Relentless Cartoon Villain Of The Day.

Today's relentless cartoon villain is Colonel Kit Coyote of the United States Army from The Go-Go Gophers. This officer is bound and determined to displace the two Gopher Indians from Gopher Gulch. It might help if he had more than just Sergeant Okie Homa under his command, but staff shortages are a thing, I suppose. No matter how he tries, the Colonel always fails to best Chief Running Board and Ruffled Feather. Usually, this is due to his fixation on adhering to Army regulations, even when the sergeant suggests a much better alternative. Yep, bureaucracy is a roadmap to failure, begging the colonel's pardon.

Yes, I remember how in one cartoon Col. Coyote rebuffed the Sgt.'s sage advice by reminding him that the Army demands "blind obedience" from its officers. Naturally, that strategy chalked up yet another win for the gophers. I got a kick out of how his character was modeled on a caricature of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, a person who, while not remembered as a villain, was renowned for a stubborn streak that could sometimes go south on him.

Verily, Jay Ward had no qualms about limning celebrities of the day. There was the Kirwood Derby, a hat that made its wearer smarter; the name is a spoonerism of Derwood Kirby, who tried to sue Ward for libel. The suit was dismissed as 1) a hat cannot be confused with an actual person, and 2) parody is protected Fair Use under the Copyright Act.

What?? The man's name is Durwood Kirby and he's suing over a play on words? He should have been suing his parents! "Durwood" is what you'd name a cat—if you didn't like cats!

Actually, if you remember your "Bewitched" series, Samantha's mother Endora disliked her powerless son-in-law Darren, and tended to refer to him as "Durwood."