called either old "Mr. Magoo" or four eyes or something like
that.
VAN OSS: In July, the nation's largest organization of blind
people in the United States resolved to protest Mr. Magoo's
latest incarnation in the Disney film.
Walt Disney Pictures was unavailable for comment to NPR.  In a
press release, they say the film does not demean blind people.
The release states that the Magoo character in the film -- quote
-- "through a misdiagnosis at an eye exam, is not advised to wear
glasses.  While his eyesight contributes to some humorous
confusion, it does not stop him from solving a crime and becoming
the hero of the movie."
MAUER: Disney has said that we're super sensitive, in effect, and
that Magoo really isn't blind, he's just very nearsighted.
However, we think the portrayal of blind people in that light
makes the lives of blind people much more difficult and we asked
Disney not to produce the movie.
VAN OSS: "Mr. Magoo" is scheduled for release this Christmas.
Mauer says that Disney has agreed to meet with the National
Federation of the Blind later this week to discuss their
concerns.
For National Public Radio, this is Alex Van Oss.
CHADWICK: This is NPR's MORNING EDITION.  I'm Alex Chadwick.
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                    SHOW: MORNING EDITION (NPR 10:00 am ET)
                           AUGUST 13, 1997, WEDNESDAY
                           Transcript # 97081307-210
ALEX CHADWICK, HOST: Time now for your comments.
. . .
CALLER: I'm Maggie Thomas from Nashville, Tennessee.  Please
don't let your listeners think that the National Federation of
the Blind spoke for all blind and visually impaired people when
they denounced the Disney revival of Mr. Magoo.
Growing up with normal sight, I enjoyed side-splitting laughter
at Mr. Magoo cartoons.  And after losing my vision at the age of
48, I thank God every day for endowing me with a sense of humor.
Yes, I have bumped into a post and said, "excuse me." And yes, I
have had my face so close to a cake while attempting to frost it
that I've actually iced my own nose.  And if I couldn't laugh at
myself and didn't have friends who laugh with me, I wouldn't be
able to get out of bed every morning.
. . .
Send your comments to:
MORNING EDITION Letters 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington,
D.C. 20001.
Or call our listener comment line: 202-842-5044.  Our try our
Internet address. That's morning@npr.org.
This is NPR's MORNING EDITION.  I'm Alex Chadwick.
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