At the Hodge Podge Lodge, a crotchety, near-sighted Mister Magoo takes a banjo-playing bear to be his nephew, Waldo.
A bloodhound has been given orders to track an escaped criminal. The bloodhound just happens to be pursuing that criminal who decides to hide from the mutt at Mr. Magoo's house.
An insurance salesman enters Magoo's house hoping to make a sale. Magoo refuses but the salesman is eventually able to sell Magoo some by posing as one of Magoo's old college chums.
The nearsighted Mr. Magoo turns crime buster and unknowingly puts Hot-House Harry, a most-wanted thief, into the arms of the law, but only after a series of misadventures, including lifting Magoo's house with Magoo inside.
Mr. Magoo is reading a "whodunnit" novel when his nephew, Waldo, comes in saying he has totalled Magoo's car and needs $100 to buy his uncle a new one. Magoo gives him some money but warns Waldo not to "go outside the law" while obtaining the rest. Magoo becomes suspicious and decides to track down Waldo for his own good donning a phoney beard disguise.
Looking for a tennis opponent at the swanky Outstretched Palms Hotel, Mr. Magoo mistakes a walrus for a fellow guest and takes him onto the court.
Golfing in the Ozarks, Mr. Magoo mistakes a bear for his nephew and caddy, Waldo, while the strangers are watched by a pair of suspicious mountain people armed with rifles.
Mr. Magoo heads to a used car lot hoping to buy Waldo a new car for his birthday promising Waldo, "I'll be back with a little surprise for you". The crooked car salesman notices how myopic Magoo is and takes advantage of it by over-pricing the car Magoo chooses. Magoo accepts but the car salesman gets his just desserts when he unwittingly goes for a harrowing test drive with Magoo taking him to an amusement park where Magoo leads the car to the top of roller coasters and ferris wheels among other things with a police officer in hot pursuit.
Mr. Magoo's dog is threatened by the dog catcher (who Magoo takes for a policeman). He's given until noon to license it. As he's preparing to leave, a circus goes by; he hitches a ride in a clown car (thinking it's a taxi) and, after a digress through the big top and into the gorilla cage (mayor's office), he ends up in the panther cage. He thinks the panther is his dog, and that he's been captured by the dog catcher, so he slips on the collar and takes it home. When Magoo gets home, the dogcatcher is waiting for him, but at the sight of the panther, he gives Magoo the license and traps the panther under a washtub. As the circus people cart it away, Magoo slips the license onto his tigerskin rug's head.
Mr. Magoo is hired by his neighbors to babysit their little son, Homer. Magoo is delighted to accept but, unfortunately, a notorious cat burglar is intent on entering and robbing the house Magoo is babysitting it. To make matters worse, Magoo is constantly confusing Homer with the family dog and vice versa. When the thief finally breaks in, all chaos breaks loose but everything turns out all right in the end when the thief is apprehended thanks to the dog who is more alert than Magoo was.
Magoo's at a Rutgers alumni dance and winds up squaring off with a pro wrestler at the arena across the alley, thinking he's dancing with the wife of an old friend.
The near-sighted, and obviously rich, Mr. MaGoo and his nephew, Waldo, set sail on their well-rigged boat to catch Mighty Moe, the elusive giant marlin. Walso falls overboard and Magoo rescues a seal by mistake. Thinking he is giving brandy to Waldo, Magoo serves the seal with cod-liver oil, making the seal very happy. MaGoon ties the cod-liver oil to the anchor, sinks it and promptly catches Mighty Moe. He then sails for port with his prize catch, leaving Waldo, at sea, hanging onto a buoy.
The near-sighted Mr. Magoo (voice of Jim Backus) decides it is time for him to renew his drivers' license. Trust to form, he heads for the motor vehicle bureau but winds up at a maternity hospital.
There is a sculpture contest with large prize money for the winner, and Mr. Magoo decides to become a sculptor and do some sculpturing. He borrows a friend's studio and goes to work on his creation. When a police-pursued jewel thief enter the studio, he convinces the near-sighted Magoo that he is a beautiful model, and Magoo, happy to have a beautiful woman as his model, sculpts away. The police finally arrive, and Magoo gets a reward for the thief's capture, and his sculpture wins the first-place prize money in the sculpture contest.
Mr. Magoo decides to sell his old house and plans to make an additional profit by selling off his furnishing as antiques. But, the near-sighted Mr. McGoo can think better than he can see, so he inflates the value to the tax-collector and lowers it to the antique dealer.
Mr. Magoo and his nephew Waldo are vacationing at a ski lodge in the Swiss Alps. Magoo is intent on braving the slopes while Waldo tries to flirt with a pretty girl he meets up with. Unfortunately, Magoo takes the wrong turn while climbing the mountain pass and instead of going to the ski summits, he instead climbs to the top of the steep Matternot. A professor sees Magoo and, sensing danger, sends a St. Bernard up to rescue him. Magoo mistakes the St. Bernard for Waldo and takes the dog with him when he starts skiing eventually causing an avalanche.
It's springtime and love is in the air particularly for Mr. Magoo. Magoo is disappointed to learn his nephew, Waldo, had a fight with his girlfriend, Juliette. Magoo plans to have Waldo and Juliette reunited but instead of going to Juliette's apartment, he goes instead to a boxing ring where a boxing female kangaroo is sparring. Magoo mistakes the kangaroo for Juliette and invites her home to meet Waldo. Unfortunately, the kangaroo is trained to throw punches every time she hears a bell and Waldo is usually at the receiving end of the blows.
Mr. Magoo accidentally crashes his old college roommate's rocket ship at a Coney Island amusement park (Luna Park) and thinks he's landed on the surface of the moon.
Mr. Magoo sets off to go to the movies but goes to an airport by mistake and gets on a plane thinking it to be a theater. Little does Magoo know the man he is sitting next to is actually a thief and when a detective appears on the plane to track the thief down, Magoo thinks it's all part of the movie. After doing some wing walking, Magoo reenters the plane and exposes the thief to the detective. When the plane lands, Magoo remarks that they should have shown a cartoon particularly one with that "delightful near sighted fellow".
When his neighbor suggests he get his glasses checked, Mr. Magoo goes in for a full-body check-up -- at a TV repair shop.
Foreign-flavored intrigue abounds when Mr. Magoo is mistaken for a fellow spy aboard a European train.
Expecting a visit from his practical joker friend Smiley, Mr. Magoo instead entertains an escaped mental patient.
Magoo has been enlisted as the male lead in Mrs. Sticknee's vanity production opera. On his way to the stage, he winds up in the rafters and causes havoc, cutting the various lines, standing in front of a spotlight, falling down stairs and trying to enter through a trap door the diva is standing on, and eventually crashing into a control board, triggering a snowstorm.
Mr. Magoo misreads a newspaper flyer thinking it is a letter from his power company saying they are shutting off his power. Outraged, Magoo heads for the power company intent on giving them a piece of his mind. However, instead of going to the power company, he goes to a newspaper printing officer by mistake getting tangled up in the machinery all the while thinking he is being given "the bum's rush". He returns to his house with the power back on thinking he has won. But the next day, he doesn't like the paper's editorial and heads to the newspaper office wanting to give them a piece of his mind!
The nearsighted Mr. McGoo goes shopping for a dog as a pet, and enters the pet store just as it is being robbed by a crook wearing a fur coat. McGoo puts a leash on him and heads for home as the crook thinks this will afford him a safe escape. But a policeman puts the collar on the thief and takes him to jail. McGoo, still wanting a dog, goes shopping for a replacement but ends up in a record store. He exits dragging a s statue of a dog, the 'His Master's Voice' trademark of a record company
Mr. Magoo is depressed over the constant rainy weather. Well, actually, it isn't raining; he's just left the sprinkler running. Fed up, he plans to venture to California in search of sunny weather. Even though he never actually leaves town, the trip is a long one with Magoo driving through city parks and water fountains. Finally believing himself to be on the home stretch when going through a car wash, he is convinced he has finally made it to California when he crashes into a billboard advertisement for Florida.
When Rodney, a friend of the nearsighted Mr. Magoo, goes to the hospital, Mr. Magoo decides to visit him and to take along some of his cure-all, homemade elixir. But he makes a wrong turn and ends up on a docked-ship visiting a stranger wearing a turban, thanking he is Rodney, and gives him some of the elixir. He returns home and gets a telephone call from Rodney who is waiting for his visit. He thinks Rodney is delirious and ventures forth for another visit carrying a giant-size bottle of his elixir.
Mr. Magoo, intent on going to the beach, winds up in the desert instead. Thinking himself to be at the beach, he tries fishing (he hooks a turtle which he mistakes for a crab) and swimming. Meanwhile, a desert wanderer and his horse are lost beyond hope when suddenly they lay eyes on Magoo's set up. Thinking the whole thing to be a mirage, they decide to make the best of it by devouring Magoo's picnic lunch and refreshments despite Magoo's protests. After the hearty meal, the man wants to thank Magoo before he "fades away" by giving him the only gold nugget he found while trekking the desert. Magoo thinks the gold is a sea-shell and plans to give it to Waldo to add to his collection!
At a used car lot, Mr. Magoo is intent on buying a car for his nephew Waldo. He is slick talked into buying an old clunker thanks to a shifty salesman but he drives it off anyway. Unfortunately, the myopic Magoo drives off a pier and under the ocean where he mistakes the various aquatic surroundings such as fish, sunken boats, and seals for other cars, dilapidated mansions, and a horn happy driver respectively.
The near-sighted one decides to take a hunting-and-fishing trip, and hires an Indian guide. He quickly grows impatient with the guide and takes over leading the way. He winds up in a big city and in a park lake, trail-blazing his way over park benches, statutes and through the zoo, releasing a lion along the way.
The near-sighted Mr. Magoo returns from a trip and mistakes a ramshackle shack, near his home, for his palatial home. There, he finds evidence of all manner of crimes, ranging from murder down to counterfeiting, and jumps to the conclusion that his nephew Waldo is responsible. He gets Waldo and runs away seeking a hideout until he can straighten things out. Following Magoo's fugitive-directions, they wind up in the city jail.
Mr. Magoo brings in his mail opening up a flyer for a store's "83rd Anniversary Sale". Magoo thinks that the flyer is a letter from his mother about her "83rd birthday" and begins to worry that maybe he hasn't spent enough time with his mother lately. He goes to pay his mother a visit to make up for lost time but upon arriving, Mother Magoo doesn't quite appreciate Magoo's attempts at being helpful such as baking a feather duster thinking it to be a turkey dinner. So she uses psychology to eventually persuade him to go back home (at least until next year).
Mr. Magoo and Waldo are on a cruise aboard an ocean liner when the near-sighted MaGoo accidentally falls into the ship's swimming pool and thinks he has fallen overboard. When he tries to rescue one of the swimmers, the ship's captain jumps in and rescues Magoo. The grateful---and talkative---MaGoo informs the ship's captain that he will inform the ship's captain of his good deed and, when last seen, MaGoo is heading in the direction of the swimming pool.
The near-sighted Mr. Magoo, further lost than usual, mistakes a bullring in Mexico for a highway in the United States, and his myopic wanderings through the arena cause much havoc, and draws very few cheers, especially from the bull.
The nearsighted Mr. Magoo sets out for a round of golf but catches the prison paddy wagon instead of the city bus and winds up in prison breaking rocks. He complains to the warden, who he mistakes for the grounds keeper, about the conditions of the golf course, and the warden boots him out.
It's the Fourth of July and Mr. Magoo is ready to kick it off safely and sanely forbidding Waldo to set off any firecrackers. Instead, he opts to celebrate by planting flowers in his garden. Unfortunately, he goes to a fireworks stand instead of a flower stand and purchases some fireworks thinking them to be flowers. He even plants them in his garden, no less! Of course, they are eventually set off with a series of explosions, Waldo panicking the whole time. After the fiasco, Magoo decides to soothe Waldo's panic by letting him set off one firecracker after which Waldo is sent to a jail by a policeman who accuses him of starting the fireworks catastrophe.
The near-sighted Mr. Magoo, on his way to make a bank deposit, boards a race-track bound bus instead. Mistaking the betting windows for tellerwindows, he keeps making and winning bets on long shots. The track finally tosses him out with his bag of winnings, which Magoo thinks was the result of compound interest growth.
The near-sighted Mr. Magoo somehow or another is a nugget-happy prospector out west. In addition to mistaking a gold rock for a rain cloud, he meets an old prospect and accuses him of claim-jumping. Together, they actually discover gold.
Mr. Maggo tries to hunt a moose.
Mr. Magoo and Waldo are on a cruise aboard an ocean liner when the near-sighted MaGoo accidentally falls into the ship's swimming pool and thinks he has fallen overboard. When he tries to rescue one of the swimmers, the ship's captain jumps in and rescues Magoo. The grateful---and talkative---MaGoo informs the ship's captain that he will inform the ship's captain of his good deed and, when last seen, MaGoo is heading in the direction of the swimming pool.
In a flashback Mr. Magoo thinks back in time to the Gay 90's when he was a young man, and just as myopic then as in the 1950s. He makes a bet with a friend that he can get a date with a star of the Broadway stage. It isn't long before Stage-Door Johnny Magoo winds up on stage in the play during a dinner scene, and performs rather well considering he was hearing the dialogue for the first time. Later, he is firmly convinced he had taken the Police Gazette beauty to dinner. No, her name wasn't Andre.
Out in the mountains, Magoo mistakes three bear cubs for the three boy scouts he's taking on an overnight hike.
Mr. Magoo opens his newspaper and when he comes across an ad for bowling, he mistakes it for an alcohol ad using a picture of himself to endorse it. Furious, he heads to the newspaper office intent on suing them for libel. Along the way, he stops to purchase a mechanical wind up toy which he puts inside a box. When he arrives at the newspaper office, the employees there get the wrong idea when they notice the ticking box and flee Magoo taking time to call the bomb squad.
Magoo's car breaks down on an airport runway, as a plane comes in for an emergency landing.
Intending to visit his friend at the yacht club, Magoo winds up at the wrong dock, where he is mistaken for a foreign spy and brought aboard an enemy submarine.
A female con artist pretends to be an old flame of Magoo's to get at his wealth, and Magoo takes her on a date to a construction site, which he mistakes for Coney Island.
Magoo obliviously foils a criminal's robbery attempts while running his errands around town.
Mr. Magoo and his nephew, Waldo, are on safari in Africa with Magoo up to his usual near sighted tricks mistaking alligators for stepping stones and telling jokes to a pack of laughing hyenas. Later, when a lion gets a thorn in its paw, Magoo pulls it from the lion thinking him to be Waldo. This earns him the lion's companionship. But, unfortunately for Waldo, as Magoo mistook a lion for Waldo, he also mistakes Waldo for a lion shooting at him, treeing him, and finally capturing him in a bamboo cage to take him back to America with him.
Mr. Magoo thinks he is going to his college homecoming, but winds up in a zoo with a jewel thief as his buddy. He thinks all the animals are his old class-mates, gets a hold of the stolen jewels and drapes them around a bear's neck. The bear give the jewel thief a big, bear-hug, and the near-sighted Magoo ends up as a hero.
Magoo's nephew, Waldo, is watching Tarzan on TV. Magoo thinks Waldo is watching a talent show and, convinced he can do better than the other contestants, volunteers to go on the show with his softshoe routine. However, instead of going to the TV studio, Magoo instead goes into a dentist's office. When it's his turn, Magoo breaks into a softshoe and the dentist realizes Magoo must be mistaken and leads him out the back door where various passersby are impressed with Magoo's act throwing him money. Magoo returns home with the money convinced he won first place on the show!
Near-sighted Mr. Magoo is on his way to his lodger-convention and latches onto a robber, whom he thinks is his room-mate. He winds up in the den of the thief thinking he is in his convention hotel room. He proceeds to toss around in fun dynamite, hand-grenades and bombs until the crook is knocked out and captured by the police. Magoo becomes a hero.
Mr. Magoo is watching a TV program named "Home Roam" which examines the homes of various families and subsequently learns that he and Waldo have been scheduled to air on tonight's broadcast. Magoo proceeds to show the cameramen the various rooms and exhibits of his house. Unfortunately, his publicity is threatened by a burglar and his trained gorilla who break into Magoo's house and attempt to rob it. Of course, Magoo doesn't notice the gorilla (he even mistakes it for Waldo) and reassures the cameramen that Waldo will be all right even if he does have "the manners of a gorilla".
Mr. Magoo's ancestor, Abdul Aziz Magoo, is the uncle of Aladdin, and falls in love with a princess.
Jim Backus (the voice of Mister Magoo) narrates a look behind the scenes at UPA Pictures during the development of the feature-length animated film "1001 Arabian Nights".
A documentary featuring historians such as Gerry Beck and Darrel Van Citters discussing Mr. Magoo
Leonard Maltin discusses Mr. Magoo
