Sounds Like Fun Starring Gerald McBoing Boing

Four episodes from The Gerald McBoing Boing Show (1956-1958), which had the distinction of being one of television's first prime-time cartoon series (in 1958), are included in this winning anthology that should appeal to a new generation of cartoon devotees thanks to the popularity of its original creator Dr. Seuss, the granddaddy of silly fare for children. Sporting a digitally remastered print, the sparse animation has a retro hip look, bolstered by the trademark Seuss stanza rhyming prose. Each of the very droll episodes centers on a young boy named Gerald, who can only communicate in sound effects (i.e., glass breaking, trains colliding, cattle stampeding, and his favorite response, “boing boing!”). In one short, when the symphony orchestra is a no-show at the radio station where Gerald works as a one-boy ‘sound effects' team, he uses his voice as an oboe, a violin, and an entire horn section to save the day. In another, Gerald is captured by a flying saucer and taken to the planet Moo where the fishing is good, the girls are pretty (yes, this one feels a little dated!) and the inhabitants are desperately seeking tourists. Fortunately, the king speaks “boing boing,” and Gerald takes him back to Earth to meet his family and friends, who all smile and nod and begin to speak ‘boing' to communicate. An imaginative alternative to some of the mindless yuk-yuk that passes for children's entertainment today, this one warrants a “boing” and a “toot-toot!” (translation: warmly recommended). (N. Plympton)