The name of Butch Patrick might have drawn some people to the movie back when it was current. It was current in 1970. Butch Patrick played "Eddie Munster" in the sitcom "The Munsters," a humorous takeoff on the horror movie genre. Fred Gwynne played the dad, remember?
You should know that our library has a new "movie club" that gets together Thursday evenings. We see a movie that has some significance and then we engage in a little discussion. This past Thursday we watched a movie from the "pre-code" era of Hollywood. Moviemakers could get by with messages and themes that contradicted a basic sense of morality. The final dramatic line of the movie we watched Thursday was, "I steal!" The movie had a couple of suggestive scenes, sexually, proving to all that people did indeed have sexual impulses in those days! I had a psych professor in college who said "each generation is the first to discover sex (in their own minds)." We are probably a more enlightened society today.
Inspired by a children's book
"The Phantom Tollbooth" was originally a children's book of note. Children's books! Don't we all get the feeling we could write a children's book? I suppose it's like the feeling that one could easily write a country music song. Of course, these forms of art are more difficult to master than you think. A guy like Hal David wrote song lyrics that you'd swear were elementary. Just try to find success doing that, yourself.
The book "The Phantom Tollbooth" was written by Norton Juster. It is a 1961 children's fantasy adventure. Illustrations were by Jules Feiffer. The 1970 movie is mostly animated. We don't see Butch Patrick on the screen much but he fills his role fine. I find the animation very pleasing compared to the incredibly intense animation of today's releases like "The Incredibles" movies. I suppose I have a generational objection to today's approach. Our library showed an "Incredibles" movie a few weeks ago. At the end, I'm not sure I could have even told you what the basic plot was. The elaborateness of the animation just hit me over the head the whole way. I grew up with the minimalist animation of Hanna-Barbara cartoons like Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw! To this day I find boundless charm in those cartoons. The story line is always obvious.
There was even a Yogi Bear movie! I suppose the bear's name was a takeoff on baseball player Yogi Berra. The baseball guy projected mystique that went beyond his ability as a player. We learn that his mangling of the language was not nearly so bad in real life, as in the pop culture representations. It probably started out as one or two minor instances, whereupon a savvy media guy like Joe Garagiola (a former player himself) saw potential to mine for humor. Berra would eventually say, with irony: "I didn't say half the things I said." He did a Geico TV commercial late in life that was based on the caricature.
Norton Juster did not like the 1970 movie based on his book. It might have been plain vanity, as maybe he just wasn't enthused about someone else interpreting his story. The quotes I found about this did not state any specific objections. I found it curious that Juster didn't even like how the movie got good reviews! I totally like the movie especially when viewed in the context of the times. However, if a new movie were to be made, I feel a substantial adjustment would be required. The adjustment would be a no-brainer based on our changed culture.
The Butch Patrick character, "Milo," was a quintessential boomer who seemed restless and unhappy even though the kids of that time were materially blessed, with full indulgence in fact. It has been argued that the indulgence itself was a factor. "Milo" is bored. It's a primary theme of the movie. He enters a fantasy world that stimulates him away from his underwhelmed state of mind. The story reminds very much of "The Wizard of Oz." I would say "The Wizard" was more popular because we understand more clearly what the central character, "Dorothy," was looking for. She wanted to go home.
Maybe not sympathetic
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| The book's cover illustration |
A sea change occurred with entry into the digital age. These changes happen slowly so we might forget how the old days really were, how profoundly different our "analog times" were. Today the distractions posed by all the electronic communications create a world where boredom is eradicated, wiped out, extinct. Butch Patrick's "Milo" is a throwback. We feel for him because his 1970 world seemed unfulfilling for him, a tragedy considering how our standard of living had improved by leaps and bounds since the mid-20th Century. The parents of my generation felt thankful just getting their basic needs met.
People went into hand-wringing over how my generation seemed restless and dissatisfied. But if that was our frame of mind, it was for a reason. Human beings can be restless souls by nature. However, boredom is not a problem of today. The problem is exactly the opposite! My goodness, "distraction" is the problem. "Data overload" is a concern. The distractions consume us so much, we can endanger ourselves and others when driving a car. Law enforcement knows this, which is why there has been such a clamp-down with seat belt enforcement.
If "The Phantom Tollbooth" were to be re-made today, maybe the theme would be a desire to escape such a cluttered world, in which we are so bombarded with data and thoughts, many of which aren't worthy of attention anyway. I think a re-make would be a good idea. Maybe the story can still get as high-profile as "The Wizard of Oz." It's fascinating to think of two cities or encampments, one devoted to numbers and the other to letters. Which is more important? Such is the dichotomy that "The Phantom Tollbooth" gives us, part of a fantastical array of scenes/characters right out of a dream world.
The 1970 movie was produced by Chuck Jones at MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Among the voice talents is the unforgettable Mel Blanc. Jones also directed the film.
"Milo" lives in a San Francisco apartment block. There is a sudden arrival of a large, gift-wrapped package. The "tollbooth" inside is really a gateway to a magical parallel universe. The boy proceeds in a toy car to the enchanted Kingdom of Wisdom in The Lands Beyond. The words/numbers thing is represented by the cities of Dictionopolis (words) and Digitopolis (math/numbers). I liked the canine companion who befriended Milo, named "Tock." We see "Short Shrift" the eccentric police officer. I have compared the movie to "Wizard of Oz" but I'll also suggest "The Polar Express" as a quite parallel story!
What was Milo really seeking?
Good reviews, yes, but the 1970 movie was not a box office success. I suggest that we needed to understand Milo's yearnings a little more. Frankly, it's hard to feel sorry for a kid who in the opening seems to be surrounded by quite satisfactory material blessings. But my boomer generation was indeed thrashing around looking for something that frankly seemed elusive. A commenter on the Manson family tragedy/phenomenon suggested that "there were things (my generation) wasn't getting from their parents." A curious observation and one that is difficult to support on empirical grounds, yes. But that comment has stayed in my head. Material blessings just didn't translate to happiness for my peers and I.
There was a mass entertainment culture, TV and all its homogeneous-appeal shows - "Gilligan's Island" - that on a subconscious level, may have left us feeling empty. We watched "Bonanza" but what did we really get out of it? Hey, we were subconsciously hoping that we might be lifted into a fantasy world like a magical parallel universe! Was Juster thinking that this universe would offer more than our real world? What a profound conclusion, if the answer is "yes."
I feel sad that author Juster didn't like the movie at all. I heard one of the kids say at our library, when the movie concluded, that she liked the movie very much. I congratulate our library director Anne Barber on choosing "The Phantom Tollbooth" as a summer movie offering. And it wasn't just for the kids!
Please consider attending one of the Thursday evening "movie club" movies, 6:30 p.m. starting time. We have fun. Some of us even bring our own lawn chairs to put up in the room! Treat yourself.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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