A weekly program focusing on the arts and entertainment

Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky pays tribute to Alexander Anderson, creator of such favorite characters as Dudley Do Right. The most inept Mountie of them all.

Working together with Jay Ward, Anderson who died earlier this month, brought us such other memorable cartoon stars as Rocky, Bullwinkle and Rags the Tiger.

In the process, Sokolsky says, they also proved that there could be more to cartoons than -- well, just cartoons.

In fact, he adds, long before words like "animation" and "3-D" became part of the film language, there were cartoon characters whose antics paved the way for later innovations. Like spinoff series that took supporting characters and made them stars, often times brighter than the shows that originated them.

For example, not many film fans can recall the old "Thimble Theater?" Yet, who will forget Popeye the sailor man who won over millions of audience members. And in the process, did pretty well for the spinach industry too.