Index To Molly's Suite Main Molly, the Innocent Youth in Person Fanfics Fanpics Anthropology and TaleSpin Links Some Poems Guest Book Molly's Admirer

What can be said about Molly Elizabeth Cunningham? Afterall she isn't 10 years old yet. How old she's depends on the year in which an episode takes place. Just take a look at "A Fair To Remember", a fanfic written by Gidget (You can read it at the Baloolagoon). That fanfic takes place in 1938 and Molly is seven years old. So, via a simple calculation one can determine her date of birth in 1930 or 1931, depending on the fact if she has already had her birthday before april 1938 or not. To be honest, I don't care if people say she's five, six or seven years old. The main issue is she's the personification of innocent youth in TaleSpin. Since she was two years old she has to grow up without a father, maybe not an easy thing to do. As a single mother Rebecca has to work a lot and Molly feels like she doesn't get enough attention all the time. Rebecca knows she has to take care of her daughter too beside her work. Of course she wants to, I wouldn't dare to say Rebecca's a bad mother, say it and I'll shoot you... But it's difficult to combine a fulltime job and children. Luckily Rebecca isn't alone to keep an eye on Molly. Baloo, Kit or WildCat are always nearby. These three friends are her playmates if she wants to. Molly does a lot of "Tailgunner" with Kit and if he has to baby-sit her, he knows the furniture can give him a headache. Because Molly and Kit are close in a kind of way they are often mistaken as sister and brother. Like every child full of energy Molly wants to play all day long, but of course there're also times Molly has to play alone, because the others have to work, something that could be hard to understand for her. But when she has to play alone, it's with her favorite doll Lucy or she flies into her fantasy dressed up like Danger Woman to combat the villains everywhere in Cape Suzette. Don't think of Molly only as a cute seven-year-old girl. She's cute and Rebecca taught her to be polite to everybody. Somehow though with her own intelligence and perception Molly knows to reveal the villains amid the strangers she meets. As a little girl it's difficult to fight those villains but a lot of times she knows to surprise bad guys, like Covington, with a blow to the shines. That'll teach them!!!! Being little has advantages. It's not just her own perception that tells Molly somebody is no good. With her height about 3' she can hide very well. Without any purpose she's able to spy on the villains and their bad plans. Still Rebecca doesn't want to believe Molly every time, she has to keep her customers satisfied even if Molly doesn't like them or maybe worse: Rebecca could be blinded in some way by romance. Molly is not a burden to everybody all the time. The others respect her in the same kind of way she respects them, although Molly doesn't get as much attention all the time as she would have. As being her mother, Rebecca has to reprimand her from time to time, but in general Rebecca, Kit, Baloo and WildCat don't treat her as a little girl. Baloo is a charming 'fatherly' adult and WildCat enjoys it to explain Molly a lot of mechanical stuff, now and then surprised by her intelligence. Finally there's Kit who treats Molly as a friend of his own age. This contact 'at equal level' is a promise for a lot of good humoristic scenes and an indestructible friendship like the Tailgunner and as in "Mommy For A Day" after a rough landing: "Some cloudsurfer you are." "Well excuse me for saving you Pig-Tails." Molly knows how to put the world to her hand, she's able to persuade people to do things like she wants it to be done. But to be honest, who can be insensible to such a cuteness and deep brown eyes...? Of course, these facts are all well known. I wouldn't say Molly is responsible for the majority of the action in TaleSpin but she does have her own part in it, sometimes caused by some fumbling of her. Just think of episodes like "Flight Of The Snow Duck" and she was the determining factor in "Her Chance To Dream." What I like even more about Molly is that she is not "just the little girl". Often, girls and women are in movies and cartoons just sidekicks or those who need to be rescued by a (masculine) hero. It is rare that a girl rescues a boy from danger. Molly is on her way to break through this gendered pattern of roles. She is not the passive girl that needs to be rescued. No, with her keen perception and her intelligence she keep Kit and especially Baloo out of troubles (with Rebecca...). As you would probably know already Molly is kind of my favorite character. She appeals to me like the "little" sister I never had to romp with. Somewhere in 2000, when the spring merged into summer, there was a discussion about Molly at the Comment Board and some people asked themselves why Molly was in TaleSpin anyway. Mainly she was nothing but an annoyance to her mother. That was the sign for me to climb the barricades: "Don't blaim Molly For Being There!" TaleSpin without Molly is a nightmare to me. But it seemed to me that (a few?) Spinners didn't like Molly's appearance, like she's an annoyance to her mother and the reason why Rebecca didn't find a suitable husband again. To these people I want to say: Imagine TaleSpin without Molly. She wouldn't mess things up at Higher For Hire so business would go smoothly. Baloo and Kit would have all the time of their lives to deliver orders, Kit had to find another friend for life beside Baloo, and Baloo wouldn't have to appeal to that bit of responsibility he has in regard of Molly. Most important is that, partly because of Molly, we see Rebecca not only as a tough hard working single business-woman. She has a daughter, so we see also a really social side of Rebecca. How would this side otherwise been shown, adopting Kit? There would be a person less to warn her for evil plans of men that act so romantic. Sure Molly can be a real nuisance but that's where you're child for, don't tell me you never was a nuisance at all!! It's difficult to explain why Molly is important for TaleSpin in her own way. I think you'll only know it when she isn't there. As little as she is, Molly can become snowed under among the others. Despite this, she's still standing strong in her own way. And Molly, that's why I love you. Don't change no matter other people say about you being an annoyance, let your lust for life shine through.