Mr. Magoo's A Midsummer Night's Dream

My First Shakespeare

Circa 1965, this is from a series called The Famous Adventures of Mister Magoo, where I also first encountered Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Cyrano De Bergerac and other classic stories. 

This is on Youtube - Do NOT feel like you have to watch this. It is just for the record. Skim through if you will. The art and and abridgment is pretty crude, to my current self.

TFAOMM-A Midnight Summer Dream
John Brennan  23:52

More first impressions of Shakespeare include the 1935 movie version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and my first introduction to Hamlet via... Gilligan's Island!! 

Clips below the fold...

Max Reinhardt in Hollywood

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 Official Trailer 
OscarMovie Trailers 2:13

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 ' Quince's House ' - Athens
BravuraK 1:28

I might have seen this on TV when I was 10 or 11. Not sure. It's around this time I was seeing lots of Warner Brothers features from the 30's. Many Errol Flynn movies, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, etc. This scene is not very Max Reinhardt but does feature a great assortment of great character actors of WB in the 30's. Joe E. Brown, Hugh Herbert, Frank Macgugh, and the always amazing James Cagney, showing his oddball comedy chops as Bottom.

A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 'Titania, Queen of the Fairies'
BravuraK. 2:06

This is a signature scene by Max Reinhardt, close to his legendary theater productions. Many characters, lots of frilly, wispy, glittery flowing costume. Volumes of people. He did this thing on a grand scale in theaters was well. This was his only Hollywood movie.

Hamlet Episode of Gilligan's Island 

Episode -  The Producer, October 1966

Gilligan's Island Hamlet 
Mikey1539. 4:56

The weird thing is that most people my age would maybe remember the Gilligan's Island, less likely the Mr. Magoo, and nobody has seen or heard of the 1935 Max Reinhardt Hollywood Midsummer Night's Dream. That's my guess anyway. Most people first encounter Shakespeare through school. I did that too later on, in high school. But before that I do remember the kid shows and pop culture references from when I was very young. Do other Shakespeare nerds do that? I'd be curious to know.