In the years following World War II, American influence in the newly formed Federal Republic was strong, but German cultural institutions were hesitant to sanction one U.S. import: the comic book. A law banning comics was proposed, and some American comics were eventually burned by school officials worried about their effects on students' morals and ability to express themselves in complete sentences.

When the Ehapa publishing house was founded in 1951 to bring American comics to German kids, it was a risky endeavor. Ehapa's pilot project, a monthly comics magazine, bore the title "Micky Maus" to capitalize on that icon's popularity. From the beginning, though, most of the pages of "Micky Maus" were devoted to duck tales.

Control of literary content was a trade condition on Disney export to Germany. The untold story of the licensing arrangement explains why this human interest piece made the Weekend Edition cut at WSJ.

Speaking of Mickey, Maus, and counter-culture media industry: Another ironical departure from the iconographic farm, one of my favorites, is Mousketeer Annette Funicello's leading role in the Beach Party series --Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Pajama Party (1964), How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)-- quite the campy juxtoposition to Gidget, coming out of deep Cold War Kalifornia.

Frankie is such a perv, really.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.