Actor Sid Raymond has died at the age of 97. During his 70+ year career, he appeared in countless roles on TV, in the movies, on stage and on radio but his face was probably best known for his long run as a goofy bartender in commercials for Schlitz Beer. His voice, however, was best known for coming out of the mouths of two famous cartoon characters — Katnip the Cat in the "Herman & Katnip" cartoons, and the overgrown infant duck, Baby Huey.
This article, which is an Adobe PDF file, will tell you more about his life and times. In the meantime, let's remember Sid through his work. Below, I've linked us to Quack-a-Doodle-Doo, which was the first of twelve Baby Huey cartoons made by Paramount Studios between 1950 and 1959. You may note in the credits the names of Marty Taras and Dave Tendlar. Dave, we've mentioned recently on this site. Marty Taras is often cited as the creator of the character, having worked not only on the cartoons but also on his early comic book appearances, most of which were written by Larz Bourne. (I'm not an expert on Baby Huey but my understanding is that the character was created for the Paramount cartoon and that because of the lead time involved in animation, his first comic book appearance — in the back of Casper the Friendly Ghost #1, published by St. John in 1949 — actually came out several months before this first cartoon hit theaters, which occurred March of 1950.)
But enough Huey history. This is a moment to salute the fine work of Sid Raymond. Here's an example of the fine work of Sid Raymond…
