A 15-Year-Old Never Saw The 1936 Cartoon That Warned Against Train Surfing

TORONTO, CANADA (April 22, 2024). The Canadian Television Network (CTV) and other Canadian media reported on the latest nominee for the Darwin Award, a 15-year-old Toronto boy who, along with his friends (ages 14 and 16) thought it would be a good idea to climb up on top of the commuter train on which they were riding.

The boy's head was struck by an overhead signal (it was a double decker train) and he was thrown off the train. Literally. At the time of writing this, he is alive.

I thought it would be fun to combine of the reports from the corporate media with a 1936 Paramount short animated film, "Play Safe," which was produced to teach children the importance of railway safety. And I thought it would be even more fun to mock CTV for reporting this as if it was some kind of unavoidable happenstance.

The film is in the public domain now (I guess because Mickey Mouse isn't in it). It's widely available on YouTube. What you see here is a significantly-edited version. The entire cartoon is fun to watch, particularly the boy's dream sequence in which is is driving one of the locomotives, he loses control of it as it comes to life.

I like this cartoon because of the end where the dog, whom the boy was mean to, saves his life. In the end, the boy and the dog hug and kiss each other. The bus I drive often shows this cartoon (among others) in its video rotation.

Fun fact, the voice of the boy was provided by Mae Questel, who was also the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl.

A little snippet from the subway scene in Men In Black II (2002) as a bonus.

As for the real-life boy in this case, and his two pals, I'm sorry for him and his family that he's had to learn one of life's lessons the hard way. But, seriously, in what world does anyone thing riding on top of a train (outside of India or Mexico) is a good idea? Why should Canadian taxpayers have to foot the bill for his health care?

Here in Florida, his age notwithstanding, the boy would referred to as "A 15-year-old Florida man."

Full disclosure: I am a former GO Transit employee (bus driver from 2004 to 2017, when I moved to Florida).

During my time with GO, I had heard of things like this happening from time to time. However now, apparently, it's downright common.