BOOK 123: FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON: DANIEL KEYES

Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960. The novel was published in 1966 and was joint winner of that year's Nebula Award for Best Novel (with Babel-17).

The eponymous Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled.

Important themes in Flowers for Algernon include the treatment of the mentally disabled, the impact on happiness of the conflict between intellect and emotion, and how events in the past can influence a person later in life.

Flowers for Algernon is on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 at number 43. The reasons for the challenges vary, but usually center on those parts of the novel in which Charlie struggles to understand and express his sexual desires. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been removed from school libraries, including some in Pennsylvania and Texas.

In January 1970, the school board of Cranbrook, British Columbia, as well as Calgary, Alberta, removed the Flowers for Algernon novel from the local age 14-15 curriculum and the school library, after a parent complained that it was "filthy and immoral". The president of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation criticized the action. Flowers for Algernon was part of the British Columbia Department of Education list of approved books for grade nine and was recommended by the British Columbia Secondary Association of Teachers of English. A month later, the board reconsidered and returned the book to the library; they did not, however, lift its ban from the curriculum.

On This Day…

Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse in this day in 1981.

In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons.

The mouse sometimes features other elements, such as "wheels", which allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features that can add more control or dimensional input. The mouse's motion typically translates into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows for fine control of a graphical user interface.

Film 823: The Rescuers

Trivia: Evinrude the dragonfly, who pushes a small boat in the film, is named after a manufacturer of outboard boat motors.

The film was one of the last Walt Disney classics to be animated by members of Walt Disney's "nine old men".

Many crazy sound "instruments" were used in the recording of the "Rescue Aid Society" song, including a toy piano.

This was the first Walt Disney animated feature to inspire a sequel.

Early in story development, Bernard and Bianca were supposed to be rescuing a poet much older than Penny from a gloomy prison. This idea was scrapped since the directors decided that it was just not working.

HIDDEN MICKEY: A Mickey Mouse watch hangs on the wall in the Rescue Aid Society mouse organization building.

The Rescue Aid Society honors their founder, Euripedes Mouse, who removed a tiny needle from a ferocious lion's paw, a clear reference to the classic Aesop fable, "The Mouse and the Lion."

The last Disney animated classic film to receive an Oscar nomination until The Little Mermaid, twelve years later.

Originally, the Rescue Aid Society was to be placed in a hole somewhere, until the idea of a luggage bag in the basement of the United Nations building came up.

When Miss Bianca enters the Rescue Aid Society's headquarters, she takes her seat as the delegate representing Hungary. Eva Gabor (the voice talent for Miss Bianca) was born in Budapest, Hungary.

In the scene where Penny is seen carrying Rufus the cat off to supper, Penny grabs Rufus and uncomfortably carries him off in her arms, pushing him up with her knee as he begins to slip. Ollie Johnston, who animated this scene, explained that he did this in order to show the tender affection between Penny and Rufus, by having the cat be too fond of Penny to complain, since it would have been easier for Penny to walk away and have Rufus follow her.

The talking animals in this film can communicate not only with other animal species but also with human children who bother to begin conversation with them. The 1977 "Disney's Wonderful World of Reading" picture book based on the film revealed that the reason Rufus had not told of Penny's fate to another child at Morningside Orphanage was because no child or adult had bothered to ask him. It is unknown whether Rufus could have spoken to a human child without being talked to first, or if he could talk to grown-ups at all.

The popularity of the film almost led to a spin-off TV-series in 1989; however, when the animation department green-lit its sequel, The Rescuers Down Under, the project was scrapped. The series was still made, but Bernard and Miss Bianca were replaced with Chip and Dale, and the series was called Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers.

Fans of Walt Disney animation, and animation in general, have often mistakenly referred to the sometimes "sketchy" style in this film, as well as in others such as The Sword in the Stone and The AristoCats as "lazy" and budget-cut. In fact, the veteran animators working on these films, particularly Milt Kahl, strongly objected to their drawings being altered in any way and demanded that they should appear on the film's animation cels exactly as they had been drawn.

The VHS version of the film was recalled by Disney in 1999 due to an inserted image of a topless woman, which appears about 38 minutes into the movie, as Bernard and Bianca fly through the city.

Madame Medusa's fiery red dress and hair and Penny's light blue overalls use their color to contrast the theme of good and innocence against evil. This use of color for personification was later used in other Walt Disney Company films such as Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This is the very first Disney animated classic film to feature a small prologue prior to the start of the opening credits; the credits are thus attached into the storyline as they are shown over images describing the journey of Penny's bottle. Madame Medusa is also the first Disney villain to affect the flow of the story from the very start of the film.