Speaking of terrific folks who do voices for cartoons, here are six of the best. The guys in the back row are, left to right, Gregg Berger, Gary Owens and Will Ryan. Up front, we have Bob Bergen, June Foray and Janet Waldo. (The pink things you see on some of them are little "heart" stickers.) This picture was taken last night at a Red Lobster restaurant and you may be wondering what the occasion was. Well, lemme tell you…
As you may recall, Saturday was the birthday of June, who is only my favorite actress in the world…the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha and Tweety's owner, Granny and so many others. June celebrated that evening with her family in a small gathering.
Sunday, my pal Stu Shostak arranged to take June to dinner. It was just going to be Stu, Stu's lady Jeanine Kasun and June…just the three of them going to a restaurant June likes for a quiet meal. That's what June thought. So they get to the restaurant and, lo and behold, June happens to run into me and my friend, Carolyn Kelly. June is surprised at the "coincidence" and suggests we all eat together. I tell her, "No, we're meeting some friends here…but come say hello to them." So I lead her to a private room where two dozen of her friends have gathered for a Surprise Party. And boy, was she surprised.
She was surprised to see some fellow voice actors (named above). She was surprised to see some great animators like Carl Bell and Art Leonardi. She was surprised to see Earl Kress and Jerry Beck and various dates and spouses of all these folks. She was surprised by the cake and Will playing his guitar and a lovely poem that Janet and her daughter wrote and performed and…well, she was really surprised.
I need to apologize to many of June's friends who weren't included. We could easily have filled a room ten times the size but could only get one that seated 24. I wish you could all have been there because it was an evening none of us will ever forget. June certainly won't.