Monday, January 13, 2014

Daws Butler and those Character Voices...

Voice Magician, Part 1

Voice Magician, Part 2

Voice Magician, Part 3

Voice Magician, Part 4

I decided not to embed the videos just in case at some future date they vanish from You Tube. Instead, each URL contains each separate installment of the 1987 documentary Daws Butler: Voice Magician. This is a special that I have been aware of for more than 15 years (or more). It originally aired in 1987 and has a running time of just under 1 hour. The one that uploaded it onto You Tube a couple of days ago broke it into 4 individual segments (each running a little more than 14 minutes each). Once you click Part 1 and you're taken to You Tube, from there you can click Parts 2 through 4 and see the entire documentary for yourselves. The guests are plenty...from voice acting side-kicks and co-stars to several legendary animation giants (Walter Lantz as well as Hanna and Barbera).

One of the thrills of the special is seeing Daws perform a lot of the cartoon characters on camera. In one scene he and Don Messick perform on camera as the voices of Yogi (Butler), Boo Boo (Messick), and Ranger Smith (Messick). Stan Freberg appears during several moments throughout the special and near the end of the documentary focus shifts to Daws' time working for Jay Ward in the Rocky and Bullwinkle series. The final minutes focus on Daws' voice acting class.

Some of the guests in the documentary are: Don Messick, Stan Freberg, June Foray, Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, and narration provided by William Conrad.

Daws Butler: 1916-1988