McMURAL

The McDonald's of my childhood is nearly thirty years old and each time I return I'm glad to see that their custom wall mural is still intact, even though today it serves as a graveyard for bygone McDonaldland mascots. After intending to for years, I finally brought in my camera and captured it for the ages. Exactly one week after doing this I learned that a new location is on the horizon and this building is about to be demolished, or as the Hamburglar would say: ruble ruble. (Yes, I know he really says robble, but wasn't that a good one?)

I'm betting the mural will go down with the 1980s-style country crafts decor. So as long as Blogger, the internet, and civilization as we know it remains, the painting will be available right here...

(click to enlarge)

The artwork is probably twenty feet long and was commissioned when the restaurant was built. The artist, Cecil Savage, was widely considered "the" town artist. He taught many of my little friends the proper way to paint trees and how to make flying birds out of letter M's. What makes the piece unique is that the cast of characters are frolicking in a local park.


I like that modern children are left to ponder why a man of science is pointing to a pirate standing in a fountain, seemingly directing attention away from the crime taking place in the background. Meanwhile all the government employees have hamburgers for heads.


I've never understood the high turnover rate among McDonaldland residents until I read the Wikipedia page. I knew they were heavily "inspired" by H.R. Pufnstuf but I didn't know McDonald's was successfully sued for ripping off Sid and Marty Krofft.


Stolen or not, this senseless cast of characters was certainly enough to captivate me as a kid. I was thrilled to find their likenesses on an eraser or a McWrist wallet. Remember McWrist wallets?


Yeah, I thought so.