Category Archives: Animation

This will only be of interest to folks obsessed with comic books and animation art. The rest of you can skip on to the next item.

In 1978, Hanna-Barbera had a short-lived cartoon show called The C.B. Bears. In connection with it, a coloring book was done. He didn't work on the cover but all of the interiors were done by one rather famous (in this field) artist. His name appeared nowhere on the book and as far as I know, I'm the only person alive who knows he drew this…and only because he told me and showed me some of the pages he was working on. You can see a few more interior pages below and over at this site which likes to scan pages out of old coloring books.

It's rather an unusual assignment for this gentleman…and no, it isn't Jack Kirby. Anyone want to guess who it is? I'll post the answer in twenty-four hours and credit the first three people who get it, assuming three people get it.

In the works is a (mostly) live-action Yogi Bear movie. Yogi and Boo Boo are to be CGI-animated a la similar features with Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield, Rocky & Bullwinkle and Scooby Doo. Everything else, we're told, will be actual human beings.

I don't believe in reviewing a movie you haven't seen, let alone (as with this one) a film that hasn't even been made yet. So let's acknowledge that the Yogi pic could turn out to be a wonderful surprise. Let's also acknowledge that if it isn't, it won't spoil whatever affection some of us have for Yogi Bear…or at least, it shouldn't.

For several months earlier this year, all the top cartoon voice actors in town were auditioning to supply the voice of Yogi…and the ones with whom I've spoken weren't certain to what extent the producers wanted a close carbon of Yogi's original voice, as concocted and performed by the late, loved Daws Butler. Daws left us in 1988 and then on Yogi shows that were later produced, his sound was usually replicated by one of his honor students, Greg Burson. Greg's facsimile was about as perfect a job of voice-matching as you could ever hope to find. Alas, Greg died in July of last year. Since Daws left us, a few other folks have played Yogi with varying degrees of fidelity.

Every single one of the voice actors I know who auditioned for the feature also said something to me like, "I did it but it was a waste of time. They're going to pick a star." I said I wasn't sure. The Rocky & Bullwinkle film didn't. The Scooby Doo films, with no star name voicing Scooby, have been pretty successful. But as it turns out, they've gone the star route. At last report, Dan Aykroyd was in talks to voice the smarter-than-average bear and rumor has it that they want Justin Timberlake to play Boo Boo. Perhaps either or both have been signed by now.

Many in the cartoon voice biz rail about this kind of casting. They'll tell you that superb vocal work is done every day by seasoned voiceover professionals…pros who aren't cast solely because they're known for their work in some other venue. Absolutely true. Then again, there are probably plenty of unknowns out there who could give fine performances in the starring roles of any live-action movie and they aren't usually hired, either. I think it's a mistake — this trend of ignoring professional cartoon voice actors when it comes time to cast professional cartoon voices — but I understand why they make it.

Stars can kickstart a movie with the public. A studio exec once explained it to me as the "innocent 'til proven guilty" principle. If you have a new comedy coming out and you have Steve Martin in the lead, potential filmgoers will presume it's a funny movie until they hear otherwise. If you have an unknown in that role, it's the other way around: The movie starts off having to prove it's funny. So star names can be valuable in marketing; in inducing chains and overseas distributors to book a film. Studios love early bookings because they minimize financial risk. Also, if you've made a gobbler, star names can get audiences into the theater that first weekend before the bad reviews and buzz start keeping them away.

Star names can also give a project a certain helpful status. In the seventies, when the Salkinds announced that they were going to produce a live-action Superman movie, no one took it seriously. No one expected the movie to get made or if it did, to be a picture of any import. Then they signed Marlon Brando for what was basically a cameo role and they paid him a sum that seemed staggering at the time…and absurd. As a per-screen-minute fee, it was insane but it changed the whole way the industry viewed the proposed Superman movie. Suddenly, it was a film that was probably going to be produced and probably going to be big and important. In that sense, it was probably a brilliant move. It made the movie not only happen but by the time it hit theaters, everyone knew about it and considered its opening a major event.

Still, the Yogi casting is a bit mystifying. I can't see that Mr. Aykroyd brings any of that to the endeavor. I think he's one of the most talented comic actors of our time but when was the last time anyone said, "Hey, let's go see that new Dan Aykroyd movie"? Even his biggest grosser, the original Ghostbusters, wasn't really a star-driven film…and that was 23 years ago. So his name alone can't mean that much.

The voice actors who said they were expecting a star name to be signed were all expecting someone like Will Ferrell or Jack Black, who are well-known to the vast part of the moviegoing audience that's too young to have grown up on Yogi Bear. One actor said, "They'll cast someone contemporary, figuring that will make Yogi more contemporary." I don't see that Dan Aykroyd does that, either. I'm wondering if today a movie producer had the rights to do a Blues Brothers or Coneheads movie and there was no contractual or personal obligation to involve Aykroyd if they'd even want him. Some exec who looked and/or sounded a lot like his old Irwin Mainway character would be saying, "Danny? A genius but these kids today…they don't know who the hell he is."

I'm going to guess/hope he gave a killer audition as Yogi…because that's the only thing I can think of that might justify what is presumably a seven-figure salary plus points. If that's the case, great. Because I'd like to see it do well, especially if it has some resemblance to the Yogi Bear I loved as a kid. I think what we're all afraid of is that the folks behind this film don't feel about Yogi the way we did and still do. We fear they're thinking that replicating and celebrating the original Yogi isn't enough; that they still need a Dan Aykroyd to add something different to it.

I hope that's not the reason they chose who they chose. There are things about the smarter-than-average bear that made him beloved and have kept him so, long enough to warrant doing this movie. One of them was the spirit that Daws put into the character. If you don't have that, you don't have Yogi. And if you don't have Yogi, you don't have a Yogi Bear movie.

Arnold Stang was, as we all know, the voice of Top Cat. But he wasn't the first voice. Apparently, when the show was developed, the Hanna-Barbera crew had in mind to employ the Phil Silvers-like delivery that their star actor, Daws Butler, also supplied for Hokey Wolf. Daws does not seem to have actually recorded any episodes before the decision was made to seek another voice. Why? When I asked him, Joe Barbera said he didn't recall so we're left to speculate.

Perhaps the studio feared that the show would come out so close to Bilko that someone would sue. It was similar in so many ways and they weren't helping differentiate it by hiring Maurice "Doberman" Gosfeld to supply the voice of Benny the Ball. (Interestingly, shortly after Top Cat ended production, Allan Melvin — who'd played one of Sgt. Bilko's two corporals, became the star of several H-B cartoons…and Harvey Lembeck, who played the other corporal, turned up in a few unbilled roles on Hanna-Barbera shows.) Or perhaps there was the fear that the Hokey Wolf voice was too identified with that character or with kids' shows.

In any case, the studio cast a character actor named Michael O'Shea to play Top Cat. O'Shea was a minor star in 50's television. He was nominated in 1955 for an Emmy as "Most Outstanding New Personality" but lost to George Gobel. (So did another nominee in the category that year, Walt Disney.) Mr. O'Shea was married to actress Virginia Mayo and did mainly bit parts in movies and TV shows throughout the sixties and seventies when, it is said, he also worked for the C.I.A. in an undercover capacity. He does not appear to have done any other animation voicework.

O'Shea recorded four or five episodes of Top Cat before the decision was made to replace him. My pal Earl Kress and I have wondered if at any point, they considered giving the role to Jerry Mann, an actor who was doing some work for the studio at the time, usually supplying a voice that was in the Phil Silvers ballpark, though not as close as Daws' semi-impression. Barbera seems to have liked Mann's Silvers-like voice and employed it in several installments of The Flintstones, including giving it to Dino in the one episode where the loyal pet spoke.

Arnold Stang was an odd choice, as he was usually associated with milquetoast, whiny characters and Top Cat was a cool, confident fellow. But someone thought he was worth a read and when he auditioned, Hanna and Barbera liked what they heard. Before the week was out, they had him signed and he re-recorded the relevant lines in the shows that had already been done. He was quite wonderful in the part. (Ironically, a few years after the show was cancelled, Arnold relocated to the East Coast and so he was unavailable when H-B featured Top Cat in a guest appearance on a kids' record. When that happened, they usually had Daws Butler do the Hokey Wolf voice…and Daws also used it in one episode of Top Cat where he played a rival con-man/feline. Arnold did return to do T.C. in the 1985 series, Yogi's Treasure Hunt.)

While we're talking Stang Voice History: Many obits note that Arnold was the voice of a character called Shorty who served for a time as Popeye's sidekick in wartime cartoons produced by Famous Studios. They make it sound like a long, important gig. Just for the record, Shorty only appeared in three cartoons and Arnold only did his voice in the third, Moving Aweigh. The first two were Happy Birthdaze and Marry-Go-Round, and Jack Mercer supplied Shorty's voice in them. The character looked a little like Arnold (more so in the third cartoon) and sounded a little like Arnold even when Mercer did the role…but though Arnold was heard in many Famous Studios cartoons, including a few other Popeyes, he only played Shorty in one.

Over at www.juneforay.com, we arranged things so you could order a copy of June Foray's autobiography and get it autographed by the first lady of cartoon voicing, herself…the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Granny and countless others. Many of you realized what a great opportunity this was and you ordered. Others of you have been putting it off…so here's fair warning. When our current supply is out, we're going to stop shlepping copies over to June's house to sign or making her come over to my place.

The book will still be available after that…and if you happen to be someplace where June's appearing, she'll be glad to sign a copy for you. But you'll no longer be able to just buy an autographed copy for a few clicks. It will only get more difficult.

Did You Grow Up With Me, Too? is the story of the Queen of Voiceover, the legendary June Foray. My pal Earl Kress and I helped her with the text and designed the book…but it's June's story, told in (mostly) her own words. You'll read how a short person from Springfield came to have the biggest — well, let's say most in-demand — mouth in Hollywood. June writes of her days working for Warner Brothers cartoons for Chuck Jones and other legendary directors there; of performing with Stan Freberg on his records and radio show; of working on the top radio programs of the forties, including a series with Steve Allen; of becoming the Squirrel half of "Moose and Squirrel" for Jay Ward; of founding the Hollywood chapter of ASIFA, the International Animation Society; of looping and dubbing major motion pictures…and so much more. All of this is illustrated with photos from June's private collection.

Enough sales pitch. If you're a fan of June's — and how could you not be? — get your order in while we're still doing this. You'll regret it if you don't.

This is a little far in advance so I'll try to mention it again closer to the date. Every year when I go to WonderCon in San Francisco, I stop by a fine school/workshop there that teaches the art of voiceover and I conduct a class. The operation is called Voice One and on Monday, April 5, 2010, I'll be teaching a class called Cartoon Connection, all about how to do voices for animation. If you're attending WonderCon and/or reside in the area, you might want to hear whatever it is I have to say about how you should say whatever someone like me tells you to say. Say what?

Today's Google logo notes the birthday of one of America's great cartoonists, Elzie Crisler Segar (1894-1938). Mr. Segar wrote and drew a comic strip called Thimble Theatre, beginning in 1919 and continuing until his death. By that time, the strip had evolved into a showplace for one of its characters, the one-eyed sailor named Popeye, who popped up in it in '29 and nudged most of the other players aside.

The animated cartoons of the character, which began in 1933, were so popular that they came to define Popeye the Sailor for most people. There are comic strip purists who resent this, arguing that Segar's strip was the greater achievement and that it deserves to be remembered as more than just the spawning ground for the spinach-eater and his pals. They're not wrong except that some of them fail to note that the Popeye cartoons — at least, the first decade or so of them — were pretty darned wonderful, too.

Still, if you've never experienced Segar's strip, you only know a little of what a wonderful character is Popeye. Fantagraphics Books is reprinting the series in wonderful collections and you'd do well to check 'em out. Here's a link to order Volume One and if you fall in love, as I suspect you will, you can easily find your way to the other volumes. There have been four to date, all magnificent.

Actors who do voices for video games are concerned about the pay scales for what they do…and rightly so. Some of those jobs involve doing literally thousands of lines of dialogue and/or screaming for hours on end. I have one friend who spent two days recording a game…for not-wonderful money. And at the end of the second day, his throat was so raw that he couldn't talk (i.e., work) for almost a week. This article will tell you about it…and don't miss the audio sidebar featuring Dee Bradley Baker, who's one of the best.

Just came across this photo on my D drive. I'm not sure who took it but it was in June Foray's backyard around 1972. The occasion was a sale of animation cels that had been donated to raise money for ASIFA Hollywood, a fine organization that has done much to boost the prestige and preservation of cartoons. The society was started on June's instigation and one weekend, she had this big event to come up with the cash to get the thing going. It did and it's still around, bigger than ever.

Who's in the pic? Back row: The gent at left is the great Bob Clampett, who directed some of the best Warner Brothers cartoons and later gave us Beany and Cecil. To the right of Bob is Shel Dorf, the recently-deceased founder of the Comic-Con in San Diego. And then at the right in the back row is me. In front of Bob is my longtime friend, Tom Stern. And then the guy with the yellow shirt is Richard Butner, who took over around then as the chairman of the Comic-Con…another one of those indispensable folks who made the con what it is today. And that's about it for this photo.

So last evening, famed radio legend/announcer Gary Owens calls to ask if I'm going to be at the big Hanna-Barbera event tomorrow night, meaning tonight. "What big Hanna-Barbera event?" I ask. Gary explains that the Paley Center for Media (aka "The TV Museum") in Beverly Hills is having a tribute event for that studio. He's the host and he thinks I should be there. Since I always do everything Gary tells me — how can you resist that voice? — I decide to go. I subsequently find out that it's a two-part event. There's a panel discussion with former H-B employees. That's open to the public. And then after that, there's an invitation-only reunion of folks who worked for Hanna-Barbera or have otherwise been important in its history.

I haven't been invited but heck, I worked for Hanna-Barbera for many years. All those Richie Rich shows didn't write themselves…though if Bill Hanna could have figured out a way to make that happen, they would have. I decide to go anyway, starting with the open-to-all panel discussion in a small auditorium. It's quite nice. Gary hosts and interviews Willie Ito, Ken Spears, Jerry Eisenberg and Butch Hartman. Many H-B folks fill the room. In the front row alone, they have June Foray, Casey Kasem and Marvin Kaplan.

Afterwards and out in the lobby, I mingle with the aforementioned, plus others who are arriving for the party. Everyone is herded upstairs to the rooftop garden…and everyone's name is on the R.S.V.P. list but mine. A nice lady tells me that since I'm not on there, I cannot be admitted. I'm about to slink away in utter alienation when I hear a familiar voice tell her, "He's a very important person. I'll vouch for him." It's Casey Kasem and while the lady may not know who I am, she sure knows him and she knows his voice. I have the feeling he would have said that about anyone who was being kept out but, hey, it works. "Go on in," she tells me.

So in I go, and the place is crammed with even more folks I know and have worked with. I Twitter a joke about how everyone except me has gotten so much older…but the truth is that most people, some of whom I last saw in the mid-eighties, look only a wee bit older and some look the same or younger. There is much hugging and picture-taking and a lot of "So what are you up to, these days?" Stories are swapped of those who are present and those who have left us, particularly the late Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.

Some of us had our differences back then and some us were glad to get outta there when we did. But that was then, this is now and we're all aware of having been part of something important that matters to a lot of people and no longer exists. For good or ill, and I could name plenty of items in both categories, that kind of cartoon studio ain't around no more. It was, among other differences from today, the kind that had a sense of continuity; where if they hired you, there was a good chance you might be there for many years and many shows, working with pretty much the same people. These days, everyone's a transient, hired for one series, gone when it's completed.

There's an exhibit up in the Paley Center and it'll be there for a while if you want to go see it. It's art and artifacts from H-B shows, and all the reunion-goers stop and look at it. But truth to tell, they're more interested in looking at each other. And catching up. And renewing old friendships. And I even saw two people who'd fought every day at the studio hug and act like old pals. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses are exchanged and everywhere I go, I hear lunch plans being made. Some even involve me.

Back in April, I skipped my 40 year high school reunion. I was already committed to a comic book convention in Calgary when they announced it, but I don't think I'd have gone if I had been in town. Apart from a half-dozen classmates who might not even be there, I just don't care that much about my high school days. They're long gone. So are my Hanna-Barbera days but somehow, they're a lot more important to me. So thank you, Gary. And you too, Casey. I take back every nasty thing I ever said about disc jockeys.

They say that if a woman listens to Mozart when she's pregnant, her child will grow up to be a musician. He or she may not be a great musician but the music that seeps through Ma's belly and into the uterus will somehow orient that fetus in that direction. I don't know if that's true but when my mother was carrying me, she says she watched a lot of Time for Beany. It was a very funny, addictive show.

That was the puppet version which starred (originally) Daws Butler and Stan Freberg. Later, there was an animated version which I enjoyed outside the womb. Both were produced by a clever gent named Bob Clampett, who I would later get to know well. Bob had a grand career. Before Time for Beany and the cartoon Beany & Cecil, he was one of the best directors of Warner Brothers cartoons. Some would even argue he was the best. I liked Bob and I liked darn near everything he ever did.

A few years ago, a superb DVD came out that mainly covered the animated Beany & Cecil but it was crammed full of special features about Bob's life, including materials from his vast files. The man saved everything and his son Robert Junior, in assembling the DVD, dipped into those archives and offered up some gems. I can't think of another animation-related DVD I've ever bought that gave you more for your money. Alas…maddeningly…it was not a big success. It did not spawn a whole mess of other volumes and it went out of print and became hard to find.

So now we have two happy announcements. One is that Volume Two has been assembled anyway and it'll be out next month. The other joyous news is that the Clampett Studio, run by his family, has stumbled across a few boxes of Volume One in the warehouse. So if you didn't get one, you can get one now when you order this new collection. It has my highest recommendation and I can't imagine that the new volume won't, as well.

Go here. Click. Enjoy. You will.

Earlier today, I wrote here about how cartoon voice actors are too often not treated with the same respect as on-camera actors. As it turns out, my friend Paul Harris was discussing the same topic today on his popular radio show in St. Louis on station KMOX. His guest was vocal thespian Billy West, who's best known as about a third of the cast of Futurama. When it comes to not being treated right, Billy has some examples from his own career that would be funny if they weren't so maddening.

Aw, heck. They're funny anyway. You can hear Paul's interview with the brilliant Mr. West on this page. It runs about 16 minutes and if you enjoy it, browse Paul's site and you'll find plenty of other interviews you'll enjoy.

I've just ordered my copy of the new Looney Tunes DVD set from Amazon, and you can do the same thing by clicking here. Knowing you, I presume you'll want one because from all reports, it's an excellent presentation of the material, and we all know how wonderful the material is. I also know you'll want this, the four DVD set, as opposed to the two DVD set that's also being released and which only has half the cartoons on it. The line-up of chosen cartoons is pretty good.

Matter of fact, the main complaint I've heard about it is that they picked films that are so good, they're shown constantly to the point where some of us are sick of them. (I have a personal rule: I don't attend any cartoon festival where they're showing What's Opera, Doc? It's not that it's not a fine cartoon but for about two decades, it was a rare program of cartoons that did not include it, usually as the finale. I once attended a Betty Boop fest, secure in the knowledge that it would all be Max Fleischer shorts animated three thousand miles from the WB Cartoon Studio and — sure enough — the host came out and announced, "In addition to some great Betty Boop cartoons, we have a bonus for you tonight." The minute he said that, I knew: What's Opera, Doc? Had to be…and it was. I don't think it's as wonderful as some other cartoons Chuck Jones directed and and even if it were the best, enough is enough. I don't need another viewing…I can see it in my sleep and hear Elmer's voice echoing, "Kill da wabbit," deep in my eustachian tubes.

Blessedly, What's Opera, Doc? is not in this new DVD release…but I'll bet it's in the next one.) Anyway, I would have preferred some more obscure shorts but I understand: The better this release sells, the more likely it is that someone at Warner Home Video will say, "Hey, we've got to release all our cartoons on DVD," which is probably inevitable but it would be nice if they got on with it. So once again, here's the link to order yours. And make sure you watch Early to Bet, which is on Disc Four, and which is among my favorite WB cartoons that we aren't all sick of seeing.