The Mighty Mouse is a popular cartoon character who appeared in several children’s television shows. His adventures began in the 1960s, when he made appearances in a variety of cartoons. His greatest popularity, however, came with the television series “Kids Are Cruel.” In this series, grade school kids were causing havoc in their classrooms, smoking cigarettes, and doing whatever else was out of place. Eventually, the parents asked Mighty Mouse to step in and put an end to their problems.
In addition to the adventures of Mighty Mouse, the cartoon featured a damsel in distress element, a romantic clinch, and a dark-haired beauty in distress. Many of these stories were satirical, while others were so original that they sparked a revolution in cartoon animation. Though they had many similarities to musical melodrama spoofs, Mighty Mouse’s adventures were far more inventive than the formulas often used in children’s cartoons.
The Mighty Mouse cartoon was originally created by Paul Terry, a cartoonist known for his archaic style of drawing. But as the character began to receive commercial success in the 1940s, Terry turned to a friend, Herb Roth, to help him create the series. Roth was a neighbor in Larchmont, New York, who had been an assistant to cartooning legend H.T. Webster. While Roth had his own one-shot comic strip in 1913, Terry’s original version featured two cartoonists, which had similar styles.
After the success of Mighty Mouse, the series became a staple on Saturday mornings. This series of cartoons, called Mighty Mouse Playhouse, introduced the world’s famous theme song and was credited with initiating the Saturday morning cartoon ghetto. In 1959-61, the Terrytoons studio revived the Mighty Mouse series, which had a simpler animation style and included science fiction elements. These episodes were also popular, and were the first to feature a cat named Swifty.