There’s No Need to Fear, But Underdog's Creator’s Death May Yield a Tear

W. Watts Biggers, who decided what the world needed was a pill-popping humble but lovable Shoeshine Boy who knew his way around a rhyming couplet, has died at the age of 85. Biggers and Chet Stover were advertising executives who tinkered with cartoon ideas on the side and decided to take on Jay Ward and Bill Scott, creators of “Rocky & Bullwinkle.” Through more than 100 cartoons, Underdog made puppy eyes in his chaste flirtations with reporter Sweet Polly Purebred and engaged in dogged pursuit of enemies like Simon Bar Sinister and Riff Raff, creating a cartoon classic worthy of an execrable live-action movie remake starring the formerly interesting Jason Lee. As if that wasn’t enough evidence of his staying power, an Underdog balloon has been a fixture in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade since 1965.