ReFrederator Blog

The target for Tuesday’s literary assault is “The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pirates. Written by Himself.” No, really. That’s the original title. Almost as long as today’s cartoon, “Molly Moo Cow and Robinson Crusoe”, and, all things considered, probably a little bit funnier.

Okay, okay — this Burt Gillett toon really isn’t too bad. Has all the expected ingredients; palm trees, pounding surf, singing castaway, politically incorrect cannibals and, of course, our bovine star Molly — whom nobody on the island seems to identify as a potential food source. Funny that. I mean, as a dairy resource she’s a wash-out since, apparently, she doesn’t have an udder, but you’d think it would occur to someone that there’s a lot of Big Macs wearing that cow bell. But, no. Indigenous residents would rather eat the unappetizing looking Crusoe, and Crusoe himself seems irritated by Molly’s mere existence, and all but kicks her back into the ocean. Go figure.

As usual, we have not censored anything, including broad ethnic stereotypes. So, if you’re not offended by the jive singing natives, stick around — Molly dons blackface for the closing gag!

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Dave Kirwan