I want to talk briefly about the absurd crush I have on Roger Radcliffe from Disney's 1961 version of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. He has many fine qualities, but I think the potent combination of being British, wearing sweater vests, having an all-consuming endearing obsession (music), and having a prominent nose is just the concoction that does me in. Supporting factors are his gangly 60s animated styling and the fact that he scowls in consternation more than once (these last bits are not exclusive to Roger in the pantheon of male Disney characters from the 1960s and 70s, but I think they are displayed most appealingly here). Also, pipe.
Maybe this is an unavoidable sequela from having been spoon-fed so many Disney movies as a child (like any true scion of America), although I can't explain why I would have gravitated so strongly towards the ones set in England. To elaborate: I have far less lasting fondness for Prince Eric, Aladdin, or Belle's Beast, despite owning all three films on VHS from an early age, and thus having watched them upwards of 10 times each, to give a conservative estimate. Those films served more to inculcate Disney's Template of Feminine Wiles in me than anything else - though it's fair to point out that the main protagonist in at least The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast is the female character, so it only follows. Still, I feel nothing for Aladdin, compared with a wistful starry-eyed softness for Robin of Robin Hood (1973), who is not even a human being, and a similar feeling for Arthur/"Wart" from The Sword in the Stone (1963).
I don't really have a point to wrap this up, I'm just saying... Roger has some nice shoes (and socks), and a pipe. And floppy hair.
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