June Foray: 1917-2017

A couple of days ago the news broke that June Foray had died at the age of 99. Since the news broke there have been hundreds of on-line tributes to her career in the voice-over field. I gave her a nickname that probably others have given to her as well, Voice Acting Goddess, and she's totally and completely deserving of the title. Is she the first lady of voice acting? Some may argue that she is...certainly she's the most famous and had the longest lasting career of her contemporaries Mae Questel and Janet Waldo...but some may bestow such a lofty title on Mae given that her career as the voice of Betty Boop dates back to the early '30s and it wasn't until the early '50s that June began to make a powerful mark in animation voice overs....hitting her stride in the mid '50s and beyond with a host of vocal performances in theatrically released cartoons. A lot of her earlier voice work happened to be for Disney and MGM. She had a lengthy career on radio that shouldn't be over-looked. A series she wrote, created, and hosted titled Lady Make Believe aired for a couple of years (1937-1939). The big break in radio came later in 1944 when she was chosen to be among the ensemble cast of a comedy program hosted by Ed McConnell. Smilin' Ed's Gang happened to be the show's title but many on-line sources cite the program under the title of The Buster Brown Program (the sponsor happened to be a shoe company named Buster Brown). Concurrently, 1947-1949, June appeared in a lot of comedy routines on a series titled Smile Time, hosted by future television comedy pioneer Steve Allen. June continued to pop up on various radio programs (comedy and drama) throughout the '50s...and this included the famed 1957 series, The Stan Freberg Show. By this point in time June had established herself as a top voice artist in animated cartoons. She had racked up a number of credits for Disney and MGM.

Some of her famed roles for those studios included Lucifer the Cat in 1950's Cinderella and several characters in Goofy and Donald Duck cartoons...and in one of those Donald Duck cartoons, 1952's "Trick or Treat", she portrayed a character named Witch Hazel (not to be confused with another character by that name...more on that, later...); she gave voice to a couple of characters named Mary in the MGM cartoons "One Cab's Family" (1952) and "Little Johnny Jet" (1953), both directed by Tex Avery. In 1955 she gave voice to the Warner Brothers character, Granny, for the first time. She replaced original voice artist, Bea Benaderet. The cartoon in which June makes her Granny debut is 1955's "Red Riding Hoodwinked" (directed by Friz Freleng; starring Sylvester and Tweety). Her next vocal appearance as Granny arrived later that same year in Friz Freleng's "This Is a Life?". In this cartoon Granny played the part of an audience member becoming increasingly disgusted/irritated with Daffy's obnoxious comments and opinions about Bugs Bunny and in a recurring visual gag she hits Daffy on the head with her umbrella several times to get him to be quiet. In the cartoon Bugs is being given the star treatment in a spoof of This Is Your Life. The following year, 1956, Warner Brothers released the Chuck Jones directed cartoon, "Broom-Stick Bunny". In this cartoon June takes over the role of Witch Hazel. The character had previously appeared in Chuck's "Bewitched Bunny" (1954) voiced by Bea Benaderet. June originally turned down the role of the Chuck Jones character of Witch Hazel because she felt he stole it from Disney. She'd voice the Chuck Jones character in three cartoons: "Broom-Stick Bunny" (1956), "A Witch's Tangled Hare" (1959); and "A-Haunting We Will Go" (1966) although the final appearance happened to be in a cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. June would next voice Witch Hazel in an episode of the Duck Dodgers series in 2003.

The same year that she took over the role of Witch Hazel (1956) she originated the roles of Knothead and Splinter in the Woody Woodpecker series. This series was released through Universal Studios, directed by Paul J. Smith, and produced by Walter Lantz. Knothead and Splinter are the niece and nephew of star character, Woody, and they're usually creating mischief...often appearing to be too smart for the villain of the episode. She voiced the siblings during all of their theatrical appearances...their first being "Get Lost" in 1956. 

1959 is a pivotal year in June's career as it marked the first time she voiced a starring character in an animated series. By this point in her career she had provided voices for dozens of cartoons from a group of iconic studios: Warner Brothers, Disney, MGM, and Universal; and she displayed her vocalizations in a string of comedy recordings by Stan Freberg (and she became one of the cast members of his 1957 radio show). In 1958, with made for TV cartoons being a product of the not too distant future, she was selected to voice the role of a male squirrel named Rocky for the Jay Ward studio. The series never made it to air until a year later, 1959, on ABC. The program broke ground in the area of cartoon humor. So many puns, one-liners, satire, and self-awareness by the characters flew over many of the children's heads no doubt but older children and young adults (and even older adults) watched the show. The program, "Rocky and His Friends", debuted on November 19, 1959. The show was ahead of it's time. It happened to be the shared creation of Jay Ward, key writer and voice actor, Bill Scott, and Alex Anderson. June was assigned the roles of Rocky and the Russian spy, Natasha; she also provided vocals for Nell Fenwick in a supporting segment, Dudley Dorite of the Mounties. Her co-stars in the Dudley Dorite segments were Bill Scott as Dorite, Paul Frees as Inspector Fenwick, and Hans Conried as the villain, Snidley Whiplash. She lent her voice to the other supporting segments, too: Peabody's Improbable History, Aesop and Son, and Fractured Fairy Tales. In the latter segment June and Daws Butler starred in the majority of installments. June often portrayed the fairy Godmothers or Princess characters...and many times the good or evil witches depending on the story...and Daws portrayed all of the male characters...sometimes Paul Frees would also contribute in this segment.

In time the series changed networks and title. Jumping from ABC to NBC in 1961 the series became "The Bullwinkle Show" with only slight differences. June later added the roles of Ursula and Marigold to her growing list of characters. Ursula was the mate of George, a Tarzan-like character, in Jay Ward's "George of the Jungle". In a supporting segment, Tom Slick, June voiced Tom's girlfriend, Marigold. The oddity in these characters is that, vocally, they're the same as Dudley Dorite and Nell Fenwick and yet it's not something that you actually think of when you watch the cartoons. The show is still funny but at the same time you love hearing those voices...and Jay Ward knew that.

In an interview June gave in 1987 for a Daws Butler documentary she commented that both she and Daws had performed the same voices several times for multiple characters in one session. She remarked that they recorded 5 episodes of Fractured Fairy Tales a night and they brought it to Jay's attention that she did a voice similar to Marjorie Main in 2 episodes and that Daws did his Charles Butterworth impression on several episodes in the session. After inquiring if Jay would like them to re-record the lines with different voices so there wouldn't be a feeling of sameness Jay replied that he wanted those voices. You can't fault him for that. As I watch the DVD of Season 2 of "Rocky and Bullwinkle" it never enters my mind that there's a voice similar to another character...I'm too busy grinning, giggling, or laughing to even care to notice. The same is true for Jay's other main series, "George of the Jungle".

There is another series, "Fractured Flickers", which a lot of the Jay Ward fans rate pretty high but I'm not as familiar with it because it didn't play on TV much, if at all, during my childhood (the '80s and early '90s). It's a live-action series hosted by Hans Conried in which footage of old movies (mostly silent films) are played with re-dubbed, comically-infused dialogue from June, Paul Frees, and Bill Scott. Here's an episode...June can be heard in the first re-dubbed presentation. Paul is the narrator.



June's autobiography, Did You Grow Up With Me, Too?, which you see in the photo above arrived nearly 50 years after the debut of "Rocky and His Friends". The book hit in 2009. I wrote a review of it back then and posted it on Amazon's website in addition to posting the review here on my blog. She never received any industry awards (speaking of Oscar or Emmy recognition) at the time of the book's release but several years later, in 2012, she received her first Emmy trophy at the Daytime Emmy Awards. She won for her role as Mrs. Cauldron in the CGI "The Garfield Show". At the time of her win she was 94. Speaking of industry accolades...she was instrumental in getting animation included in several awards organizations. In 1988 she received the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award (given out during The Eisner Awards). In 1995 the organization she created in 1972, The Annie Awards, began awarding The June Foray Award. The Oscars began recognizing animated feature films on a more consistent basis starting in 2001...and a lot of that had to do with June's behind the scenes efforts at getting the Academy Awards to consider animated films in the same light as live-action films. There's drama and comedy in live-action films and there's animated films that are either dramatic or comedic...so what's the difference? In both cases you have actors (on-screen or voice-over) and you have characters (live-action or animated). In 2013 she received the Governor's Award at the Creative Arts Emmy gala. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards spotlight mostly non-traditional categories which rarely get spotlighted on the televised Prime Time Emmy Awards.

In the collage to the left are just a few of the hundreds of animated characters that June gave voice to. I attempted to single out the various animation studios that she provided voices for. This of course is meant as a tribute collage but by no means is it definitive. I hadn't even mentioned, until now, her work for Rankin/Bass or her iconic role as Cindy Lou Who in the Chuck Jones classic, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. In the 1980s she gave voice to Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature in "The Smurfs" and Aunt May in "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" cartoon. So don't let this memorial blog completely satisfy you...I encourage all of you to seek out her career and delve into it and find out so many other aspects of her contributions to animation that I hadn't even touched upon. The best way to do that is to purchase her autobiography (obviously!) but also visit YouTube or Amazon and see all of the available on-line cartoons that she lent her voice to. Her two enduring characters are Granny and Rocky. She voiced Granny the longest...from the theatrical cartoons of the '50s and '60s to the various made for TV cartoon specials and later television productions from Warner Brothers: "The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries" (1995-2000), "Baby Looney Tunes" (2001-2003; 2004-2006), and "The Looney Tunes Show" (2011-2014; recurring character). Ma Beagle is a character that appeared on the Disney series, "DuckTales", as did Magica De Spell (she's the duck character in the first panel of the collage). Ma Beagle, located in panel seven, and the short tempered Grammi Gummi, located in panel nine, were both given June's Marjorie Main voice. Marjorie, for those that don't know, portrayed Ma Kettle in a string of comedy movies. Knothead and Splinter are in panel 6. The Chuck Jones version of Witch Hazel is in panel 2. Granny can be found in panels 3 and 8. When June took over as Granny in 1955 the character appeared in that kind of physical design. Later, the animators returned the character to her more familiar design seen in panel 8. In panel 4 it's Rocky the flying squirrel. In the center of the collage is a publicity photo of June at a recording studio which I opened the memorial blog post with.

June was involved in a car accident sometime in 2015...and although she survived you could say it ended her prolific, legendary career. She never lent her voice to any animated program or video game after 2014. Her voice lives on, though, in numerous animated programs and video games. How many people, I wonder, learned through her obituary that she was the voice of Talky Tina in one of the famed episodes of "The Twilight Zone"? I knew of that fact for years but many others are probably finding it out and probably rushed to YouTube to see if they could find the episode. It's an episode titled Living Doll and it stars Telly Savalas. It originally aired November 1, 1963.

June Foray was born June Forer on September 18, 1917 and died of cardiac arrest at the age of 99 on July 26, 2017.

Stan Freberg: 1926-2015

There have been a lot of comedians, comedy writers, and brilliant witty minds over the course of the last 50+ years. Comedy is subjective and there are many styles of humor...and there are certainly many performers of those many styles of humor. Comedy ranges from the gentle to the provoking...the folksy to the urbane...parody...satire...it all goes into the mixer. Satire is not everyone's cup of tea, though, Stan without question was a master satirist. The ironic thing about it all is most satirists are entertaining and witty, yes, but on some level a satirist can be off-putting or just too aggressive/relentless in their efforts (coming across as being bitter or vindictive). Even though Stan is quoted as describing himself as a "guerrilla satirist" I don't happen to think it fits. I think Stan's unpretentious personality shined through on all of his records...whether it be a song or a comedy sketch...and even if the intent on Stan's part happened to be that of a savage, take no prisoners style, you couldn't help but be entertained by the results and that's something, in my opinion, that elevates his material above any of his competitors in the field of satirical entertainment. I'm sure he's said things in his recordings that a listener may not have agreed with...but I bet those same listeners found themselves laughing at something they heard, nevertheless.

On April 7, 2015 Stan Freberg passed away at the age of 88 (born August 7, 1926). In the above photo I'm displaying the must-have 1999 project titled Tip of the Freberg. I became familiar with the name of 'Stan Freberg' by accident...it happened during the 1990s at a time when I started to pay more attention to the opening and closing credits of cartoons. Nickelodeon used to air Looney Tunes cartoons and during several episodes some of the cartoons from the mid to late '60s would get some air-time. These cartoons were produced after the exclusive screen credit for Mel Blanc had expired and we got to see more of the names of Mel's co-stars appear on-screen.

Well, like I said, I seen the name 'Stan Freberg' in the opening credits of a late '60s Looney Tunes cartoon.

Coincidentally a certain collection of Christmas comedy songs came into my possession in the early 1990s, too. The various artist project, titled Christmas Comedy Classics, originated in 1985 but I didn't a copy of it until the early 1990s. Stan has 2 recordings on that project...the whimsical rendition of "Nuttin' for Christmas" and the gutsy "Green Christmas". Talk about 2 recordings that are the polar opposite of one another! I later discovered that Daws Butler played the part of Bob Cratchit in "Green Christmas".

As I've pointed out a lot of times I didn't begin to become familiar with the names of voice actors/actresses until the 1990s...and so I was still learning a lot about those that worked alongside Mel Blanc in the Looney Tunes theatrical cartoons. In 1949 Stan joined forces with Bob Clampett to create the puppet series, Time for Beany. Stan provided the vocals for half of the characters. This program also featured the vocal talents of Daws Butler and he voiced a lot of the other characters. The 2 main roles for each voice artist happened to Beany and Captain Huffenpuff (voiced by Butler) while Stan voiced Cecil and Dishonest John. Years later an animated program based on the puppet series debuted on television. The animated series, Beany and Cecil, didn't feature the vocals of either Stan nor Daws Butler. By the time the animated cartoon had premiered Daws had become the top voice artist for Hanna-Barbera and Stan had moved on to advertising all the while keeping his lengthy recording career intact. In the picture above it's Stan's partial autobiography...the book covers his meteoric rise up the ranks amongst voice-over artists in the late 1940's and all the twists and turns his career took on through the early part of the 1960s.

The book arrived in 1988...but yet it cuts off in the early 1960s. That in itself is comical...and there's never been a sequel that picked up from the early '60s...hopefully there's going to be some sort of memorial magazine (hint, hint) that'll be released at some point this year that can offer highlight and insight, in book form, into all of Stan's activity from the mid '60s right on through his final days.

Until such a memorial magazine comes along, though, it's best to research his career on your own and along the way enjoy the comedy recordings and television commercials he worked on.

Some of the animated cartoon characters that Stan became associated with over the decades included Pete Puma, Junyer Bear, Chester the Terrier, Bertie the Mouse, and Tosh, one of the Goofy Gophers (all appearing in the Looney Tunes franchise). In addition to those roles Stan also gave voice to the Gambling Bug in a cartoon titled "Early to Bet" and one of the chefs in "French Rarebit". Each of those cartoons directed by Robert McKimson. He voiced the Beaver in the Disney film The Lady and the Tramp and for pure trivia sake he voiced a cattle baron in a Tom and Jerry cartoon titled "Posse Cat".

I had taken a series of photo's of myself in late March of this year for future blogs that I happen to write and given the recent death of Stan Freberg I felt this particular image to be perfect. I happen to feel it can be interpreted as a bit of visual humor related to Stan's hilarious parody of "The Banana Boat Song" (also known as "Day-O"). I'm either displaying my euphoria over the bunches and bunches of 'ripe banana' or I'm frightened by the black tarantula...take your pick. You can hear that song on various sites on the internet...I heard it for the first time on one of the CD's in the 1999 career retrospective I posted in the photo at the start of this blog. Tip of the Freberg...that's the name of the box set...I already mentioned the title of the project and it's year of release in the opening and I'm mentioning it once more...I mention it just for the sake of the facts...just the facts...and that of course should make any fan of Stan Freberg instantly think back to "St. George and the Dragonet"! This recording happened to be a sketch comedy featuring Daws Butler and June Foray as co-stars. Stan and company made 2 additional Dragnet parodies: "Little Blue Riding Hood" and "Christmas Dragnet". The box set provides a lot of material from Stan's radio program from 1957 and some of his recordings from the "pay radio" concept album Stan issued in the mid 1960s. Some of the biggest personalities of the 1950s found themselves being a target of Stan's humor. Ed Sullivan's program received spoofing by Stan in a sketch called "Most of the Town". Lawrence Welk became the target in the hilarious sketch "Wun'erful, Wun'erful!". Elvis and a host of other rock and roll performers had their recordings parodied by Stan...and then there's the incredible take off on Arthur Godfrey in a sketch called "That's Right, Arthur" that had never been heard until the 1999 box set came along. Among the many highlights in the box set is "Elderly Man River"...it's a prophetic comedy sketch featuring Stan and Daws. In the sketch Stan attempts to sing "Old Man River" but the censor (Daws Butler) objects to so many words and phrases that the song is re-titled "Elderly Man River". It's years ahead of it's time...it skewers political correctness decades before the movement began to latch on and grow tentacles in pop culture.

The box set features recordings lifted from Stan's 1961 album, Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America: The Early Years. Paul Frees does the narration of the project. Ironically the supporting players do not include Daws Butler but June Foray is among the cast as is Marvin Miller, Jesse White, Walter Tetley...just to name a few. It's largely regarded as Stan's masterpiece. A follow-up arrived decades later in 1996 (!) to nostalgic waves of support. By this time Stan had become an icon in the advertising business...his funny, sarcastic, and iconoclastic television and radio commercials became Clio winning slices of comedic salesmanship. The Clio is the top award in the advertising industry.

It was in the 1990s that seen Stan become a radio commentator, of sorts, on NPR stations in a series of essays airing under the Stan Freberg Here... banner. Several of those commentaries appear on the 1999 box set. Four years earlier, in 1995, Stan became the second host of the syndicated old-time radio tribute program When Radio Was (Art Fleming had been the previous host). I have fond memories of this program, as hosted by Stan Freberg, and I remember listening to episodes of it on a local AM radio station at the time. It aired from 11pm to Midnight. Fred Foy, of The Lone Ranger fame, provided the introduction for each of the episodes Stan hosted. The intro included some of the dialogue Fred used in his intro's for The Lone Ranger. I assume Stan's affiliation with old-time radio and his reputation as a champion of 'theater of the mind' entertainment happened to be the big reason he was picked to host the old-time radio program.

I got word of Stan's death like most of the other millions of people...through social media and internet reports. I couldn't believe the news, though, because in my mind I had always pictured Stan to be in good physical health in spite of his older age. In one of the internet reports it indicated that he may have been suffering from pneumonia...but other than that there hasn't been any official statement given as to the cause of death. Stan had a long and successful career...his recordings are going to live forever. If you had never heard of him until today then do yourself a favor and visit YouTube or Amazon and get yourself familiar with his contributions to comedy.

Here's a brief time-line:

1926: Born on August 7th.

1944: Arrived in Hollywood, California (age 17).

1946: voices Bertie in Chuck Jones' "Roughly Squeaking".

1947: voices Charlie Horse in Bob Clampett's "It's a Grand Ole Nag".

1948: Succeeded the late Kent Rogers as the voice of Junyer Bear; "What's Brewin', Bruin?".

1949: helped create television program Time For Beany; Voiced Cecil and Dishonest John, among other puppet characters; remained in production until 1955 and received multiple Emmy awards.

1951: Released his first recording for Capitol Records, "John and Marsha".

1951: voices the Gambling Bug in the cartoon "Early to Bet".

1952: voices the dimwitted hunting dog in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Foxy by Proxy".

1952: Released "Try", a parody of Johnny Ray's hit single, "Cry".

1952: voices Pete Puma in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Rabbit's Kin".

1953: Recorded "St. George and the Dragonet"; hit #1 in October 1953; B-side is "Little Blue Riding Hood".

1953: Released "Christmas Dragnet".

1954: Starred in the CBS radio sitcom "That's Rich" (January-September).

1954: Released "A Dear John and Marsha Letter".

1954: voices the rancher/cook in the Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Posse Cat".

1955: Released "The Night Before Christmas" and "Nuttin' For Christmas".

1955: voices the Beaver in the animated Disney film The Lady and the Tramp.

1957: Released "Wun'erful, Wun'erful!".

1957: Host of The Stan Freberg Show, the last-ever network radio comedy program (July-October).

1957: Provides narration and voices all the characters in the cartoon "The Three Little Bops".

1957: Released a parody of "The Banana Boat Song"; B-side is "Tele-Vee-Shun".

1958: Released "Green Christmas".

1960: Released "The Old Payola Roll Blues".

1961: Released the album Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America.

Beginning around the same time as the release of the 1961 album Stan became heavily involved with advertising (his earliest commercials date back to 1956). His recordings began to grow further and farther between but every so often he'd release something.

1966: Released the album Freberg Underground! (billed as 'pay radio'; the LP featured a presentation in the form of a radio sitcom).

Stan remained active in advertising...among his clients were Esskay, Chun King, Sunsweet, Contidina, and Jeno's. Stan also provided voice-overs for movie ads and dabbled in political humor during the height of the Vietnam protests. Some of his ads for George McGovern, for example, are featured in a later career box set.

1982: Starred in the PBS special, Stan Freberg's Federal Budget Revue.

1985: narrates the cartoon series The Wuzzles.

1988: Released autobiography "It Only Hurts When I Laugh".

1995: Inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

1995: Began hosting old-time radio anthology series, When Radio Was.

1996: Released the CD Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume Two.

1997: voices Pete Puma in the cartoon "Pullet Surprise".

1999: Rhino Entertainment issues the career retrospective Tip of the Freberg. It's a must-have for any fan or admirer of Stan Freberg's work; it spans the years 1951-1998.

2000: voices Cage E. Coyote in the cartoon "Little Go Beep".

2003: narrates Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age of the Looney Tunes documentary for the DVD project titled Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume One. Stan appears on-screen in various bonus features throughout the entire Golden Collection DVD series in the mid 2000s.

2006: Retires as host of When Radio Was after 11 years.

2015: Dies on April 7th at age 88.

Stan Freberg: 1926-2015

June Foray: The Autobiography

This book about the first lady of voice acting, called Did You Grow Up With Me, Too?, chronicles the life and times both on and off the air of June Foray. There are quite a collection of pictures of June and her voice acting co-stars...one that caught my eye right away, given that it was the first picture in the book, is a glorious picture of June surrounded by 5 amazingly talented people in the animation business. They're all standing side by side. There are pictures of June during the 1940's and 1950's...pictures of her, Stan Freberg, and Daws Butler and pictures of character's she gave voice to. It's a nice balance between her career and personal life, which of course is what an autobiography is. The epilogue section was written by June and it's dated July, 2009. Leonard Maltin wrote the forward...and do you know the story behind June Foray having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? You'll find out within the pages of this book.

A lot of the book is broken up into chapters that follow a theme. Near the end of the book there's a chapter dedicated to a few people June knew that are no longer living. Bill Scott, Jay Ward, Paul Frees, and a few others. She tells the intricate details of what "looping" means and she explains that it's wise to be punctual because it pays by the hour. Chapter Eight, called "My Rocky Life" is dedicated to her being cast in the Bullwinkle series, once known as Rocky and His Friends. This is where she remembers much of the Jay Ward era and offers pictures that were taken in the studio with her and Bill Scott and there's a picture of her, Bill, and Jay Ward; and a picture of her and Paul Frees. There are cartoon stills of the characters. In Chapter seven, called "Chuck Who?" for comical purposes, is about her association with Warner Brothers director, Chuck Jones. The chapter was called that because June didn't know who Chuck Jones was. In a lot of her interviews she admits to not being much of a cartoon watcher so she didn't really know who made the cartoons. Chuck cast her as Witch Hazel, the name of another witch that the Disney studio cast her as.

Legal acrobatics enabled Warner Brothers to continue using the Witch Hazel name. Bea Benaderet, the prominent female voice on mostly all of the Warner Brothers cartoons before June came along, was the original voice of Witch Hazel and was the original voice of Granny...Bea had did the Granny voice for almost 15 years before June took over the role in 1955...off the top of my head I believe Bea started voicing Granny somewhere around 1943 or 1944. It was Bea's on-camera work in Burns and Allen plus her other on-camera assignments that led to her cartoon roles being re-cast in the mid 1950's. Her workload had become too hectic to continue and so she concentrated more on the TV sitcom's she appeared in.

June's been the voice of both characters, Witch Hazel and Granny, ever since...her most recent assignment as Granny was the Baby Looney Tunes series a few years back. There is an interesting story that June talks about when it came time to cast the voice actors for the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries series in 1994/1995. According to June, the producers were wanting her to come in an audition for the role of Granny...whoever was in charge apparently wanted the Granny voice to resemble the one provided by Bea Benaderet. June recalls how outraged she felt but then lets us in on how she came about being cast as Granny on the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries after all.

This brings me to a small little rant that I have about such things. When a voice actor or actress plays a role for a good number of years, he or she pretty much know the in's and out's of the character{s} they voice and the producers or casting directors should give the voice actors and actresses associated with the role automatic casting because of the proven track record. I feel the only time a character's voice should be re-cast is if the voice actor/actress can no longer do an adequate job...meaning they've lost their voice. I don't think a voice artist loses their natural talent...so whether someone is 21, 41, 61, 81, or 91, if he or she is still capable of doing their job they should be given the first shot and THEN if the producer isn't satisfied then a re-cast should happen. This notion that you have to audition voice actors for roles they've played for decades is ludicrous and offensive to the voice artist, as you'll see when you read June's thoughts about it.

In the "Chuck Who?" section she talks about how she was called on to do the voice of an Irish lady from the waist down on Chuck's version of Tom and Jerry plus she talks about the various witch characters she has performed. It is also in this chapter where she relates a story about cigarette smoking and how it was a big advertising sponsor at one time. There's a priceless story about how she gave up smoking but a lot of others didn't and she tells about a recording session in the mid 1980's during the revival of The Jetsons and it involves Mel Blanc. It's a cute little story about Mel's smoking in the studio. There's a picture of June and Mel in the studio, too.

As I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few pictures...and there's one on page 129 of June and some friends at the 1974 Annie Awards. Before any can ask, the Annie Awards is short for the Animation Awards...a gala where animation big-wigs and voice actors and actresses gather. It's much like the typical awards programs you see but cartoons are being honored and celebrated instead of live-action.

One of the things you may or may not notice is that the chapter's are short...well, a lot of them are. "Chuck Who?" is a rather lengthy chapter as is "My Rocky Life". There's a section called "The War Years" where she talks about her career doing radio shows and offers a picture of her as part of a dance group. She makes a lot of jokes about her short stature and reflects that her short stature must have been a good reason she clicked so well with Daws Butler in the recording studio.

It's really a great look at June's life and career.

If you do much You Tube searching, be sure to look up some clips of Ma and Pa Kettle. The clips will feature an actress, Marjorie Main, in the role of Ma Kettle. This is the voice that June based a lot of the older lady types on...the voice is heard prominently in Fractured Fairy Tales, a segment in the Rocky and Bullwinkle series. June usually gave fairy godmothers or witches that voice. In the Disney cartoons, Duck Tales and Gummi Bears, June gave the Ma Beagle and Grammi Gummi characters the Marjorie Main vocal characterization.

Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection, Vol. Five

This collection of hilarity features 30 cartoons. From the start, The Spotlight Collection was always meant to be a cheaper collection of cartoons derived from the more exhaustive Golden Collection sets. By cheap, I mean dollars and cents...not quality of the packaging.

The Spotlight Collection would feature 30 cartoons, 15 on 2 DVD's, culled from the latest installment of The Golden Collection, which in turn would feature 4 DVD's altogether. So, The Spotlight Collection was simply a much shorter collection of cartoons at a more smaller price.

In Volume Five of The Spotlight Collection we have 30 cartoons that also appear on The Golden Collection, Volume Five. DVD #2 is dedicated to the fairy tale parodies...and there were plenty. The funny thing is...there are various cartoons on DVD #2 that tell the same story but each and every cartoon is hilarious due to the writing and characters involved. In "The Bears Tale" from 1940 we see the telling of The Three Bears but with a twist. Tex Avery is the director...in the cartoon we see the blending of two fairy tales. The Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood...the connection being the wolf who decides to exit Grandma's house and flee to The Three Bears place to attack Goldilocks instead. It's very funny...particularly the characterizations...Papa Bear's laugh is infectious. Robert Bruce narrates.

There are three parodies of Little Red Riding Hood back to back to back...but they're are so cleverly written that you don't mind the same story. In "Red Riding Hoodwinked" we see the goings-on between Tweety, Sylvester, a Wolf, Red Riding Hood, and Granny. In this parody, Sylvester and the Wolf are in the pursuit of Tweety and Red respectively. Granny falls into the scene as she's the "Grandmother" in the fairy tale. Her line, "Pow...right in the kisser!", is lifted from The Honeymooners. "Red Riding Hoodwinked" was released in 1955. In "Little Red Walking Hood", directed by Tex Avery, we're treated to a Katherine Hepburn version of the fairy tale character who uses typical reaction to almost everything that we know is suppose to happen in the story...the Grandmother is portrayed as a kind of loose cannon, hip to the scene. "Little Red Rodent Hood" is the third cartoon to spoof the Red Riding Hood fairy tale.

"Goldimouse and the Three Cats", from Friz Freleng, is easily one of the stand-outs on DVD #2 among many others. This parody of the Three Bears features three cats and a female mouse with flowing blond hair. The cats, headed up by Sylvester and his son, Sylvester Jr, plus a mama cat...make up the cat family who eat porridge, just like in the Three Bears. Before you all can ask: "what are cat's doing eating porridge?" Sylvester Jr wonders the same thing. Throughout the cartoon Sylvester tries his best to capture Goldimouse. She's voiced by June Foray, who also narrates the cartoon. "Bewitched Bunny" kicks off DVD #2. It's a Chuck Jones cartoon about Bugs Bunny encountering Witch Hazel who's plotting to cook Hansel and Gretel. A running joke is the pronunciation of the boy's name. "Hansel?", "Honsul?", "Han-so". After freeing the kids, Witch Hazel has ideas of having Bugs for dinner.

"Foney Fables", from Friz Freleng, is a grouping of fairy tale spoofs in one cartoon. Narrator Robert Bruce explains things as we see illustrations of Tom Thumb, the nursery rhyme about the piggie's that go off to the market, the boy who cried wolf, and others.

In DVD #1 we have traditional Warner Brothers cartoons. The kick-off cartoon is "14 Carrot Rabbit". In it, Yosemite Sam is a gold miner who doesn't have much luck. All of the sudden Bugs comes along with a huge gold boulder...having it weighed. All that he wants as a payment is a supply of carrots. Sam gets the idea to stalk and befriend Bugs...it seems Bugs has this "feeling" that comes over him whenever gold is in the area. The ending of the cartoon is hilarious as well. Friz Freleng directed this...as he directed most, if not all, the cartoons with Yosemite Sam.

"The Stupor Salesman" tells the story of Daffy Duck as a door-to-door salesman. The joke is that Daffy's at the hide-out of a crook who doesn't want any interruptions. Daffy, being a salesman, won't back off no matter how much torment and torture the crook puts him through. Finally, in the climax of the cartoon, Daffy discovers something that the guy needs since throughout the cartoon he kept telling Daffy to scram or get lost. In "Buccaneer Bunny" we see another classic Bugs Bunny-Yosemite Sam team-up. In this one, Sam is a pirate and Bugs happens to be on a beach where Sam wants to bury his treasure. Since Bugs claims the area to be his home and Sam stubborn and won't bury the chest elsewhere, a battle of wits ensues on and off the pirate ship. This cartoon includes the famous cannon scene where Sam repeatedly gets shot in the face by a cannon.

"Bugs' Bonnets" is a surreal cartoon...a truck hauling hats hits a bump in the road and the back door becomes unlatched and the woods are littered with hats. Bugs and Elmer Fudd proceed to take on various personalities as hat's pop on and off of their heads. "Ali Baba Bunny", directed by Chuck Jones, has Bugs and Daffy on the run from an Arabian guard named Hassan...Daffy had discovered a hidden treasure after he and Bugs dug their way under a cave and come up on the inside. Meanwhile, Hassan has forgot the password. He finally discovers the password and goes running in after the trespassers. Throughout the cartoon we see a character study of opposites. Daffy wants to claim all the gold for himself while Bugs has no desire for it. Daffy's antics get him into trouble...always causing him to turn to Bugs for a way out of the mess. Bugs dresses up like a genie in one memorable scene. Later, Daffy discovers a lamp and rubs it. A genie pops out and a miserly Daffy will have no more threats to his wealth and he literally stomps the genie back into the lamp. This causes severe consequences, though.

Friz Freleng directs "A Star Is Bored" which pits Bugs against Daffy in a movie setting. Daffy wants to be a big star like Bugs and when he thinks he's finally gotten his big break he soon regrets it. Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd make cameo appearances. Daffy plays Bugs' stand-in...inserted into any scene that is potentially dangerous for Bugs to carry out. A running gag is Daffy's demand of "MAKE-UP!!" after every explosion and every scene. "Hollywood Daffy" has Daffy trying to get into the Warner Brothers lot. In the cartoon it's referred to as 'Warmer Brothers'. In most cartoons that spoof their own studio, it's referred to as Warmer Brothers. In "Hollywood Daffy" we see an over-zealous guard with a Joe Besser-like voice preventing Daffy from entering. By cartoon's end, Daffy insists that he isn't leaving until he see's some stars and the guard relents and affords him the ability to see star's.

"Stupor Duck", a cartoon from Robert McKimson, has Daffy spoofing Superman, of course. In the cartoon he's on the look-out for a villain, Aardvark Ratnik, but the villain is from a crime drama...Stupor Duck, in his secret identity of Cluck Trent, misunderstands while eavesdropping and he spends the episode on the hunt for this villain. Mel Blanc voices Daffy and Daws Butler voices the Editor and the narrator at the start of the cartoon. Porky Pig makes an appearance in "Paying the Piper". He plays a pied piper in charge of ridding a town of rats. He seems to have succeeded at the start of the cartoon until things go awry. The supreme ruler of the cats has other idea's and the fight ensues as the cat dresses up as a big rat...this causes the local mayor to angrily take away the sack of money he had given Porky for ridding the town of ALL rats. The cat's of course want the rats to stay because they chase after them for food. A battle of wits ensues...Porky ends up winning by cartoon's end. Mel does his famous "stuck-up" characterization for the Mayor while the supreme cat carries a thick New York accent. Robert McKimson directed the cartoon.

The Voice Acting Gods

I wanted to start this blog off discussing in brief who I consider the Voice Acting Gods. Now, the voice acting Gods isn't a rock group or a Christian group of some sort. These voice acting Gods delivered their words behind the scenes on animated cartoons and in some cases, old-time radio.

As is the case of putting together any list, it's almost always a case where people get in a debate. I often dislike those sorts of debates because when you have a list of greats, I always have the opinion that there's no room for debating...they're all good. I have a fondness for count-downs...bear with me...

#10- Hal Smith: This voice actor is known more as a face-actor, famously playing the role of Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show; Hal's cartoon work includes roles for Hanna-Barbera as well as Disney; For H-B, Hal gave voice to Coil Man on the series The Impossibles. Hal was also the voice in a trio of musketeers called "Yippee, Yappee, and Yahooie". Hal was the Yappee...Doug Young was Yippee...and Daws Butler was Yahooie. Hal did double-duty on this series as he was also the voice of the often-angry King. Hal was heard on the religious cartoon series, "Davey and Goliath", for five years and became the voice of the Owl in the "Winnie the Pooh" films and series. Hal later became the voice of Winnie the Pooh for a live-action children's show called "Welcome To Pooh Corner". After the death of Pinto Colvig, Hal became the voice of Goofy for several programs. Hal later provided the voices of Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold for the Disney series "Duck Tales". These characters were his last major contributions to animation. August 24, 1916 - January 28, 1994.

#9- Alan Oppenheimer: This actor is well-known throughout the film and TV industry. He is still active in the industry at the age of 78. His contributions to animation include the characters of Man-at-Arms, Cringer/Battlecat, Beast Man, and Skeletor for the series "He-Man" in the early to mid 1980's. Oppenheimer was often used in a lot of multiple roles without any core character. This is why you see the phrase "additional voices" appear so often after his name because he never had one single role in a cartoon series and was often voicing all sorts of one-shot characters in ensemble cartoons. His voice was heard on various cartoon series: "Speed Buggy", "The Smurfs", "Transformers", "Go-Bots", "The Wuzzles", "Mighty Mouse", and others. He was born on April 23, 1930.

#8- Frank Welker: This actor has a wide range of character roles and like others in his generation often voices multiple roles. He has given voice to a staggering amount of characters in cartoons, video games, and in movies and is still busy. Welker is himself nick-named a God by several of his peers. Although he often lands roles in various cartoon projects of modern times, Welker is sometimes a bridge into the past due to his experiences in cartoons with a lot of the legends who are no longer living. His main characters include the roles of Megatron on "Transformers". He voiced several of the villains in that cartoon series but Megatron is the stand-out. In the "Superfriends" series Welker was heard as Toyman, Mr Mxyzptlk, Darkseid, and Desaad. In the "Blue Falcon" series, Welker was heard as Dynomutt. He gave voice to Jabberjaw as well...mimicking Curley Howard of The Three Stooges. Welker's long-running character is Fred Jones, the leader of the gang on the "Scooby-Doo" series. Welker started doing the Fred character starting with the cartoon's 1969 debut...next year will mark his 40th year giving voice to Fred as the "Scooby-Doo" series continues to pop up with new episodes every so often. Welker is also the voice of Scooby-Doo, too. He became the voice in 2002. Don Messick originated the voice in 1969 and ran with it until 1991. Scott Innes was the voice of Scooby in between Messick and Welker. Frank Welker was born on March 12, 1946.

#7- Paul Winchell: Although this actor is noted for three cartoon characters and a children's show, Winchell nevertheless is ranked #7 because the three characters he voiced in cartoons and his various children's shows impacted the genre. His TV show was geared toward children and featured him and his dummy, Jerry MaHoney. Winchell was a ventriloquist and hosted several 1950's and 1960's children's shows with his dummies. His first cartoon role of note was the villain Dick Dastardly in the cartoon "Wacky Races". Dastardly, always with his side-kick/pet dog, Muttley, was the star of "Wacky Races" since the character had the most screen time plotting stunts and traps for other racers that would always backfire. A few months later, a film debuted called "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day". In this film, Winchell gave voice to the character, Tigger. This would become Winchell's signature role in spite of the enormous success of the "Wacky Races" and "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines" on Saturday morning TV and in constant reruns. Winchell revived the Dastardly character in the 1970's and 1980's for special programming. In the 1980's Winchell provided the voice for Gargamel on the world-wide hit cartoon "The Smurfs". This voice was simply Dastardly with a new body, on the hunt for Smurfs. The Muttley role had been re-cast as Azrael, the orange cat. He continued to voice Tigger as well. He did this voice on TV specials and cartoon series up until 1994, replaced by Jim Cummings. The reason for the replacement was age-related, according to many things i've read. Winchell, ironically, continued to voice Tigger through 1999 on Direct-To-Video "Pooh" movies until retiring. Jim Cummings had already did the voice of Tigger off and on with Paul Winchell in the early 1990's...Cummings was also the voice of Pooh. One of the bizarre events following the death of Paul Winchell was the death of John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet in all of those "Pooh" cartoons. Fiedler died a day after Paul Winchell on June 25th. December 21, 1922 - June 24, 2005.

#6- Paul Frees: This actor possessed an impossible range and could vocally impersonate just about anyone. His work is showcased on the Jay Ward cartoons of the early 1960's. "Rocky and Friends", "The Bullwinkle Show", "George of the Jungle", and "Dudley Dorite". Frees often used his German-inspired voice on the cartoons...the voice he gave to the Boris Badenov character. A totally opposite voice was the daffy Captain Peachfuzz, based on Ed Wynn. Still another voice from Frees was the high-brow, snooty delivery he gave Inspector Fenwick. Frees often narrated cartoons...he did some on-camera work as well. One of Frees' celebrated impersonations is Ronald Colman. Frees made several comedy albums through the years and in one song he goes from one celebrity impression to the next singing a love song. Another recording from Frees is My Old Flame, credited as a Spike Jones recording because Spike is who ran the show, no matter who the vocalist on the recording was. On the recording Frees does his Peter Lorre impression. Half-way through a Lorre rant, the character breaks into a full-scale vocal assault recalling his German-inspired Boris Badenov voice. Frees found continued work at Disney as well. He voiced the character Ludwig von Drake in many films and TV appearances. At a Disneyland attraction, Frees voice was heard as the Ghost Host. In the animated cartoon featuring The Beatles, Paul Frees was the voice of John Lennon and George Harrison. Frees also possessed the ability to mimic Orson Welles and this talent allowed him to portray Orson vocally in several projects including a Stan Freberg comedy album and as the narrator of The St Valentines Day Massacre to name just two. If all of this wasn't impressive enough, Frees lent his voice to two icon's of TV commercials: the first being the Pillsbury Doughboy and the second being Toucan Sam of the Fruit Loops cereal. Maurice LaMarche took over the role of Toucan in the mid 1980's. Frees himself had taken over the Toucan role from Mel Blanc. Also, Frees was the voice of the Sprout on the Jolly Green Giant commercials. Frees in his career worked for many cartoon studios with Rankin/Bass being the studio most of his later work was recorded for. There is a demo reel on You Tube that you all should check out and listen to. June 22, 1920 - November 2, 1986.

#5- June Foray: Was there any question? I know she's a female and so she'd be considered a Goddess instead of a God but Foray's longevity in the business allows her to rate with the God's. Foray voiced minor characters at first...she was also a cast-member/comedy player with Stan Freberg at Capitol Records in the 1950's. Foray was the woman in nearly all of the Freberg-Butler comedy recordings of the 1950's. Famously she portrayed the role of Alice in Freberg's Honeymooners parody, The Honey Earthers, where people who live on the moon take a honeyearth. Freberg was Ralph and Daws Butler was Norton. She was the voice of nameless roles on Tex Avery cartoons, usually a narrator on cartoon spoofs of fashion shows. Foray was also the voice of the Chatty Cathy doll. It was on the Jay Ward cartoons that Foray built together a list of recurring characters. She was the voice of Rocky on the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoons. She was also the voice of the German spy, Natasha Fatale, who always attempted along with Boris, to destroy "moose and squirrel". In a more girlish voice she portrayed Nell Fenwick, the daughter of Inspector Fenwick. Nell was infatuated with Dudley's riding horse, named Horse, even though Dudley himself had an eye for Nell. On "George of the Jungle", Foray was Ursula. She was a fixture at Warner Brothers as well where she became the voice of Granny, taking over the role from Bea Benaderet. Foray's other prominent Warner Brothers character is Witch Hazel. In the 1980's Foray was with the Disney cartoon "Duck Tales" voicing the characters of Magica DeSpell and Ma Beagle. On "Gummi Bears", Foray was Grammy Gummi. In "The Smurfs", she was heard as Jokey Smurf and as Mother Nature. Foray's last voice acting role to date was in 2007, voicing Granny on a video game. Her last regular work was on the "Baby Looney Tunes" series, voicing Granny. June Foray was born on September 18, 1917.

#4- John Stephenson: This voice actor is famous in animation circles for his character's rather bossy, sometimes smart-alleck demeanor. Stephenson is one of the more under-rated, even in animation circles. He has appeared on camera but it's in cartoons where his legacy resides. He became an integral part of Hanna-Barbera in the 1960's, 1970's, and nearly all of the 1980's. His most famous character role is Mr Slate, the short-tempered boss of Fred Flintstone on "The Flintstones" series. Stephenson originated the voice in 1960 and remained with the role ever since. Stephenson most often uses the same gruff, sometimes irritated vocalization on many cartoon characters...that 'voice' is sprinkled throughout Hanna-Barbera in many programs that you never know when that 'voice' will pop up. In addition to what I call that 'voice', Stephenson did mimic celebrities. The two he often did vocal impressions of were Joe Flynn and Boris Karloff. He also did a Bela Lugosi impression on a character known as The Great Fondoo. Stephenson's Joe Flynn voice was the smart-alleck...or the easily frazzled boss annoyed with the slightest problem in life. A great display of Stephenson's Joe Flynn take-off can be heard on "The Hair Bear Bunch" where Stephenson plays the character of zoo keeper Mr Peevly. Also, on "Inch High Private Eye" he uses the voice for Finkerton. Another use of that Joe Flynn voice is on "Grape Ape and Mumbley" as the character, Schnooker. The late 1960's revival of "Dragnet" featured Stephenson as the voice at the end of the show who would read the verdict of whichever criminal was sent to court on that episode. He isn't the one who was heard at the start of the shows with the famous phrase: "The story you're about to see is true...". That particular voice-over was provided by George Fenneman. Stephenson's Karloff voices were primarily used on several episodes of "Scooby-Doo". In 1977 he was called on to voice Doggy Daddy and Mildew Wolf for "Scooby's Laff-a-Lympics". Each character was an impression of a celebrity. Doggy Daddy's origins go back to the early 1960's. The original voice actor was Doug Young and the character was a cartoon parody of Jimmy Durante. Mildew Wolf originally appeared on a series called "Cattanooga Cats", voiced by Paul Lynde. So Stephenson not only had to vocally mimic Jimmy Durante but also do an about face and mimic the higher pitch of Paul Lynde. Stephenson continued as Doggy Daddy into the 1980's on various cartoon specials. The one constant remained Mr Slate...he last voiced this role in a legitimate performance in 2001 and later voiced the role in a spoof appearance on the series "Johnny Bravo" in 2004. To date, that is Stephenson's last time voicing Mr Slate. He has been retired since 2006. He was born on August 9, 1923.

#3- Don Messick: Now we're up into the Top-3. Messick's career is rooted mostly on Hanna-Barbera cartoons released in the late 1950's through the 1990's. His talent, similar to that of Frank Welker, was vocal sound-effects and strange noises. However, though, Messick's commanding voice could be heard on hundreds of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons ranging between 1957-1965. At MGM, Messick was the voice of Droopy in selected cartoons in which voice actor, Bill Thompson, was unavailable. Messick would later voice Droopy on a full-time basis in the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. Messick's career is also tied to Daws Butler's due to this stay at Hanna-Barbera. Messick began to gain notoriety in the animation field due to his professional partnership with Daws Butler in the early days of TV animation. "Ruff and Reddy", "Huckleberry Hound", "Yogi Bear", and "Quickdraw McGraw" were all major hit TV shows featuring the voices of both men. Messick could be heard in the roles: Ruff, Professor Gizmo, Pixie Mouse, Major Minor, Boo-Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, and any number of nameless roles and villains appearing in a single episode. Also, Messick was heard as the off-camera narrator...turn on any episode of "Yogi Bear" or "Ruff and Reddy" and you can hear Messick's voice welcoming viewers and setting up the scene. A typical line: "While most bears are hibernating, one bear, namely Yogi, says hibernating is for the birds, not the bears" and then the story unfolds with Yogi talking to the camera or to Boo-Boo. In 1962 Messick was cast as Astro on "The Jetsons". He voiced the character of Arnold on "The Flintstones" as well as a long-list of one-shot roles. After 1965, the Hanna-Barbera studio started to venture into more action-oriented cartoons...a lot of them centered around outer space. Messick voiced an aray of space aliens and several lead characters, notably Vapor Man on "The Galaxy Trio" and Benton Quest on "Jonny Quest". In 1968 he voiced Muttley, a snickering dog side-kick of Dick Dastardly. After a few more years of those kinds of cartoons, Messick landed the starring role that often eluded him...it was 1969 and Don Messick started his long run as cowardly Great Dane, Scooby-Doo in "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?". Messick continued in this role throughout the 1970's and 1980's and into the early 1990's when "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" had ended production in 1991. In 1981 Messick began voicing Papa Smurf on "The Smurfs"...this role continued until 1990. In 1990, Messick was at Warner Brothers...giving voice to a new character, Hamton Pig, on "Tiny Toons Adventures". This would be Messick's last major cartoon character. In 1993 he revived Droopy for "Droopy: Master Detective" in which he has a son named Dripple. He was voicing Benton Quest in 1996. Messick suffered a stroke inside a recording studio according to what I've read through the years and he officially retired days later...passing away the following year. September 7, 1926 - October 24, 1997.

#2- Daws Butler: In the runner-up slot is this voice actor. Some more in depth voice people would say Daws should be at the top and the #1 be runner-up but the basis for this ranking is longevity, first and foremost, and impact second. Butler was a skilled performer, mimic, writer, and actor. He also sang in character. His earliest success is with Stan Freberg on the puppet series "Time For Beany" which ran 1949-1954. The series was the creation of former Warner Brothers producer Bob Clampett. Butler gave voice to Beany and Captain Huffenpuff. Stan Freberg gave voice to Cecil and Dishonest John. Those were the four main characters and the two would voice the other lesser-known characters that popped up, literally. Butler and Freberg collaborated on a series of comedy records for Capitol Records beginning in 1950/1951 and lasting through 1961. A lot of these recordings were re-issued in the early to mid 1990's during the old-time radio boom. Tex Avery, a cartoon producer/animator, hired Butler for a string of wild and silly cartoons released on MGM. One such cartoon short was "Jerky Turkey", released in 1945. Butler does a Jimmy Durante impression. It plays annually around Thanksgiving on Cartoon Network and or Boomerang. Another role Butler voiced was that of the Ronald Colman take-off of a nameless Fox in the Droopy cartoon short "Out Foxed" from 1949 where Droopy and a collection of other dogs are on a fox hunt and the prize is a steak. One of the more heart-warming MGM cartoon shorts Butler was in featured a cab family and the father's bitterness of his son wanting to be a hot-rod/sports car instead of a cab. The short is called "One Cab's Family". Butler voices the Father. Now that i'm discussing these short subject cartoons that Butler's voice appeared in I bet it's all coming back now saying to yourselves "oh I remember THAT one!". Butler gave voice to Chilly Willy and Smedley the Dog, among other voices, on the "Chilly Willy" short subject cartoons. In the late 1950's he was approached by Hanna-Barbera and he became that studio's #1 voice man. He was often un-credited for his voice work...most voice actors were. When the "Loopy De Loop" series was being made, it being a theatrical cartoon and a more bigger budget, Daws received voice credit. Butler and Don Messick teamed up in the studio and recorded hundreds of cartoons together for the next 6 years or so. Butler, an expert impressionist, prided himself on his ability to do legitimate ethnic characters where they didn't sound "cartoonish". At Hanna-Barbera, Butler was the voice of these characters, not in any particular order: Reddy, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Mr Jinx, Dixie Mouse, Snagglepuss, Quickdraw McGraw, Baba Louie, Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse, Wally Gator, Cogswell Cog, Elroy Jetson, Lippy the Lion, Fibber Fox, Hair Bear, and Yahooie. Butler was also the voice of Lamsy Divey, the character often pursued by Mildew Wolf on "Cattanooga Cats". Butler continued doing voice work in the 1970's and 1980's, mostly for Jay Ward's company on a series of TV commercials. Butler was the voice of Cap'n Crunch. However, a lot of his time was spent on his voice acting work-shop, which seen a lot of up and coming voice actors/actresses pass through. In 1987 a documentary was put together of Butler's life/career. The special was narrated by William Conrad, former narrator of the Bullwinkle cartoons but known to TV audiences in the 1970's as "Cannon" and as McCabe, also known as the "Fatman", on the 1980's series "Jake and the Fatman". The documentary aired on PBS stations and was called "Daws Butler: Voice Magician". Among those appearing on the special were Stan Freberg, Don Messick, June Foray, Walter Lantz, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, and Daws' wife, Myrtis Butler, along with a few other associates who knew Daws. A year later Daws passed away...a look back on Daws career is found on a DVD collection of "Yogi Bear" where it offers further commentary by the voice actor's of today who cite Daws as an influence: Tom Kinny, Charlie Adler, Corey Burton, and Nancy Cartwright. November 16, 1916 - May 18, 1988.

As you can see, the higher we go up the Top-10 the longer my "brief" summaries are. Before we reach #1, here's an extra...

Stan Freberg: All you have to do is say "Freberg" and depending on who you ask, they know who you speak of. Freberg is a complicated man to figure out and so I try not to. His satire has touched every facet of entertainment...his legacy is up for grabs. In his career he has cast a lasting legacy on various mediums: radio, big screen, TV, and records. In radio, Freberg is famously referred to as the man who replaced Jack Benny on CBS radio. Jack's radio show was in reruns on radio from 1955 until 1957, when Freberg's radio series started airing. So, technically, Freberg's program replaced Jack's. Freberg's career goes further back...it begins in the mid 1940's at Warner Brothers...teamed up with Mel Blanc. Freberg portrayed a wide range of roles on various Warner Brothers releases in the 1940's through the 1960's. His work was un-credited, though. Freberg and Daws Butler teamed up for "Time For Beany" and as I expressed in the previous entry for Daws Butler, the two recorded comedy records for Capitol. Solo, Freberg became something of a marketing genius by accident. He often stated his hatred for commercials and for other elements of pop-culture and someone got the idea to have Freberg do a commercial the way he felt they should be delivered. One thing led to another and he found himself as a member of the advertising crowd...but something was different about a Freberg commercial. In a lot of them, the idea of selling a product was lampooned and made light of...I believe Freberg, along with Daws Butler, both shared the view that people tend to remember things that are funny or odd, instead of serious advertising which is referred to as "hard sell" in the commercial world. So, with one success after another and clients adding up, Freberg found himself on top of the commercial heap with his funny commercials, which at the time was something new that TV audiences didn't expect. His most popular client was Chun King Chow Mein. Freberg was often heard as the off-camera announcer on these commercials. Freberg won more than a dozen Clio Awards for his commercials. In cartoons, Freberg was known to play Junyer Bear and other slow-witted characters based on the Lenny character from "Of Mice and Men". One of his oddest roles was Pete Puma, a screeching mountain lion character. Freberg continued his commercials on into the 1980's and then returned to radio in the 1990's delivering a syndicated commentary known as "Stan Freberg Here...". It was also during this decade that his music career was re-discovered when CD's re-issues of his 1960's comedy recordings started to re-surface. He also released the long awaited "Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Part Two"...the first part having hit the stores in 1962. For over a decade Freberg's voice was heard on "When Radio Was", an anthology series heard on AM radio stations late at night/early in the morning spotlighting various old-time radio shows each broadcast. Freberg hosted the show until 2006, after having started broadcasting it in 1995. A career retrospective box set was issued, "Tip of the Freeberg", which consisted of just about every major Freberg recording and a new recording called The Conspiriski Theory which pointed out the ironic situation of having three people with similar sounding last names in the news at one time. In later years he provided insight into many classic Warner Brothers cartoons on the DVD collections that have been released. He even narrated one, "Irreverent Imagination", a look at the people behind the scenes at Warner Brothers during the Golden Age. Freberg was born August 7, 1926.

#1- Mel Blanc: Well, it has came down to this. The #1 Voice Acting God goes to Mel Blanc for making 'voice acting' an art form. His longevity in the business is something a lot of actors and actresses only dream of. June Foray is by far and away the only other voice artist close to Blanc's achievements. Blanc is also the most known voice actor because he received screen credit on the Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons beginning in the early 1940's through the mid 1960's. In addition to this, Blanc also appeared in a lot more mainstream TV news and talk shows. He, more than any other voice artist, made frequent appearances on the late-night talk shows but even more importantly as a recurring cast-member on "The Jack Benny Program", first on radio starting in 1939, and then on TV off and on from 1950 through 1965. His high-profile image afforded him super-star treatment a lot of the time...but he genuinely was a star...one of the biggest comic foils for Jack Benny for decades. On Jack's radio and TV programs, Blanc was heard and later seen as Professor LeBlanc. On the radio and TV series, Blanc was heard as the train-station announcer. On radio, Blanc was heard as Jack's car, the Maxwell. Also, Blanc was the voice of Carmichael the Polar Bear and Polly the Parrot. In one of the most celebrated sketches, Blanc is playing a Mexican with a tendacy to say one word at a time. Jack encounters this character at numerous times and it always leads into what is known as the "Si Cy" routine where Jack becomes an interviewer of sorts asking the Mexican questions, to which he answers with a "Si"...this goes on for about a minute. Jack asks him what his name is, Blanc says "Cy", to which Jack repeats "Cy?" and Blanc replies "Si". It goes on and on like this until the typical pay-off at the end. The timing made it funny no matter how many times one watches it. Meanwhile, at Warner Brothers, a controversial claus in his new contract offered him "exclusive voice credit" which meant that only his name appeared on screen at the start of each cartoon...this claus was necessary or Warner Brothers was going to lose him to a rival studio and in an effort to make him stay put, they began to show "voice characterization: Mel Blanc" on all of their cartoon releases for the next 15-16 years or more. In the later made-for-TV cartoons of the mid 1960's for Warner Brothers often produced in tandem with DePatie-Freleng Productions, the other voice artist's names began to appear along with Mel's: Stan Freberg, June Foray, and Ralph James. The characters Mel Blanc gave life to include 90% of the entire Warner Brothers library: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweety, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew, Tazmanian Devil, Henery Hawk, Sylvester Junior, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E Coyote {during a few cartoons where the character spoke}, Elmer Fudd {late '60s/early '70s}. In addition to those main characters, Blanc also voiced a lot of one-shot characters within the cartoons. Blanc was heard as Private Snafu in a series of war cartoons and not many know it but he was the original voice of Woody Woodpecker and Toucan Sam. In the 1960's Blanc ventured over to Hanna-Barbera and promptly became Barney Rubble on "The Flintstones". Blanc was also heard as the prehistoric household appliances such as the garbage disposal and the vaccum cleaner as examples. It was during this series that Blanc nearly died in a car wreck. He survived the crash...reportedly being awaken from a coma by a nurse asking him "how are you feeling, Bugs?". He remained bed ridden for almost two years and recorded a handful of episodes of "The Flintstones" while in the hospital bed at his house. His co-stars would gather around his bed while a microphone dangled over-head. After making a recovery, he re-enterted a real recording studio again. Meanwhile, on "The Jetsons", Blanc was heard as Mr Spacely. A minor character emerged in the mid '60s named Deputy Droop-a-Long, paired with Don Messick's role as Richochet Rabbit. In another buddy-buddy cartoon, Blanc was heard as Sneezley Seal opposite Howard Morris' role of Breezley Bruin. In yet another cartoon, Blanc was heard as Hardy Har Har, a depressed paranoid character paired with Lippy the Lion, a character voiced by Daws Butler. One of the few new characters came along in the mid '70s, Quack-Up, a goofy talking duck who spoke a lot like Daffy Duck at his most hyper. The character was part of "Yogi's Space Race". Another new character was Captain Caveman...in the 1980's Blanc's major role was that of Heathcliff, a tough-acting orange cat. Like most of his peers, Blanc continued to give voice to his signature characters when called upon rather than starring as new characters. In 1988 he was heard on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". There is a famous piano plying scene between Donald and Daffy Duck...representing the first time that the two iconic characters shared a scene together. Mel released his life story in 1988 titled "That's Not All, Folks!" which told his story from child-hood on through his decades on radio and TV as a voice artist and actor. Blanc's last performance is heard on "Jetsons: The Movie", which was released in 1990. He had passed away in 1989. The dialogue, of course, had been recorded earlier. Mel and George O'Hanlon {voice of George Jetson} had both passed away prior to the film's release in 1990 and the movie was dedicated to both of them. Daws Butler, who had voiced Elroy Jetson, had passed away in 1988 prior to production starting on "Jetsons: The Movie". May 30, 1908 - July 10, 1989.