THE PLOT TO KILL MICKEY MOUSE

There's a terrible thing starting to happen in a most unlikely place -- Disney's Magic Kingdom. Something almost unbelievable...!

Word out of Hollywood is that the Disney imagineers are thinking about giving Mickey "an edgier persona" for their forthcoming video games. Now look, I admit the law says they own Mickey; but lets remember, we need Mickey. All 300 million of us ever since the little fella was born on Walt's drawing board here in Chicago over 80 years ago.

Every society has its legends and icons. The happy little mouse -- who brightened our movie screens during the Depression and the War, and whose Mickey Mouse Club delighted children on television screens thereafter -- has always represented the stuff dreams are made of. You know, good cheer, good will, good intentions, and plenty of good laughs. Now, now, they want to make Mickey "edgier?" That's like giving Santa a scowl or grandma a hatchet!

Okay, so the world isn't a cartoon, and real people aren't very nice. But, you see, that was one of the very reasons we fell in love with Mickey. His movies, his theme parks, his thousand-and-one collectibles all help take the edge off reality.The very edge they now want to give him. Something's wrong with this plot!

We're told by neuro-biologists that our instincts and appetites are genetic expressions of our evolutionary history of survival. Maybe so. Or maybe it's just that everyone has a funny bone that needs to be tickled a little while we travel so many of life's darker roads. I say -- millions say -- don't mess with our Mickey.