Thursday, December 3, 2015

Literary Toons: Daisy-Head Mayzie (1995)

Dr. Seuss' Daisy-Head Mayzie was published posthumously after Seuss (Ted Geisel) had passed away. Not only that, but an animated special actually aired before the book was published!

Hanna-Barbera obtained a license to produce the special, which would be the last Seuss book to be adapted for television, and H-B's only Seuss special. Tim Curry (The Wild Thornberrys) is among the voices heard in the special. 

The Cat in the Hat (Henry Gibson, ex-Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), essentially Seuss' mascot, serves as narrator, and this would be his last animated appearance until PBS' The Cat In The Hat Knows a Lot About That. Mayzie is your average, ordinary schoolgirl until a daisy sprouts up on her head. No one seems to know why or how, but there's something to this that makes this as much a teaching tool as a form of entertainment.

Update, 3/3/21: The episode is now available:



Rating: B.

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

A little bit o' trivia: the title character in this special was voiced by Francesca Marie Smith, best known to kid-vid audiences as the voice of Helga Pataki on Nickelodeon's "Hey, Arnold!". Smith also voiced Leslie on USA's "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" animated series before that.

hobbyfan said...

Thanks. Seems there's very little info, outside of IMDB, on the cartoon, as the only Wikipedia page on Mayzie is for the book.