Mr. Magoo goes to Venice?

I should explain that this would be Venice, Florida not Venice Italy.  Confused?  Well, we have to start somewhere.  How 'bout here:

Driving around on our Florida vacation we would repeatedly go over a bridge that was called "The Kentucky Military Institute Bridge".  Hmmm, I see I'm not doing much regards unconfusing things.

We went out for brunch one day in a little French bistro on the corner of this building.  The Historical plaque was fairly helpful.  I think it is worth quoting in full:

During Florida's Boom Period, 1922-1928, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) purchased 30,000 acres in Venice, believing it was a sound investment where "rail, trail, and water meet." They hired renowned city planner John Nolen to design Venice. Construction soared, but land sales soon slowed and eventually halted. The BLE pulled out in 1928, and as a result of the economic bust and the Great Depression, Venice became a veritable ghost town.

West Point graduate Robert T. P. Allen established the Kentucky Military Institute (KMI) near Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1845. In 1906, KMI established a Florida winter campus in Eau Gallie, near Melbourne, to improve the cadets' health and academic performance by reducing sick leave through Florida's available year-round recreation. In 1932, Colonel Charles B. Richmond selected Venice as its new winter campus as the previous one had burned. KMI initially rented and later bought the San Marco Hotel (today's Venice Centre Mall), the Hotel Venice (now a retirement center), and the Annex between the two to provide housing for the faculty and cadets, as well as classrooms, kitchen, dining hall, offices and infirmary.

On January 5, 1933, 1500 people welcomed the first KMI contingent of students, faculty, and staff. Venice soon benefitted from the infusion of funds spent by the newcomers and their visiting families and friends; one report stated, "The school breathed new life into the discouraged city." The colorful and inspiring Sunday dress parades, held on the parade grounds (today's Centennial Park and municipal parking lot), quickly became a favorite attraction for residents and tourists; for the cadets it was "testing time" as they were inspected and graded. The cadet band and the Kentucky Rifles, a precision drill platoon, also participated. The Sweetheart Parade, held close to Valentine's Day, honored five local young ladies, each sponsored by one of the five cadet corps. Athletic competitions, such as track meets, were held on the parade grounds, too. In 1970 the Venice campus closed, and KMI sold its Kentucky properties in 1973. Decreased enrollment, higher operating costs, and anti-war sentiments during the Vietnam War contributed to the school's closure. Venice, however, has never forgotten the cadets and their important role in the city's history.

That is a fair amount to unpack.  The history of KMI is long and as I see it, a bit mixed.  Most of their students did not seem to go on to military careers.  Although some did, on both sides of the Civil War.  Some were officers that history remembers well, others....not so much.

In general "Military School" seems to have been a place you'd send your rowdy, out of control kid to try and get them straightened out.  I was a young person at the very tail end of this era and the context of Military School was pretty well established.

Oh, and Mr. Magoo?  Or actually Jim Backus who brought him to life.  (As he also did with Thurston Howell III)!

Backus was a student at KMI for a brief period.  He later described it as "Alcatraz with tuition".  It's not clear whether he made it to the Florida campus in the winter months.  He and his pal, future co-star Victor Mature, seem to have been in trouble from the get go.  

Did the future Mr. Magoo really get expelled for riding a horse through the dining hall?  Was he there making non Magoo-goo eyes at the local beauties in the "Sweetheart Parade"?  

Sources are always slippery when dealing with show biz matters.  I have read that Backus spent his sophomore year of high school at KMI, which could put him in Florida circa 1931.  Alas for our narrative that does not put him in Venice.  KMI operated their winter campus at a variety of Florida locations starting in 1907.  Initially they had purchased the ghost town of Eau Gallie, but had to move from there after their campus burned down.  (And not for the first time btw!)  Jim Backus may have hit one of the brief time periods when a Florida campus did not exist, and had to content himself with misbehaving at the main campus in Lyndon, Kentucky.