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About Roger SuttonRoger Sutton has been the editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc, since 1996. He was previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. He received his M.A. in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a B.A. from Pitzer College in 1978. Follow him on Twitter: @RogerReads.
>Roger!!!! Nooooooo!!! What are you going to post next, Bambi’s mother getting shot? The Island of Misfit Toys? I can’t handle all this at the holidays, I was much tougher as a kid. (gee, I guess I’m kind of answering your question from a few blog entries down.)
>In searching for this clip I found out that the score for this “Christmas special” was written by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, and that some people say that “People” was first written for this! Think ol’ Jim Backus could give Babs a run for her money?
I knew I had found a kindred spirit when former HB editor Lauren Adams sang this song to me from memory. In July.
>Wow. But then, I always did feel sorry for Mr. Magoo.
>And one more thing: I had no idea Mr. Magoo could act that well. Sing, yes.
>What do you mean? Didn’t you see him play Hamlet’s uncle on Gilligan’s Island?
>Ahhh, a humorous, musical blast from the past! The castaways performing “Hamlet, the Musical.” Singing Polonius speech to Laertes to the tune of the “Toreador Song.”
“Neither a borrower, nor a lender be,
Do not forget, stay out of debt.
Think twice, and take this good advice from me…
(forgetting a line or two here…)
…There’s just one other thing,
You’ve got to do,
To thine own self be true!”
Brilliant casting of the pompous Mr. Howell as the windbag Polonius.
A new generation is loving this. One of my first graders said she saw this episode and fell off her chair laughing.
ifahren
>Hey, ifahren, if you need your Gilligan’s Island lyrics, then I’m your woman.
Think twice and take this good advice from me/
Guard thy solvency!
>Fabulous! Thanks. It’s good to have someone who knows the classics!
ifahren
>Oh, that one just kills me. My son and I like to sing it together. Must teach him the harmony part someday.
>Thanks for posting the Gilligan's Islands lyrics missing from my mind since I saw this episode in April 1968–remembered them all except "guard thy solvency"! (the exact date of the viewing driven into my mind by MLK's assassination)