Would Puff have to go gangster, smoking a blunt to appeal to kids these days?

Most kids and young adults currently growing up with “50 Cent and Audioslave” may have only passing acquaintance with this once-popular folk song. In this charming metaphor for the fantasies of childhood, a magic dragon named Puff shares friendship and adventure with his young pal Jackie Paper until the sad day Jackie puts his imaginary friend aside in order to grow up and make his way toward adulthood. The song ends with Puff in significant need of Prozac and Jackie presumably on the fast track to a glamorous career in high-risk stocks and an equally high-maintenance trophy wife.

Well, OK, Peter Yarrow never did specify that exact scenario, but you get the general idea: We grow up and leave the loves of our childhood behind us. They may be enshrined in the golden amber of nostalgia, wistfully recalled on a balmy June evening as we relax on the back patio, but that-was-then-this-is-now and we aren't kids anymore. One rather depressing aspect I have noticed among my cohort and contemporaries is that cartoons were frequently one of the things left behind, never again to be enjoyed once a certain age or phase of life has passed.

This month we examine why adults seem to “outgrow” cartoons and some happy reasons why this unhappy situation appears to be changing. Finally, here are some steps adults can take to make sure Puff stays with them well after the degree, spouse, kids, career, and mortgage threaten to send him back to his dreary cave.

Cartoons in America have, for the most part, been seen as the exclusive province of the young. The sassy, knowing works of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, the more cerebral characterizations of Chuck Jones, the stylish maturity of the UPA output or the subtle satire of Jay Ward and Bill Scott counter this perception for some, but most adults tend to link “cartoons” and “children” rather closely. The advent of original animated programming on television did little to dispel the notions that toons were for kids, since many of the early programs were directly aimed at children. Admittedly there were some early great efforts on the small screen but costs and deadlines defeated any attempt to replicate theatrical glory; animation slipped from a Golden Age to one far less gilded.

Jonny Quest attracted older audiences because of its action, but could it do the same today? © Cartoon Network.

The Hanna-Barbera output from 1959-65 is an example. The early episodes of Huckleberry Hound had a cult following among adults, Jonny Quest was the first great animated action/adventure series produced in America and The Flintstones was revolutionary for its time: a primetime animated series that succeeded. However, the novelty wore off and TV animation began a rapid march to Saturday mornings. Before long only children were left to hear pitches for toys, sugary cereals and chocolate beverages. The Hanna-Barbera cartoons degenerated into showcases for indiscriminate funny animals, and studios such as Filmation were not producing much better material either.

By 1966 much of the programming was derived from the exploits of superheroes, some established and some created just for cartoon shows. The association with comic books (at least at that time) further defined animation as a children's medium. This period represented the final designation of cartoons to the world of the very young, and those maturing into mid-adolescence and early adulthood began to leave cartoons behind.