Mr. Mean

'Drat! Drat and bother!'

— Mr. Mean

Mr. Mean
Book No.	19
Release Date	23 June 1976
Preceded by	Mr. Funny
Followed by	Mr. Chatterbox

Mr. Mean (Retitled Mr. Stingy in the USA) is the nineteenth book in the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves.

About him

• Colour: Blue in his book (Grey in the TV adaption of his story) also blue in the 1980's and 1990's television series
• Shape: Extended oval with visible ears in his story and the 1970's and 1980's television series, shorter and slightly more wider normal oval in the 1995 television series.
• Gender: Male
• Personality: Miseryguts, Gloomy, Discontented, Moody, Sullen, Dreadful, Fearful, Unhappy, Lonely, Cheap, Frugal
• Relatives: His brother who looks exactly like him even though his brother was never seen in the series.
• Rivals: (a rather fat) Wizard, Little Miss Naughty, the rest of the characters.
• Love: None
• Features: Yellow nose and visible ears
• Job: Being mean and never spends his money so he keeps it all in storage.
• Voice Actors: Arthur Lowe (1975-1978), Gordon Peters (Mr. Men and Little Miss), Len Carlson (US dub)

Story

Mr. Mean in the books

Mr. Mean lives up to his name. He lived in what could've been a nice house, but wasn't. It had no pictures, curtains, carpets nor fires. He made his furniture out of old orange boxes and complained about the price of nails. He has a tiny appetite so he only eats very small meals, usually only one meal a day which isn't much at all. He never spends a penny of his money so he keeps his money in a box in a cupboard in his kitchen. He is so mean he gives his brother a piece of coal for Christmas. One day an old rather fat and very wordy wizard pays Mr. Mean a visit and asks him for a glass of water (even though Mr. Mean doesn't have any glasses because they break easily and they can be expensive) to which Mr. Mean replies with a rude "No!" The wizard teaches him a valuable lesson that he is soon not to forget which he starts by magicking all his money in a wooden box into a box full of potatoes which upsets Mr. Mean so then the wizard turns all the potatoes back into money again. The wordy wizard starts disguising as people in need, an old washer woman with an enormous bundle of washing, an old woodchopper man who chops wood in his garden and a little blonde haired boy who owns a ball. Each time Mr. Mean rejects helping them by responding to all of their favours with a negative "No!", a spell is placed on a part of his body, such as his nose turning into a carrot and his ears turning into tomatoes. He gives help when he realizes his feet are about to fall under a spell. Then he becomes a generous person and spends his money on getting his house done up and looking as good as new and spic and span, and now he gives his brother two pieces of coal for Christmas.

International publications & translations

US Cover

This is a list of alternate titles for this book being published internationally.

• Mr Stingy (USA)
• Monsieur Avare (French)
• Don Tacanete (Spanish)
• Unser Herr Geizig (German)
• Ο Κύριος Τσιγκούνης (Greek)
• Meneer Gierig (Dutch)
• Hr. Gnier (Danish)
• Pan Liczykrupa (Polish)
• 구두쇠씨 (Korean)
• 吝嗇先生 (Taiwan)
• けちんぼくん (Japanese)
• מר קמצא (Hebrew)

Mr Mean also appears in the grown up business title Mr Mean's Guide to Management.

List of characters

This is a list of Mr. Men, Little Miss and other special characters that appear in this book:

• Fat Wizard
• Mr. Mean's brother (mentioned)

Title character in other appearances

Books

• Mr. Brave
• Mr. Perfect
• Little Miss Magic (He is only mentioned in the book where he moaned after Mr. Tickle tickled him and he only appears in the TV adaption of her story where he was shown moaning after Mr. Tickle tickled him and his nose was blue instead of yellow and his ears were missing)
• Little Miss Tidy

Cartoons

• Little Miss Naughty (He is only shown in the TV adaption of her story with Little Miss Shy's hair)
• Mr. Mean's Guide to Management
• Mr. Mischief is Caught at his Own Game (TV)
• A Big Surprise for Mr. Mean (TV)
• Mr. Mean hasn't a Penny Left (TV)
• Happy Xmas Mr. Worry (TV)
• No Food is No Fun For Mr. Greedy (TV)
• Little Miss Trouble and the Magic Paint (TV)
• Little Miss Tidy and the Winning Ticket (TV)
• Little Miss Star the Leading Witness (TV) (mentioned)
• Mr. Mischief Becomes an Artist (TV)
• Mr. Clever Flies His Kite (TV)
• Mr. Nonsense Rows to the Moon (TV)
• Little Miss Late Finally Catches Up (TV)
• Little Miss Star Goes to Jollywood (TV)
• The Christmas Letter (TV)

See also

• Roger Hargreaves
• Adam Hargreaves

Trivia

• Out of the Seven Deadly Sins, Mr. Mean represents greed.
• He is the first Mr. Men character to be shown with visible ears; he is one of the two characters with that trait, with the other being Mr. Clever.
• In Mr. Men and Little Miss, his shape's wider than how he looks in the books.
• In the 1997 American dub, he speaks with a gruff voice.
• In the same dub, despite his book being re-titled he is still called Mr. Mean.
• He was visited by a wizard twice (in his book and A Big Surprise for Mr. Mean.)
• Mr. Mean has made a cameo in Boats, he was rounder, his ears were missing, and his nose was pink instead of yellow.
• He was meaner than usual in The Christmas Letter. He asked for over a thousand pounds for directions to Santa Claus and made Little Miss Tiny clean his house for 6 months when she asked him for a glass of water the summer before, so Little Miss Tiny was stuck until Jack rescued her.
• Though it has been stated that Mr. Mean reformed by the end of the Mr. Mean story, later events have proved overwise. For example, in Mr. Perfect, Mr. Mean gives Mr. Perfect a lump of coal as a birthday present, much to Mr. Perfect’s delight. Mr. Mean is annoyed by this, and decides that next year, he should give Mr. Perfect half a lump.

Counterparts

See Counterparts Wiki.

Gallery

Mr. Mean as he appears on the back cover of earlier Mr. Men Books.

Never without a pretty penny

Screenshots

Mr. Mean's (possibly) cameo in The Mr. Men Show.

External links

• Official Mr. Men website

V · T · E	Mr. Men and Little Miss