Molly Elizabeth Cunningham

By Gidget
Many thanks to JB, who contributed a lot of essential examples of what makes Molly tick.  

Nicknames

Sweetie, Baby, Pumpkin (Rebecca)
Pigtails, Muffin, Cupcake (Baloo)
Kid(do), Pigtails (Kit)
Mollycat (Wildcat)
She also answers to 'Dangerwoman'.

Species: Bear (female)

Age:  5 or 6 years old

Appearance:  Nauseatingly adorable --- an ursine Shirley Temple

Eyes:  Brown, I think (although they're an improbable blue in the Jolly Molly Christmas title card)

Hair:  Yellow, all over --- blue ribbons tied around her ears like 'pigtails'
 
Body Type:  Short, average build
 

Clothing:  Pink blouse and blue jumper with the lacy edges of her panties protruding from the hem. Occasionally a red towel cape and a colander hat ;)

Personality:
Lively
A small furball of energy, Molly runs everyone around her ragged with her enthusiasm and curiosity.  If you looked up 'irrepressible' in the dictionary, you'd see her picture. 
Cody:  Also if you looked up diabetes, sugar, annoying…
Gidget:  Ahem.  She resents being ignored by adults and doesn't seem to have anyone her own age to play with.  Wildcat is the closest thing she's got for a playmate most of the time. 

Imaginative
An only child, Molly has to entertain herself most of the time.  She likes games of make-believe and dresses up as her radio-heroine Dangerwoman (which consists of a colander for a helmet and a spatula for a weapon (she brandishes it like a sword).  She has a sweet tooth and loves Frosty Pep ice cream (and Louie's sundaes!)

Sweet
Molly can be sensitive and thoughtful.  In Jolly Molly Christmas, after hearing her mother wish to see snow (it doesn't snow in Cape Suzette), she doesn't ask for anything for herself from Santa (Louie in disguise), but snow for her mother. In Save The Tiger, she generously donates her savings for Baloo's ransom money.  She can also be irritating, as in Flight of the Snow Duck, when she keeps telling Baloo (who's busy trying to dig a tunnel with a plank) that the Snow Duck is coming.  Distracted by her childish chatter, he accidentally hits his head and yells at her.  Understandably her feelings are hurt and she runs out crying.  
Cody:  I woulda yelled at her, too.  Then, I would have strangled her and used her frozen corpse as a shovel. J
Gidget:  Ah, so you believe in recycling.  Seriously, I was mad at Baloo for sending Wildcat out to ‘tell her I didn’t mean it’ instead of doing it himself.  Baloo can be harsh.  I mean, he destroys all her illusions (the Snow Duck, the Peppermint Fairy, Santa Claus…)

Intelligent
Another thing --- Molly is very smart for her age.   In Flight of the Snow Duck, she helps Wildcat read difficult words.  When trapped in a Thembrian prison, she also designs the Snow Duck --- a small plane constructed entirely of ice --- the instrument of their escape.  Baloo learns to keep an open mind and his respect for her grows ("You're a genius, Molly!"  "I know."), cementing their father-daughter bond that took seed in Plunder and Lightning.

Conniving
Molly can think on her feet and outsmart most adults.  Despite the fact that her presence is usually unwelcome when Baloo and Kit are on a mission, she sometimes saves their butts.  The first time is in Plunder and Lightning, when she sneaks aboard the Sea Duck and blackmails Baloo into letting her come along.  ("I'm sure Mommy wouldn't like me going to Louie's anyway!" and turns away from him with an evil look on her face).

Brave
Understandably, she hates being left behind when the others get to have all the fun and adventure.  She has an intense curiosity about everything and a sense of adventure that nearly kills whoever is in her proximity.  She saves an endangered species (splashing Henry with McNee's canteen, making him grow and able to sit on top of the nasty poacher.  She can be reckless (in tug-of-war with squid over Frosty Pep) and climbing over the balcony to play 'High Diver Queen' in It Came From Beneath the Sea Duck. 

As cute as she is, Molly does have a dark side.  Lively, sharp and cunning, Molly isn't above using her outward cuteness (or blackmail) to get what she wants, which is usually tagging along with Baloo and Kit on adventures.   Her primary victim was definitely Covington, the con artist who woos Rebecca in order to get close to Molly and a doll (actually the key to the Largest Ruby in the World). She despises phonies and can spot them a mile away --- something her mother sadly lacks.  If she doesn't like you, watch out.


Acts of Darkness

Plunder and Lightning
-blackmails Baloo into letting her go to Louie's with him and Kit, nearly getting him fired.  But, to be fair, she also saves Baloo's job in P&L by coming clean about sneaking aboard and credits him for saving her from the Air Pirates (although he was saving himself and Kit too, not just her).
-refuses to share a huge sundae with Lucy ("Sorry, Lucy.  But there's not enough for the both of us.")

Flight of the Snow Duck
-makes a mess of Rebecca's papers on her desk.
-pesters Wildcat into letting her go to Thembria ("I want to see snow!  I want to see snow!").  Granted, Wildcat needs to learn to say no --- but she would have snuck aboard somehow.  She takes advantage of his naiveté and it doesn't occur to her that she could get him fired.
Cody:  Or killed. ;)

The Incredible Shrinking Molly
-when she went to the balcony ("I couldn't see over the chairs."), she caused Rebecca to miss part of the movie, not to mention making shadow-puppets on the screen as she fought alongside the monster.  "Take that!  And that!") Imagine having to sit near this brat and getting distracted by her shenanigans!
-I'm surprised Dr. Zibaldo doesn't sue H4H for breaking and entering and destroying his property!

Mollycoddled
She really torments Covington in this episode:
-kicks him in the shins
-ties his shoelaces together
-puts a fork in his chair
-trips him with an umbrella handle
-when he chases her, he slams into a clothesline pole
-slides down a clothesline using umbrella --- he gets rope burns when he follows her

Mommy for a Day
-makes a mess out of her mother's make-up table
Rebecca (horrified):  "Molly!  What are you doing?"
Molly (painted like a clown):  "Getting bee-you-tiful!  Now can we go?"
Turns out that her mother had totally forgotten that she'd promised to take Molly to the zoo that day.   When Rebecca suggests that Molly come to work with her, the kid is so thrilled that she shrieks, "Ya-hoo!" and grabs her mother in hug, knocking her down.
loses Wildcat's wrench (picks it up, trying to 'help', but it's so heavy that she loses her balance and nearly falls off the wharf.  Wildcat manages to catch her, but the wrench is lost forever in Davy's Locker.
-nearly causes H4H to lose a customer (McNee)
-brings Henry the squishy monster home and proceeds to raid the refrigerator, making several trips with her wagon.
-gives Henry a bath, making him grow and smash through the wall. 

Voice:  Jana Michaels
 

Comments by Others

Baloo:  "You're a genius, Molly!"
Molly:  "And cute to boot!"
-Flight of the Snow Duck

"Don't six-year-olds ever get tired?"
(Covington, Mollycoddled)

"Get that brat out of here!"
(McNee, Mommy for a Day )


Best Episodes

Flight of the Snow Duck
From Here to Machinery
Jolly Molly Christmas
Mollycoddled (Cody:  Sadly enough, the only one I like that she’s in…well, this and P&L)
Mommy for a Day
Plunder and Lightning

Worst Episode

The Incredible Shrinking Molly
None of this mess would have happened if she hadn't snuck inside a stranger's home! 
Cody as Molly:  Everyone’s ignoring me?  Fine!  I’ll just go take over the world!  Then I’ll get some attention! ;)


Best Lines

Rebecca and Molly discuss Covington, whom Molly despises: 
"But Cara and Millie think he's creepy."
"They want me to be happy, don't they?"
"Okay... they'll try real hard to like him..." (after Rebecca leaves Molly's bedroom) "But I won't...Creepy's not getting you or my mommy!"
(Mollycoddled)

"I know!  Let's play High Diver Queen!" 
(Molly starts to climb over the balcony in It Came From Beneath the Sea Duck)
Cody as Kit:  Knock yourself out, kiddo.  You want me to come down with a spatula in a little while and peel you off the pavement?

"Wow... that looks like it would have hurt!"
(Molly, blithely unaware that Kit had taken her lumps in It Came From Beneath the Sea Duck)

"Kit... could you bang your head on the chairs again?"
"Uh... no."
(Molly wants an encore in It Came From Beneath the Sea Duck)

"Look!  Birdies!"   
(Molly, pointing up at air pirates preparing to attack in Plunder and Lightning)
Cody:  Then she flipped ‘em the bird.  Molly:  This is what Mommy does when men drop her off early.

Comments

Gidget:  I'm not crazy about Molly, as I think child characters generally get in the way. Like Rebecca, I want romance and adventure.  The B&B thing would happen so much faster without Molly's presence, IMO.   I don't consider her integral to the show, but her presence does soften Rebecca so that she isn't just a screaming harpy.  
 
Cody:  Agree.  The only episode I’d really watch is one where they’d kill her off.   Shoot, if they’d do that, I’d bust out the margaritas and have a party! ;)
Gidget:  Don’t forget to recycle afterward.  ;)

JB:  Since Molly was rarely written for in the TS series (a relief for some), no one can deny that she does have a place in the cast. If allowed to continue, her role would have been better expanded and offer a sense of maturity to develop elsewhere.  TaleSpin wouldn’t be the show we love if Molly didn't exist to keep Rebecca focused -- and busy -- and to make the cast more family-like.

Gidget:   I could live without the family thing, but many people like it.  Love her or hate her, Molly does have a place in the Spinner fandom.   Besides the family element, without her, Rebecca would just be the token female on the show.  Wait a minute… both Rebecca and Molly are tokens, come to think of it.   Why not have at least two more gals to even out the cast?  Without Higher for Hire, TaleSpin would be a ‘boys only’ club, except when a love interest is needed (like the old Warner Bros cartoons).  


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