Bullwinkle statue moved off Sunset Strip perch *

Bullwinkle held Rocky the flying squirrel in his hand outside the former home of Jay Ward Productions — right across Sunset Boulevard from the Chateau Marmont — since 1961. The statue has been removed for repairs by DreamWorks, which bought the rights to the Rocky & Bullwinkle caroon characters last year, says Curbed LA.

It was carted off by a crane not too long ago--there was "a severe crack in the statue that was too expensive for the landlord to repair," according to a statement given to Vintage Los Angeles...

The statue first went up (with Jayne Mansfield in attendance) on September 24, 1961 in front of what was then Jay Ward Productions--home of R&B, Peabody and Sherman, Dudley Do-Right, and Cap'n Crunch. Originally, the sexily-posed Bullwinkle spun in circles in a goof on the Sahara Hotel billboard across the way, on which "a scantily clad mechanized showgirl" spun on a silver dollar, according to WeHoville (she drove Chateau Marmont guests crazy and appeared on the cover of Gore Vidal's Myra Breckenridge). The Sahara girl was replaced with the also-famous giant Marlboro Man in the mid-sixties, but Bullwinkle outlasted them all by decades. There's no word yet on where the refurbished statue will go, so tune in next time for Cracking Up or The Moose Hangs High!

Jay Ward's daughter chimes in:

"I'm working with DreamWorks Animation to find a new home for Rocky & Bullwinkle," said Tiffany Ward, President of Bullwinkle Studios and Executive Producer of DreamWorks Animation's upcoming film "Mr.Peabody and Sherman. "We're going to freshen up the statue in true Hollywood style, and then I think fans will be pleasantly surprised to see where our favorite heroes pop up next."

Photo: Vintage LA on Facebook