DCML digest, Vol 1 #67 Message 6

[BFOSTERLA@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/17/01 3:03:25 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
dcml-request at stp.ling.uu.se writes:

Re: DCML digest, Vol 1 #67 Message 6 from Eta Beta:

<< A question for Bob Foster, first...
 
<<I'm referring to a Gottfredson/Walsh story, "Mickey Mouse and the 'Lectro 
Box" 
<<(YM 058), which saw in the original publication, in the very last panel, 
the three <<scientists left in their underpants by the effect of the Box... >>

I'm always amazed at my own ignorance when it comes to stuff like this. And 
readers of this list are amazingly knowledgeable when it comes to historical 
facts about obscure details. What we're talking about here is something that 
I was involved in almost ten years ago, so I remember even less than I didn't 
know to begin with. 

I don't recall changing anything on that story. I usually got the material 
from a variety of sources. Sometimes I'd find things in the files at the 
studio, sometimes I'd get things from the folks at Gladstone, sometimes I'd 
find things I had in my personal collection. On top of the fact that I was 
never a big Mouse fan (Gasp!), details like that would surely go across my 
desk unnoticed. In matters of finding material that fans had requested, I 
sometimes relied on others to provide it, and figured they knew more than I 
did. If it had been edited or altered, I probably didn't know enough about 
the original version to know the difference. 

But keep in mind, quite often that was the only version available, so I had 
to decide to either run the altered version or to not run any version at all. 
I thought an altered version would be better than nothing. 

The best experts I worked with were the Gladstone people who really knew this 
stuff. And, being rascally, rebellious types (my kind of people!), sometimes 
they would fix things back to the way they used to be or should have been. So 
maybe the fixes started there. I don't think I did it at the studio.  

Censorship that was imposed on us internally, from an unnamed staff member at 
the studio, often irritated the hell out of us. They were so overprotective 
of the Corporate image and politically correct depiction of everything, great 
stories suffered or were destroyed as a result. 

Occasional oversights occurred when we would accidentally run a censored 
story, then apologize to the censor goddess that we had made a mistake. 
Sometimes it's best to plead ignorance after you've committed the offense. 
Anything for the fans!

But now I'm curious. I'll go to my storage locker in the next few days and 
dig out my copies of those issues and take a look. Maybe I'll remember 
something, and get back to you. 

Bob Foster