Search Results for: foray

Somewhere down this page, April Winchell writes about her complex, contentious relationship with her father, Paul. I obviously don't want to get in the middle of a family matter but people are writing me to ask if what she says is true or exaggerated or wacko or what. I'll just say that I don't think anyone who knew Paul well will think that any of her comments are out of line, and some might be surprised at the amount of compassion shown.

This might be worth noting. Friday evening, I attended a party for June Foray and when I came home, I had an e-mail from a friend with the rumor that Paul Winchell had died. I was skeptical since I'd just come from a gathering of folks who knew Paul and it had not been mentioned. In fact, I had a chat with Paul's agent there and he obviously hadn't heard any such thing. I couldn't check the truth of the rumor that evening since everyone I would have called was still at the party. It took me until around 5:00 the next afternoon to get in touch with someone who confirmed it and I posted my announcement here at 5:36.

By this point, the rumor was making its way through newsgroups and, as nothing had hit the mainstream news outlets, folks were wondering if it was true. After I made my post, some there began arguing as to whether I was a reliable enough source that my report could be believed. (And by the way, that does not bother me at all. I don't think you should even believe every word on the New York Times website, let alone my silly little offering here. A healthy skepticism about anything posted to Ye Olde Internet is not a bad idea.)

A little after 7:00 Saturday evening, April posted on her site that she had just received a call from someone telling her that her father had died. So I heard about it around 21 hours before she did, and I posted it on my site more than an hour before anyone thought to call and inform the man's daughter. That ought to tell you something.

June Foray was honored this evening with a celebration at the Motion Picture Academy,  from whence I have just returned.  It was to honor June's many years of service to the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch. The Academy is, as you may know, a somewhat political entity with various folks lobbying for more attention and money to be directed towards their area of specialty. The lighting people are always pushing for more Oscars to be presented (and more prominently) for lighting, and for more film retrospectives and exhibitions to focus on lighting, etc. June's efforts on her committee are high among the reasons that there are still Oscars for short subjects, and now one for feature animation, and that all are presented in the on-air telecast and treated as major areas. So a load of her friends and cohorts convened to salute her, and there was food and drink and speechifying and applause and a very good time was had by all.

This is as good a place as any to mention that I am assisting Ms. Foray with her long-awaited biography. Soon, I will be advertising here for someone who wants to earn rotten money for transcribing interviews I'll be conducting with her. Right now, I'm asking if anyone out there can help me jog her memory with some of the more obscure things she's done. Her powers of recall are very good but no one could have worked as much as that woman has worked and remember more than about a third of it. The other day, she received a residual check for her work on the Frank Sinatra movie, Dirty Dingus Magee and she called me up and said, "Was I in that? What did I do?" I've never seen the film so she called Frank Sinatra Jr and he didn't know, either. But June's in a lot of movies dubbing other actresses and sometimes children, and I'd like to try and identify as many of them as I can.

In the speeches this evening, director Arthur Hiller mentioned one such role. When he did the 1971 movie, The Hospital, there was a line spoken by Diana Rigg that he thought was not perfect. This was decided during the editing process and as Ms. Rigg was back in England, he brought June in and she redubbed it with a slightly different inflection. She did it so well, he said, that Diana Rigg did not even notice the substitution and had to be told that it had been done and which line it was. That's the kind of thing I'd like to itemize…as many of those as possible. If you know of any, let me know. June is a remarkable woman and I have a feeling this is going to be a remarkable book.

The Animal Planet network is rerunning a couple of shows that may be of interest to cartoon fans. Animal Icons has an episode tonight (and it reruns Saturday morning) called "Animated Animals" that includes interviews with June Foray, Billy West and other great voice folks. There's also an episode about Garfield, which I haven't seen, which runs tomorrow and again on Saturday afternoon, and one on Star Wars creatures and one on Japanese movie monsters. Thanks to George Karlias for reminding me about this stuff.

Yesterday morn, a batch of people who knew and loved Howard Morris gathered to say bye-bye to…Howard Morris. Among the many who were present, I spotted Carl Reiner, Aaron Rubin, Andy Griffith, Betty Lynn, Shelley Berman, Gary Owens, Robert Clary, Ronnie Schell, Johnny Dark, June Foray, Jim MacGeorge, Janet Waldo and Charlie Adler. That's a very incomplete list.

Those who might have expected a sad, downbeat event were put right from the beginning when Howie's son David chose to lead off by showing the "This Is Your Story" sketch from Your Show of Shows, which should still be viewable directly below…

The rabbi then had to admit to the problem of following what many think is the funniest sketch in the history of television. (The rabbi, who was more than up to the task, was Jerome Cutler, who was a stand-up comedian and TV producer before he turned to the rabbinate. There's a saying in the comedy business that you have to find "the right guy for the room," and he sure was.)

Of the many touching speeches, none meant more than one by Carl Reiner, who first met Howie in the days before World War II (that's how far back they go) and who admitted that a large part of both their careers came from one recommending the other for acting or directing gigs. Reiner pointed out that in the sketch that opened the service — the one you clickers just watched — nothing really was written for the performers, especially Howie. The brilliance all came from them taking the premise and running with it, and most of the funniest bits were more-or-less ad-libbed on the live telecast.

In fact, Reiner noted, since it was live, he didn't even see the sketch until a few decades later. He went to see Ten From Your Show of Shows — a theatrical compilation released in 1973 — and said (approximately), "I kept hearing this woman with an annoying, high-pitched laugh filling the theater with her sound until finally, I realized that woman was me." He sat there and howled with laughter, he said. Mostly at Howie Morris.

Following the service in the chapel, many of us motored up to a remote corner of Hillside Memorial Park and watched as a coffin that seemed way too big to contain H. Morris was inserted into a wall that looked like a big filing cabinet of deceased Jews. They put him up high so, when we go to pay our respects, he can look down on us for a change.

That's about all I've got. It was tough turning loose of Howie but I think some of us have now done it. I still can't shake the yearning to hug Uncle Goopy one more time but that's okay. You don't want to turn loose of everything.

Last evening, the San Fernando Valley Chapter of The American Diabetes Association presented the Shirley Kayne Community Service Award to broadcasting legend Gary Owens. I know because my friend Carolyn and I were there to see it, attending a very nice dinner filled with folks from the A.D.A. (mostly doctors) and Gary's friends (mostly comedians). Among the latter were Jonathan Winters, Stan Freberg, Thom Sharp, Fred Willard, Shelley Berman, and Mr. Owens' Laugh-In constituents — Jo Anne Worley, Arte Johnson, Jack Riley, Alan Sues, Henry Gibson and George Schlatter. The stuffed chicken breast we were served seemed a little questionable but since the place was full of doctors, I figured it was safe to eat.

Mr. Winters was introduced and interviewed as a famous doctor, and it was wonderful to see him Jonathan in his natural habitat: Winging it, making up odd and brilliant answers to questions with no idea where he's going. It doesn't get any better than that.

I'm not exactly certain what Gary did to merit this award but I have no doubt he did plenty. Gary has always been so generous with his time it's hard to believe how many hours per week he spends in front of a microphone doing his radio show, recording promo announcements, voicing cartoons, etc. Still, whenever anyone calls with a worthy cause (or even an unworthy one), he's there. A fine, giving gentleman.

Speaking of honors: I forgot to mention that last Friday, some of the same folks gathered for a luncheon as the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters staged a delightful salute of Joanne Worley. The dais included Hal Kanter, Peter Marshall, Tom Kennedy, Alan Sues, Billy Barnes, Mitzi McCall & Charlie Brill, Henry Gibson, Gary Owens, Jackie Joseph, George Schlatter, Fred Willard and Marcia Wallace, and in the audience one could spot Ruth Buzzi, Lily Tomlin, June Foray, Sally Struthers and many other familiar folks. I made a mental note at the time to remember certain funny lines so I could quote them here…and if I'd written this on Friday, I'd probably have remembered them long enough to do this.

Thanks to all who've written with concern about my mother and myself. She's better now but we spent another long night in the U.C.L.A. Medical Center Emergency Room…and by the way, the doctor part of the place is super-efficient but I've never seen unhealthier food than they have in their vending machines. Talk about drumming up business. You'd think a hospital would have trail mix and fruit and maybe a hard-boiled egg or two but no. It was all Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs and a kind of cinnamon bun so noxious that at 4:30 in the A.M., I watched a famished lady buy a package, take one bite and then shot-put the rest into a dumpster across the room. The vending machines did have microwave popcorn and microwave oatmeal-in-a-cup but as the waiting room had no microwave oven, those didn't seem too healthy, either.

I'm way too far behind on work to write about all we've been through here. When I do, I'll expand on what I think I said earlier about how the doctors and nurses and paramedics have all been terrific but that the non-medical folks and the red tape in the system are insane. They keep making mistakes and then no one seems to have the power or responsibility to fix those mistakes. I'll tell you all about some of them once I finish a script that should have been done long ago. If I can just manage to get a couple more days without having to go to some medical facility and argue with people, it will be.

Here are a few dangling topics and follow-ups…

• Yes, I did receive a copy of Rowan Atkinson Live, thank you. Thirty of you offered copies and two just sent them, and I am grateful to you all. By the way, several said, "I bought this and I've never watched it." You should. It's hilarious.
• Another thirty or so of you sent suggestions of good dial-up Internet Service Providers. I'm trying AllVantage on a month-to-month basis and so far, all seems to be well. I'll let you know if it ever stops being well.
• The release date on the fourth volume of Garfield and Friends on DVD has been moved up to August 30. To answer an oft-emailed query, this is the one that includes the first episode with the Singing Ants ("Picnic Panic") and there are plenty of great guest star voices including Victoria Jackson, James Earl Jones, John Moschitta, Don Knotts, Don Messick, Stan Freberg, Buddy Hackett, Bill Kirchenbauer, Jewel Shepard, Dick Gautier, Paul Winchell, June Foray and Charles Aidman. There will be one more volume of DVDs after this and I have no idea when it'll be out…but it does look like we'll make it through all five volumes without any special features or commentary tracks or anything of the sort. Sorry…but it wasn't up to me.
• Yes, I know I still owe you the story about Marty Feldman I promised long ago.
• In this posting, I asked for someone to suggest an article that presented a different view of the Iraq War than the one to which I linked. Russ Maheras suggested this one and Buzz Dixon nominated this article. I'd like to suggest that everyone also read The Downing Street Memo, which would probably be Exhibit A in impeachment proceedings if a Democrat had taken us to war on these terms.

Lastly, I owe an awful lot of e-mails to an awful lot of people. If you're one of them, please be patient. I'm back on deadline for now so there won't be a lot of messages getting answered and there won't be a lot of stuff on this page for a while. All this will pass.

Warner Home Video has finally issued a DVD of the 1960 movie version of Bells Are Ringing, starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin, complete with a glorious hunk of bonus material. There's a short "making of…" documentary, there are cut numbers and alternate takes…and if you have any fondness for this film adaptation of a hit Broadway show, you'll want to order it, which you can do from Amazon by clicking here. I always found the film quite entertaining, if only because it captured the wonderful performance of Ms. Holliday. I never got to see her on stage but there was something so delightful about her screen appearances that I'm sure I missed out on something.

I have two special interests in this movie. One is purely nostalgic: In 1960, I was eight years old and my mother took me on a two-week trip to New York, Hartford and Boston — the first two towns were because I had relatives to meet. In Manhattan, we stayed at the Taft Hotel, went to the Statue of Liberty, attended a live broadcast of the game show, Concentration…and took in two movies. One, which bored me silly, was The Nun's Story. I think my mother didn't like it either, and we walked out on it. The other, which I enjoyed, was Bells Are Ringing, which we saw at the Radio City Music Hall. I liked the film and I liked the fact that there were scenes of walking around New York City, and then when the movie ended, we went out and walked around New York City. When you're eight, as I was, that kind of thing can impress you.

I'm also, as you can see from this site, fascinated by the contribution of great voiceover actors, and Bells Are Ringing has fine, uncredited performances by June Foray, Paul Frees and Shepard Menken. You all know June and Paul from their many appearances, most notably in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, but the late Mr. Menken was equally ubiquitous. (He did almost all the extra voices on The Alvin Show, including the great inventor, Clyde Crashcup.) In Bells Are Ringing, Shep was the announcer in the opening fake commercial, and he's heard in a few other spots. Paul and June provided most of the voices that are heard in phone calls, of which there are many in the film. In the "Drop That Name" musical number, there's one point where two on-camera actors are dubbed by Paul and one actress is dubbed by June. This may not matter to you but when you're fifty-three, as I am, that kind of thing can impress you.

June Foray got a warm reception last evening when she appeared at a Barnes & Noble to sign her new book, Perverse, Adverse and Rottenverse. A lot of her fans turned out to hear her talk about her career and read from the book, and it was just a very nice time. I even learned something I hadn't previously known about June. When director Arthur Hiller was assembling the movie, The Hospital, he needed some dialogue looped by co-star Diana Rigg. Unfortunately, Ms. Rigg was back in England and the release date was drawing near…so June was brought in to do an imitation. I'm going to dig up the DVD and see if I can figure out which lines are June.

Here's another reminder that if you live in the Los Angeles area, you have the rare opportunity to meet June Foray, buy her new book and get her to sign it to you. A goodly chunk of the local animation community will turn out this coming Wednesday evening to salute the First Lady of Cartoon Voicing…the tonsils behind Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Granny and so many more. Your objective is the Barnes & Noble shop in The Grove at Farmers Market, and June will appear at 7:30 PM. Don't miss this one.

Speaking of appearances by animation's greats: On March 16, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people) will be unveiling a wall sculpture at their headquarters out at 5220 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood. Only a few TV legends have been so honored and on that morning at 11 AM, they'll be adding Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera to their Hall of Fame Plaza. Mr. Barbera is expected to attend, even though the Internet Movie Database has somehow decided he passed away in 2004.

I've just sent in a correction. Let's see how long it takes them to change it.

June Foray is not only the first lady of cartoon voicing. She's also the author of Perverse, Adverse and Rottenverse — a collection of humorous essays that are no less funny than all those Stan Freberg records and Jay Ward cartoons that featured her. You can order it from BearManor Media by clicking here. Or if you live in Southern California, there's a better way. Wednesday evening, March 9, June will be signing said book at the Barnes & Noble in The Grove, the upscale shopping center affixed to the Farmers Market. She'll be there at 7:30 and so will a lot of her friends and fans. Show up, meet June and get her to sign your copy.

That there's the cover of Volume 3 of the DVD releases of Garfield and Friends, a cartoon show I wrote and co-produced and voice-directed and, unlike some I've done, actually watched. There will be five of these sets in all and once they've all been issued out, all 121 half-hours of the series will be out there. This one comes out April 19 and you can pre-order it from Amazon by clicking here. What's in it? Well, no one's told me but if I've done the math correctly on this, it should contain episodes with guest voices Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan, Carl Ballantine, Pat Buttram, Rod Roddy, Paul Winchell, Chuck McCann, June Foray and a whole bunch of other fun folks. I'll let you know for sure if and when anyone ever sends me a list.

My favorite actress, June Foray, tells us all about a recent excursion to Tokyo.

By now, you've probably watched Garfield and Friends, Volume 1 to the point of wearing grooves in the DVDs. You're just dying to get another two dozen episodes of the popular cartoon series that got me nominated for a couple of Emmy Awards I didn't win. Well, you've still got about six weeks to wait until they release Garfield and Friends, Volume 2 but you can order it right this sec from Amazon. Among the guest voice performers in this set are Pat Buttram, Louise DuArt, Frank Buxton, Carl Ballantine, Chick Hearn (yes, the late basketball announcer), Greg Berg, Jesse White, Stan Freberg, Gary Owens and June Foray, all appearing with the great Lorenzo Music, Gregg Berger, Thom Huge, Frank Welker, Howie Morris and Julie Payne.

In answer to a couple of questions: This set includes "Invasion of the Big Robots," which was the episode where Garfield makes a wrong turn and finds himself on an episode of a different cartoon show that looks suspiciously like a cross between G.I. Joe and The Transformers. It also includes "Video Airlines," which is the one that features frequent references to the movie, Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage II.  Hope you like Volume 2. Hope you buy Volume 2.

Hey, guess what the Number One record in America was on this date in 1953. It was "St. George and the Dragonet," a parody of the Dragnet TV show, lovingly spoofed by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler. It was so popular that they (and their female co-star, June Foray) flew back to New York and performed it on Ed Sullivan's highly-popular TV show. Not only that but Freberg did a tour of Australia and crowds cheered the record, even though it was at least a year before Dragnet was even broadcast in Australia. Stan claims that when he later toured the continent, people were telling him, "Did you know someone stole your idea and made a serious TV show out of it?"

I'm not sure when the last time was that a comedy record made the Top 100, let alone the Number One slot. Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh," probably. Maybe Weird Al Yankovic got onto the lower levels of the chart with one of his songs. Anyway, it's been a long time.