Here in its entirety is a current NBC press release…
"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" returns to NBC in the fall of 2002 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the program's first airing on the network in 1962. "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" was the first ever made-for-primetime animated television special and is credited for starting the genre. Making its network debut on December 18, 1962, the 60-minute special aired for six consecutive years on NBC. The holiday classic is a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and features original songs by Broadway greats Jule Stein and Bob Merrill (Funny Girl), as well as the voice talents of Jim Backus (Gilligan's Island), Morey Amsterdam (The Dick Van Dyke Show), Jack Cassidy and June Foray (The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle).
This is all nice to hear…but the composer's name was Jule Styne, not Stein. And June Foray was not in the show at all. She's not in the credits and her voice isn't present in the soundtrack, and I phoned her last night and double-checked, just to make certain. It ain't her. For some reason though, her name keeps turning up in articles and database entries about the special.
While I've got you here: There's an audio outtake that is sometimes circulated on the Internet, plus it turns up on some of those "Celebrities At Their Worst" CDs. It purports to be Don Messick and June Foray ad-libbing dirty dialogue at a recording session…and it isn't. I mean, it is two cartoon voice actors screwing around in a studio, but it's not Don and June. The man in the recording is the late Bob Ridgely. Ridgely was an on-camera actor (he was the executioner in Blazing Saddles, the flasher in High Anxiety, the game show host in Melvin and Howard, the bigoted businessman in Philadelphia, and the TV announcer in That Thing You Do, to name five of his many credits.) He was also a TV promo announcer, a cartoon voice actor (Thundarr the Barbarian, Tarzan, Flash Gordon) and one of the filthiest, funniest people I ever knew.
That's definitely him in that audio clip, not Messick. I think I know who the woman is but I'm not 100% certain so I won't mention a name. It is, however, absolutely not June. If anyone tells you it is, tell them they're wrong. Let's see if we can unattach her name from this.