For many weeks we have looked at illustrated variations on the tale of Cinderella written primarily for children. For the next few weeks we will look at funny, animated versions of this story before moving into musicals and films. Then it will be the end of our Cinderella saga while I ponder what other fairy tale to explore.
This week we look at an old favourite from my childhood--Fractured Fairy Tales. these absurd little comedy shorts were part of the Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and are charmingly narrated by Edward Everett Horton. I always loved the opening credits with the fairy fighting with the ornery book which keeps threatening to slam on her.
Here we subvert all tropes featured in other Cinderella tales. Cinderella is quite lazy, lying on a chaise lounge, reading a True Romance magazine and carelessly dusting a lamp with a duster held between her toes whilst complaining of how much work she has to do. Meanwhile, her two sisters are hardworking and are "popular and sought after" scrub women in town.
Because this Cinderella always wants something for nothing when her fairy godmother appears she expects a makeover for free. What she gets is a makeover and set of pots and pans she has to flog by midnight in order to keep her flashy gear. There is only one person in the kingdom rich enough to buy all the cookware--the prince.
However, the prince is having problems of his own. His kingdom is bankrupt and he has to pay his creditors by midnight. He has to find a rich heiress to marry by the stroke of twelve.
This leads to an evening of talk about love and saucepans and ends with an unexpected twist.
That's all for this week. Stay tuned next week for another Fractured look at Cinderella.
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