Well, apart from a sound system that yielded all the fidelity of a cell phone in a bathysphere, a good time was had by all at the Evening with Stan Freberg which was held last evening under the auspices of A.S.I.F.A. (That's Mr. Freberg at right in this vintage silly photo from Art Linkletter's People Are Funny program.) A hall full of animation fans and creators — mostly, the latter — gathered to watch old cartoons that featured Stan's vocal stylings, and to hear him interviewed by m.e. Stan was witty and informative on a range of animation-related topics, ranging from working with the likes of Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett to the problems of servicing his clients as a maker of funny commercials. I'm not sure folks realize how many cartoons Stan appeared in over the years. Since 1944, when he started, through the sixties, he was heard in the output of every single Hollywood-based cartoon studio that produced theatrical animation. (He was even in the one cartoon — which we showed — that resulted from Republic Studios' short-lived attempt to get into the animation field.) Since the sixties, he's been in countless TV cartoon shows, but we never even got around to them.
I'm too tired right now to report anything Stan said, and it wouldn't be the same coming from me, anyway. But, since I use these pages as a kind of personal diary, I did want to put down the following: There was an amazing sensation of love and respect in the auditorium this evening in Glendale. The folks who turned out didn't just want to hear a funny man or see funny cartoons. They came to meet a personal hero or, at the very least, a man whose work has always been very special to them. On the way out, someone said to me, "I just met Stan Freberg and I still can't believe I just met Stan Freberg." As long as I've been in this business, and as many people as I've met, I still understand that feeling. I hope I always do.