Our long national nightmare is over. As this article explains, the statue of Bullwinkle and Rocky, which once fronted Jay Ward's offices on the Sunset Strip, has returned to Sunset. At the moment, it's apparently under a tarp at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive, awaiting its grand unveiling at a soon-to-be-announced date.
The article says "The statue dates to 1961, but the original creator is not known" and that seems to be true, though one time I heard his name. I worked with the late Bill Scott on a couple of projects back in the early eighties. Bill was, of course, the producer and head writer on that show along with being the voice of The Moose, Dudley Do-Right and a host of others. At the time, the statue was out in front of Jay's office and looking pretty shabby, having gone unrestored since '61. Bill told me that he had to avert his eyes whenever he drove by or walked in and out of the building.
He said he was after Jay to restore it and even volunteered to split the cost with him. Jay, he said, wouldn't let anyone but the original sculptor touch it and the guy had moved and no one knew how to reach him. Bill told me his name but it meant nothing to me and it immediately left my head…which is odd when you consider how much utterly useless information is still in there. A few months later, Bill told me they'd located the sculptor and he had been hired to give Rocky and His Friend a good makeover…and he did. The work was completed not long before Bill passed in 1985.
At the time, a trio of us — the other two being Frank Welker and Bill — were working on the screenplay of a live-action Dudley Do-Right movie. The project died along with Dudley's original voice. But I remember how happy Bill was that he could look at the statue again and I wish he could see it in its new, hopefully-permanent location. But I know that intersection and I'll bet you a round-trip ticket to Moosylvania that within the next few years, some drunk driver's going to plow into it, making for very funny headlines and Restoration #3.