Credits
Letterer(s):
?
Subject Matter
Genres:
anthropomorphic
Character(s):
Bugs Bunny; Simple Simon (human puppet); Dixto (mysterious stranger); Mr. Pie (The Thin Fat Man); customs inspectors; hotel bell captain; Roberts (hotel house detective) hotel manager; bunch of adoring kids; TV station personnel
First Line:
Help! Help me, somebody!
Synopsis:
"Pinocchio" meets "The Maltese Falcon" in this bizarre tale of double and triple crossings over "The Dimpled Diana", an ebony statue with the key to a vast treasure inscribed on its base. "Simple Simon the Soup-Chips Kid", a humanized puppet with strings, is tired of performing as a marionette on a kids' TV show and aspires to become, not a "real boy", but accomplished at a worthwhile career. Bugs humors him and sets him up as a private eye with a broom closet as his office, donning a mop-wig to become his girl Friday. The gag leads to some honest-to-Bogart "Maltese Falcon-esque" intrigue.
Reprinting
Reprint Notes:
Miscellaneous
Pages:
14
Notes:
This story combines the right amount of humor, mystery, and danger, all the more so springing from two very disparate sources of inspiration.
GOOD BITS:
The mysterious stranger slinks away - under a carpet (!) - after making his request to Bugs and Simon to recover "The Dimpled Diana":
STRANGER: "Look for THE THIN FAT MAN... arriving today on the Soptania! He may have it!"
BUGS: "Why don't you go after him yourself then?"
STRANGER: "Heh-Heh... I wouldn't be as MYSTERIOUS that way!"
BUGS (pondering); "Hmm... That's logical!"
"The Fat Man" was Sidney Greenstreet's character in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). "The Thin Man" was William Powell who, with Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles), starred in a series of six detective films (1934-1947). Mash 'em together and you get "THE THIN FAT MAN".
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The Thin Fat Man is oddly shaped, looking fat when facing sideways, and looking thin when facing frontwards. Simon describes him as being "built like a pancake type fish". Upon arriving by ship, the customs inspectors are of course suspicious over his unusual build:
CUSTOMS INSPECTOR: "Er... A shape like yours naturally makes us somewhat suspicious, Mister Pie!"
THIN FAT MAN: "I can't help my shape, gentlemen! I grew up in the NARROW END of a FLATIRON BUILDING!"
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Disguised as a hotel bellboy, Simon jumps at the chance to take the Thin Fat Man's dinner up to his room - giving him and Bugs the opportunity to snoop around. He is momentarily stopped and questioned by the bell captain:
BELL CAPTAIN: "Huh? You must be a new boy... I don't recognize you!"
SIMON (glibly): "I'm SO NEW I don't even RECOGNIZE MYSELF, Sir!"
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