Mel Blanc: Voice Acting Legend and the Golden Age of Animation

Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest

imagination. Good morning. Hey, you! Come back

here! Oh, hello. Who do you think you are driving

through here like that? Why, I'm a porky pig.

Oh, so you're porky pig. And you wanna go in

there. And you want me to be a nice guy and let

you go in there. So I can lose my job. Well,

I'm not a nice guy. And I'm not gonna let you

in. And I'm not gonna lose my job! Musketeers?

Hm? I'm guarding my blade. Hey! Psst! Whoever's

in charge here? The scenery! Where's the scenery?

Stand back, Musketeers! They shall sample my...

blade? Hm? Okay. Have it your way. Would it be

too much to ask if we could make up our minds?

All right, wise guy, where am I? Hello and welcome

to ToonCastBeyond's Animation Direction. This

is the 10th episode of the Animation Direction

Spotlight. I am your host, one of your hosts,

TFJ. I'm Mike. Joining me is TV's Mr. Neil. You're

fired. Thank you, Mr. McMahon. God damn it, it

was Mr. Spacely. I know. I know it was Mr. Spacely,

but I had to turn it around. No, McMahon's more

like, you're fired. Oh God, I see you like sting

I Can so imagine Mel giving a voice to Vince

I Know the your fired is is mr. Spacely Okay

folks, so like I mentioned last time Or the time

before that or whatever the hell it was. I don't

quite remember uh... even though we are talking

the whole point of the spotlight isn't just directors

it's golden and the golden age of animation period

and of story and i just figured animation direction

was a better spotlight name then long as this

is the golden age of animation spot is whatever

uh... so tonight we are here to talk about The

man of 1 ,127 credits. The man who has a 62 year

career in voice acting. No one, I don't care

who you are, not even Frank Welker is going to

touch a 62 year career. You've heard him in many

things. You've heard him as the voice of Bugs

Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig, Tweety,

Sylvester. Later, he would be the original voice

of Woody Woodpecker, as we mentioned in the Walter

Lance episode. As Neil and I mentioned at the

beginning of this show, he is the voice of Spacely...

Crap, what the hell's... What the hell is what

the hell is spacely's first name yeah Remember

when we did the the princess is the turkey for

the pixels podcast when you sent me the Kramer

picture Cosmo Kramer Is if his name was different

he could be Spacely's son Oh boy so Cosmo Spacely

Barney Rubble Various other characters in his

lifetime. We're talking about the incomparable

the man that all voice acting is Basically set

next to mr. Mel blank and it's required like

an army of people just to replace him multiple

people but not just the same person multiple

people now are doing you know that's what I'm

saying it took like an hour yeah and really very

few of them have really matched what he's done

I mean you got what's his name doing the Tasmanian

devil now Jim Cummings who's amazing as the Tasmanian

devil and I'm not as enamored with a lot of the

other character replacements like the new bugs

is okay Joe Alasky was the best one for Daffy,

I thought. Yeah, he's good as Daffy. And obviously,

Bob Bergen as Porky. That was quite a coup for

Joe Alasky, because at the time, he was doing

what? Out of this world, the really awful sitcom

about the girl who's like the daughter of Burt

Reynolds from outer space. Yeah, that was a real

show. Wow. I think it's on Rob Paulson's podcast,

Talkin' Tunes, one of the times that Bob Bergen

was on there, or it might be the only time Bob

Bergen was on there. I'll have to see if I can

find it to put it in the show notes, but Bob

Bergen was on Talkin' Tunes with Rob Paulson,

and he told the story of how he actually met

and talked to Mel Blanc. Because, you know...

He studied, you know, Bob studied Porky. How

to do the voice. And he's like, oh, okay, well,

I'll just look for Mel blank in the phone book.

And he I guess found his wife's name or something

or other actually called his house and asked

to speak with it again I will link the episode

if I can find it all I'll tweet it Rob on Twitter

and see if I can find it to put it in the post

But you guys gotta go listen at Bob Bergen interview

that Rob Paulson did a couple years back because

it is Hilariously insightful to the man. We're

talking about tonight What was, growing up as

a kid, what was your favorite Mel Blanc character?

Because I know not all of us knew the name as

kids. Like we knew, oh hey, that's Bugs Bunny.

Oh hey, that's Daffy Dog. Hey, they're all done

by the same guy. But who was your favorite as

a kid? Well, I was aware that Mel Blanc was the

voice of Bugs and Barney Rubble. Because I had

a, I don't remember who it was, but I had someone

who was very savvy in animation and knew. and

let me in on that, and I'm like, oh! And it was

very easy to suss them out of every single cartoon

after that. Let's see, that's hard to say, because

it's just such an army of characters. I don't

know, maybe some of the more obnoxious ones like

Yosemite Sam or Mr. Spacely. I really liked Barney

Rubble, both versions of Barney. Uh, yeah, it's

it's really difficult. There's so many For me

overall, it's probably bugs and Daffy most likely.

Um, I do like Yep. Yep. Oh, yeah, that that'll

be in here and that'll be in next week's episode

the final episode of animation direction for

Chuck Jones Oh my god Daffy, oh god, Daffy Duck.

Obviously I prefer the more classic Daffy. I

liked him when he was wacky, but I just think

he was much better when he played... Again, I

have to go back to WWF and WWE. He kinda is the

heel. the whole thing after a while because they

kind of turned him into you know I know you're

gonna hate this but I have to reference it he

kind of turned into you know we have classes

that Doug's find appealing like spotlight stealing

Oh, come on. Say what you will about Tiny Turn

Adventures as a whole. You cannot deny that the

very first episode of Looney Beginning isn't

awesome. Wow. Come on now. I'll say this about

Daffy is that he was like the original Bugs archetype.

And when Bugs came along, you couldn't have two

Bugs Bunny characters. So I think that's why

Daffy kind of became the jerk. And I prefer Daffy

as the jerk. I do too. I really do Because Daffy

it's so fun Again, it kind of goes to the whole

thing of rooting for the villain even though

Daffy isn't a villain like Elmer Fudd He's a

villain like I don't think anybody can people

can like Elmer Fudd and obviously Mel did not

do Elmer's voice, but people can like the character

but people should not be able to sympathize or

even empathize with Elmer Fudd because he wants

to kill the wabbit you know but yeah for me my

two favorite Looney Tunes character voices for

Mel are Bugs and Daffy Thought those were the

best ones out of them all I do like Tweety and

Sylvester. I actually prefer I actually like

Sylvester like Sylvester's son more than I like

Sylvester Wow What I don't know I didn't like

that character. It's like a little See I have

this theory you probably can shoot a whole bunch

of holes in this but I have this theory that

Sylvester adult Sylvester is a time traveler

Okay, reason why I say this is because Every

single Sylvester cartoon I see with with him

by himself He talks about when he was a kid and

his father didn't do something or his father

was too You know Just everything the kid everything

the son usually complains about oh The shame

of it all my father doesn't like to chase mice

in the sentient thing so When adult Sylvester

is by himself There was a point where He had

said something that makes me think that the son

is him as a kid Okay, and that the father for

some odd reason the father Sylvester is not the

Sylvester that is I don't know It's a weird theory.

I know and it's stupid to think that the time

that the Looney Tunes can time travel, but I

mean, if Doc Brown can do it in 85 in a DeLorean

of all things. But no, I always liked Sylvester's

son because he always pushed his father to do

more. And I love those kangaroo cartoons. You

cannot tell me that you don't at least enjoy

part of those kangaroo cartoons with two of them.

They're okay. Think it's funny that the that

the Sun is kind of like passive aggressive just

Constantly ashamed of his own father Now Mel

also did voice he did He did voice sound effects

too, didn't he? Yeah usually cats meow when a

dog's barking, that kind of thing. Well, the

one I always thought was funny is whenever you

would do the car, it kind of had this kind of

huffing and puffing and chugging car noise that

gets used a lot just as a stock effect. I think

the last time I heard it was in Looney Tunes

Back in Action. They actually used it as the

sound effect of Brendan Fraser's car, you know

The reason why I ask is because And I know this

is gonna sound silly. It's one of Chuck Jones's

cartoons. No barking Where it's the it's Clyde

the orange yellowish cat versus frisky. Yeah

dog and I, if that's Mel doing the barks for

Frisky, I love that. Oh yeah, I'm sure it is.

I really, really do. Where is... But yeah, Mel

had a deal that no one has ever had since him.

Mel had the deal of he got voice characterization

credit for everything. Even stuff when you know

even even when June foray was in the cartoon.

It was just like nope Mel blanks these The sole

character actor in this in this cartoon. Yeah,

you know I I think my favorite one with the two

of them is A witches tangled hair This is the

one where it has Sam Cubish as the As the Shakespeare

like background character who's just walking

around everywhere writing all the stuff down

and it's bugs versus witch hazel they get to

a castle and She goes to fly up to the tower

where bugs is and her broom stalls and slams

her into the other to the wall behind her and

she says silly me we women drivers I had the

silly thing in reverse and then she goes she

goes to fly up and she says hello bug says goodbye

and gives her an animal she says good grief like

I just I don't know that one has always had like

when it comes to Mel and June acting together

that one always has a soft spot in my heart absolutely

love that one What about you? What are some of

your favorites that Mel has done over the years

for the Looney Tunes stuff specifically? It's

really hard to boil it down to favorites because

he's in everything. So if I name my favorite

Mel Blank cartoon, I'm basically naming my favorite

Looney Tunes. Like I said, I like the Yosemite

Sam stuff. I think he's really good at Yosemite

Sam foghorn leghorn Just all the obnoxious characters.

I like like bugs is funny But bugs is funny because

of the animator that doing them in each cartoon

like like I I like bugs more because of Chuck

Jones's direction Daffy's funny whatever Daffy's

playing the sort of obnoxious jerk One of the

good ones was when he was like the Vandal where

he was drawing mustaches and everything. That

was a really good Mel Blanc cartoon because one

of my favorite Porky Pig lines is in that cartoon

where he draws a mustache on Porky Pig and Porky's

like, I hate that. I can't do the voice. He stutters

while he's whispering, which is really hard to

do, which you just heard we fail at it. And he's

like, I hate that duck. Oh, man. I think my.

I was going to say, I think that's actually a

thing. It's almost impossible to stutter while

you're whispering for some reason. I'm sure Bob

can do a good job of it as Porky. But I think

for me, Porky and Daffy together, the best one

they had. And this is back before Daffy got turned

into the jerk. Was, uh, you ought to be in pictures.

Just, I think the main reason why I love that

cartoon is because we actually, we don't get

to hear it, but we actually get to see Michael

Maltese on screen as the security guard with

Mel Blanc giving him a voice. And the voice that

Mel uses for that character, for that live action

character in that cartoon is just simply amazing.

There's so many great things about Mel Blank,

from his characterizations to the way he infers

lines on us. It's just so wonderfully done. Now,

as most of us will know, some of the voices are

sped up for time. Oh, not just for time, but

for effect. I mean, Daffy isn't nearly as funny

when it's like the lower tone version of Daffy,

like from those 80s compilation movies that they

did where Daffy suddenly got like a lower voice

in certain scenes. But like Tweety, that's sped

up, isn't it? Yeah. And it's also to kind of

help Mel differentiate the voices a bit better.

True. Part of what he did, I don't mean, I'm

not taking him down at all. I'm just saying that

part of the illusion is just also in the technology.

Because as good as he was, he can't really, he's

got a range. Like all actors do he's got a certain

range and Just by playing with the technology

you can get a lot more Out of the actor than

just what he did by himself. So that's part of

what it was Yeah Wow Yeah, the first I'm trying

to see here Holy crap Geez I'm looking at his

filmography on IMDB and most of the stuff on

here from from his start in Well, this is 37

but I know he started before that but Most of

the voice roles from 37 on he is uncredited really

Yeah, according to well, you know, it's IMDB

take it with a grain of salt but Whatever I heard

a story about how he got his job at Warner Brothers

basically He kept going in like on a weekly basis

and they kept turning him away and then finally

they let him in and What it what had happened

was that the guy who got turning him away got

either got fired or he died And so that's how

he got in. So there you go, persistence works,

I guess. So no, no, no. His overall career in

voice work started in 1927. But that was radio

work. Yeah. In 1927, he started on radio work.

And he's got a lot of different cool voices for

radio announcers. He really does. In 1946, he

appeared in over 15 radio programs and supporting

roles. Success on the Jack Benny program led

to his own radio show on the CBS Radio Network.

The Mel Blank show, which ran from September

3rd, 1946 to June 24th, 1947, Blank played himself

as the hapless owner of a fix -it shop as well

as his young cousin Zuki. I would love to find

some of these old radio programs. Yeah, those

have got to be a treasure trove. Oh my god, can

you imagine? And they're probably mostly lost.

Yep. Yeah, a lot of the greats started out on

radio. That's that's one thing that It's one

thing about modern animated voice work is that

a Lot of the a lot of these guys are really good,

but they didn't start on radio And so they're

they're more like stand -up comedians now a lot

of them are are Kind of like they kind of do

the local circuit around LA. So that's that's

where they that's kind of where they they learn

their craft whereas I don't know there's something

about radio there's something about the the fact

that no one can see you so you have to really

really improv and that's that's why a lot of

the uh the voiceover artists of the classic era

are so talented and so funny because they their

use that they started out in a medium where you

could not see them and I think that that did

a lot of uh good for Mel and The same could be

said of Frank Nelson and Jack Benny. The three

of them together on the Jack Benny show, oh my

god, they were hysterical. You have to watch

the Jack Benny Christmas special where he's in

the department store and Mel's playing the clerk.

And he keeps going back to Mel because he keeps

wanting to change the card or change the gift

wrapping or something. And by the end, Mel is

just... having a complete meltdown and and he's

screaming and crying and at one point Jack Benny

Completely loses it. He starts laughing on camera

and that's that's the best part of the whole

bit is he actually makes Jack Benny crack up

and the and the you could hear it in the audience

the audience loved it, too Yeah, no, it's absolutely

amazing uh shall we talk about his voice for

one of your favorite characters 43 to 45 private

snafu oh jeez i think it's great that they did

these i i mean the private snafu cartoons are

not what you want to show your kids but this

is so hilarious um oh man and you know after

his Warner Brothers days I think once he and

Chuck Jones got together as far as like I honestly

don't know because obviously I wasn't there I

don't know how much the directors and the writers

had to do with him as a voice talent because

sometimes like I know By today's standards, there

are some projects where the creative teams or

the producers or the crews don't get to see the

voice actors and vice versa. And there are other

projects where it's all inclusive. So I'm wondering

how inclusive it was because Mel followed, or

at least he got another job with Chuck when Chuck

was doing the Tom and Jerry stuff for Cib 12.

Chuck was very hands -on. in the voiceover recording

because I've heard that what they would do is

when they would have Bugs and Daffy in the same

cartoon, Mel would do one voice and then Chuck

would do the other and they would do the whole

cartoon just bouncing off each other and then

they would roll the tape back and then they'd

switch and Chuck would do one voice and Mel would

do the other and that's how they got such natural

delivery. It actually sounds like Bugs and Daffy

are talking to each other even though they're

the same guy Right just because Mel was playing

off of someone even though you never hear the

Chuck Jones parts in the cartoon right But I

mean I When it comes to the Chuck Jones era of

Tom and Jerry, that's my you know We just did

an episode on Hannah Barbera, and don't get me

wrong, I love the Hannah Barbera era of Tom and

Jerry, but the Chuck Jones era, which we'll talk

about in depth next week, or actually in a couple

of weeks here on Tooncast Beyond, I absolutely

love. Like, I remember when I first got that

DVD set when it came out a number of years ago,

I watched it. I could not stop laughing. I just

couldn't. It was just so hilarious. Because some

of the screams that Mel gave Tom are just amazing.

They just are. Right. Oh, let's see. And that

was a tough act to follow because I think it

was Will Hanna who was doing the voice of Tom

and doing all the Tom screens in the original

cartoons. So, yeah. Mel had a different take

on Tom, but it was it was every bit as funny.

I thought oh it really was It really what like

I think my one of my favorite ones and I can

I know I'm jumping the gun into the Chuck Jones

episode one of my favorite ones is I Can't think

of a title of it. It's when one of Jerry's really

it's not Jerry's cousin muscles I know it I know

it's not that one, but it's the one where his

relative that looks just like him that's a magician

comes in and He walks in and he does his magic

and Tom like gets left get gets floated up in

the air and then soon as the Soon as the mouse

passes him. He just slams them on the ground.

I just absolutely love that one. It's hilarious

Obviously when we do the Chuck Jones episode,

I'll remember by then what the name of that that

that one was but But Mel, you know He had such

a great career even after the accident I mean

Even after his car accident he still was You

know Doing great even though It was revealed

that during his recovery that his son, Noel,

ghosted several Warner Brothers cartoons, voice

tracks for him. Even then, it's still, you know,

it's the guy's son. And I've seen, I forget where

I've seen it, but I've seen an interview, I've

seen interviews with Noel Blank. And he can pretty

much do what his dad, he can't do everything

his dad did, but he can pretty, he can do bugs,

he can do... Sylvester and and that kind of thing,

right? Yeah, it was pretty close. I Don't know

why they didn't hire him on for like the later

after belt died I mean, I've heard that maybe

he didn't really want he really wasn't up to

it or didn't want to Commit to it or maybe that

was it. I don't know or or maybe the studio I

Don't know. Maybe the studio didn't want Because

the studio seemed to hold back on any new Warner

Brothers animation until after Mel died I mean

that's my speculation it's like as soon as as

soon as Mel was in the ground that's that's when

they were like hey let's do Tiny Toons um oh

come on now wait a minute here you can't just

well you got to admit that they didn't really

do anything with Mel other than those compilation

movies right in the 80s it was just Warner Brothers

animation it just completely stopped or Was in

a state of arrested development and then like

as soon as he not as soon as he was gone But

like within a year they were like, hey, let's

do something and I it might have been I I really

don't know It seemed like they didn't want to

commit to anything until they could just recast

everybody I find this interesting that Dawes

Butler provided the voice of Barney for a few

episodes After which, the show's producers set

up recording equipment in Blank's hospital room

and later at his home to allow him to work from

there. Some of the recordings were made while

he was in a full body cast as he lay flat on

his back with the other Flintstones co -stars

gathered around him. I found that... I find that

very interesting. Yeah. You know... He... Mel

is just an amazing, amazing man. What else do

we want to say about him? He has such an amazing

body of work at Hanna Barbera. I mean, with Barney

Rubble and Mr. Spacely. God, I should really

have the IMDb page open right now, but I don't.

Speed Buggy, Secret Squirrel. Yeah, oh God, Secret

Squirrel. Oh, come on everybody loves secrets.

I like secrets girl Okay, good deal Captain caveman

captain captain caveman is one of my secret favorites

that because he's Again he's he's in the Yosemite

Sam range and just that just that big bellowing

Scream that he does whenever he comes to save

the day and I like that He started out as like

kind of another one of the mystery That one of

the teen mystery shows where it's got like a

bunch of teenagers hanging around with the mascot

and then later They they kind of retconned him

into the Flintstones Where he's actually a very

good fit You know Captain caveman and son the

only good part of the Flintstones kids. Oh Come

I thought we we are gonna do a podcast about

kid version cartoons We're gonna have this out

because you got what you got Tom and Jerry kids

You got Flintstones kids. What are the kid cartoons

are there? Looney Tunes babies Well, yeah, yeah,

yeah, baby Looney Tunes Muppet. Well, we already

covered Yeah, that doesn't really count because

Muppets weren't a cartoon at first. Yeah, no

And we already covered a pub named Scooby -Doo

back in Tooncast Classic. That's like the other

good one. As much as I bust on Ken Kennedy for

ruining Tiny Toons with his off -model bullshit,

when he got his own show and was allowed to just

horse around by himself, that was a much better

thing for him. At least a pub named Scooby -Doo

was all his, as opposed to being the weird scenes

in like... tiny tunes oh man um so yeah we you

know captain caveman he also did the voices for

walla gator and what did he do in perils of penalty

pit stop i don't remember him uh he was probably

the goon oh he's the anhel mob oh oh that's right

he was yeah he was some of those he was like

the the giggling one yeah yeah Let's see. He

was Wally Gator? I don't remember that. That's

what it says on Wiki, but, you know, it's Wiki.

I don't know. I'll have to check that out because

Wally Gator was kind of like... I forget who

Wally Gator was patterned after, but it was not

a voice that I would associate with Mel Blanc.

Yeah. he only had two seasons of those of caro

wally gator was like edward uh... you know no

wally was does yeah and that are that i a m that

that wiki article used to be re re re re re re

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re re re um let's see i'm trying to think here

let's see where is okay winchell messick messick

messick ah he was yak yak the talkative one made

kind of a yuck yuck laugh no matter how disastrous

the news he was impairing the worst news he imparts

the harder he laughs That was Mel from Ant Hill

Mob. I really think where Mel excels is as the

Looney Tunes characters, obviously. When we did

our Bob Clampett episode, it took me forever

to get the clips for that episode because the

video kept skipping. on the big snooze and the

big snooze has some of my favorite bugs bunny

lines look doc I'm multiplying I repeat what

a serene scene you know it just it just has so

many great great lines in it then like we've

already mentioned with Chuck Jones and You know

with Daffy There's one I forget. I don't think

it's one of the rabbit season cartoons that Chuck

did but there's one where Bugs does dress up

Actually, I think it is one of the rabbit season

ones. I don't remember which one it is though.

He bugs dresses up as a lady Tries to flirt with

Elmer Daffy comes up and says Out of sheer honesty,

don't you have anything to tell him? Was there

anything to say? Out of sheer honesty? Yes, I

would just love a duck dinner. BAM! Speaking

of that cartoon, you know where Mel really excels?

the amazing ability to do one character impersonating

another which is extremely difficult but he's

got he's got Daffy doing doing bugs and and bugs

coming along and doing Daffy and it's just like

amazing that he could even do that it's like

who who in the world can do that maybe maybe

Frank Welker yeah Do you know the story about

why his name is the way it is now? Ah, I know

I've heard it. Again, I think this is that interview

with his son, Noel. He was born Melvin Jerome

Blank, B -L -A -N -K. And I believe, again, I'll

have to find this interview for the episode,

but I believe Noel said he changed it to B, L,

A, and C to kind of be like a French thing, because

he didn't, the reason why he changed it, though,

from B, L, A, and K was because he didn't just

want to be a blank. He didn't want to be a nobody.

He wanted to be, you know, more, I don't want

to say French, but. uh... he wanted to be more

upper crust i guess or something you want to

be a little bit more fancy uh... i think that

was the story again i could be wrong i'm not

looking at anything with its all again also find

it and put in the episode somewhere uh... and

i mean he uh... there's so many cool and i would

have never thought that he would be and i know

this is later in his life but Just can't see

someone like Mel Blank being on David Letterman

or the Tonight Show or but he was Especially

with with Jack Benny. Mm -hmm. I mean I There

was a clip out there of him on Letterman. I believe

this is before Letterman went to CBS It was when

he was still at NBC. Oh, yeah, cuz Letterman

left for NBC left for CBS was in like 92 Yeah

oh yeah this is way obviously i think this is

like right before roger rabbit or right after

roger rabbit came out um and you know he it's

it's just so weird seeing mal on on late night

i love it but it's just so weird seeing him on

a program like that like i can i Can visualize

Mel Blank on the Jack Benny program whether it's

the radio version or that with a TV version I

can picture him on that but seeing him next to

Letterman is a little strange. Yeah, it's because

I don't Hardly I don't even think I can count

on my hand how many voice actors or lack of voice

actors I like those aren't the guests that Letterman

and You know, Carson and Leno and sadly now Jimmy

Fallon. Those aren't the kind of guests, like

they don't go after voice actors. They might

have Chris Rock on and Chris Rock isn't, you

know, even though he says he is, he isn't like

best known for his voice roles, let's face it.

But it's very rare that you're gonna see a Frank

Walker. or a Jim Cummings or those kind of people

on a late night talk show. It's just weird seeing

him on Letterman because it's so late in his

life and it's hard to think of Letterman and

Mel Blank being in the same era, even though

they were. It's kind of like, I hate to use this

example, but I just saw a double review of Jingle

all the way one and two and then it jiggle all

the way one it featured Jake Lloyd the kid from

from the Star Wars prequels new and Got the guy

from guy from SNL I Can't believe I'm blanking

on this guy's name Seth Meyers. No, no, no Like

early 90s SNL cast I'm gonna pull this up Like

Phil Hartman. It's like seeing Jake Lloyd and

Phil Hartman in the same movie. It's like, wow,

I didn't even know they had a career at the same

time. Because Phil Hartman died in what, 98?

And Jake Lloyd, we only learned about Jake Lloyd

in 99 when that accursed movie came out. Mm -hmm

Yeah, and the sad thing about the sequel to jingle

all the way jingle all the way to No, that's

not even the sad thing the sad thing is that

it's a WWE film WWE studios and 20th Century

Fox have they released anything worth watching

That's a matter of opinion I mean, if you want

a grandfather in something like, oh, I don't

know, No Holds Barred, which technically isn't

a WWE film, but they kind of put it under that

banner anyway. Getting off topic here, but I

was frozen today. Think we're gonna I'll answer

you all fair on that one on the WWE film thing

cuz that's way off topic. Um, but Getting back

Wait what mr. Nanny But mel blank The man could

do no wrong no It's kind of it's actually very

sad to me that he died from heart disease and

emphysema. Yeah It says here that he was smoking

by the at the age of nine is what it says on

here. I believe Let me just double -check and

again, it's Wikipedia take it with a grain of

salt people Uh, Blank began smoking cigarettes

when he was 9 years old. He continued his packaday

habit until he was diagnosed with emphysema,

which pushed him to quit at age 77. assume you've

seen this but he is the only person from the

Warner Brothers crew in the old days that really

deserves that like like really deserves this

on his tombstone it says on his tombstone that's

all folks Mel blank man of a thousand voices

beloved husband and father 1908 to 1989 I can't

believe they actually put it on there though.

I mean, I can and I can't, but it's just one

of those things where that's all folks. And the

funny thing is, I always thought that was part

of the end of every single Warner Brothers, Looney

Tunes, Mary Melodies cartoon. Every one I've

seen in the last four or five years on the Cartoon

Network slash Boomerang package, it just closes

out with the music and the writing. It never

actually has Porky saying it. Yeah, I mean that

was that was really early on if they had porky

doing that it yeah Back when porky was the star

Which is weird. It's always weird to think about

that. But yeah porky is way before Bugs Bunny

Yeah, and it's very rare to even have those two

in the same cartoon And I could only think of

three times that had happened and in one of those

Bugs Bunny knocks out porky and takes over as

the star of the cartoon. One of the very last

Looney Tunes cartoons ever made. So not to get

too morbid here, but after Blank's death his

voice continued to be heard in newly released

productions such as recordings of Dino in the

live -action Flintstones movies. This is kind

of what they're going to be doing with Bill Melendez

when that new Peanuts movie comes out. They're

using his recorded tracks from Snoopy and Woodstock.

He did that for so many cartoons that you could

basically just pick and choose any track you

want. You would never be like, hey, that's from

that cartoon because you've heard it a thousand

times. You know one has the recall to even figure

out which cartoon that those those voice effects

even come from Yeah, and there's probably a lot

on the cutting room floor that they never even

used So they got they got like a wealth of audio

of Bill Belinda's and of Mel Blank. Oh, I'm sure

Blank did train his son Noel in the field of

voice characterization, although the younger

Blank has performed his father's characters,

particularly Porky Pig, on some programs he has

chosen to not become a full -time voice artist.

You know, you know what, that's perfectly fine.

I mean, the man recognizes, and you know, still

to this day obviously, promotes what his father

was and still is to people and that's all well

and good. You don't necessarily always have to

follow in your mother, father, parents' footsteps.

He's done The Voice a couple times. In fact,

he did it for Family Guy. There was an episode

where they did a Bugs Bunny gag and they brought

him in to do Bugs. Even though it was him, I'm

sorry Family guy, seriously. Sweet. No, no, just

no But Mel Will live on forever as long as those

Looney Tunes cartoons are still Long as the DVDs

are still being produced of the classic stuff

as long as the packages are still running on

Cartoon Network and Boomerang Mel blank will

live on in infamy. Yeah, he really really will

Just a really talented guy and a great improv

in fact one one clip I need to find is like the

thing about the the British horse something that

happened on a show they They gave him a script

where he had to do a horse and someone had penned

in British horse and I can't do it but I gotta

find the clip because the way Mel did it was

just hysterical. Mel is so great. He really is.

I loved his Shakespearean dog. no seriously you

think i'm laughing you think i'm lying here but

i i think you know which one i'm talking about

it's um a ham in a roll with the goofy gophers

where i still cannot find this damn cartoon anywhere

it's it's the goofy gophers in the title of the

cartoon is a ham in a roll It starts out with

the tannish dog getting a pie thrown in his face.

It basically starts out at the end of the cartoon.

He's working for Warner Brothers and he's doing

the pie in the face thing and he's like, I've

had enough. I'm leaving. Voice acting. Fah! And

he cites all these Shakespearean quotes and everything

else. He gets shot off to his country house and

lands, he says, I shall go to the piece of my

country house to study the immortal bard. He

ends up in a gopher hole, picks himself up and

says, gophers, I shall not allow gophers to impede

my progress. It's just, it's one of the most

funniest non -Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester... Yosemite,

because it's just the gophers and the dog. Right.

And I don't care what anyone says. Those gophers

are just best friends. Those gophers are the

Looney Tunes cartoon version of Bert and Ernie,

in my opinion. And anyone that says anything

different can go jump off a cliff. Straight as

a pretzel. You are so wrong. You're just so wrong,

dude. Any final words on Mel Blank, sir? I have

nothing. How about that's all, folks? I was going

to say, wait a second here. All right, so coming

up next, to close out the animation direction

spotlight, we're going to be talking about Chuck

Jones and everything he has done as a director.

And yeah, I'm going to go. give it to porky and

let him finish it off oh you know what we forgot

to bring up good thing i'm still recording this

forgot to bring up bugs as the road runner do

you remember that one i love that one oh god

all right enough is enough this is the final

the very very last straw who is responsible for

this I demand that you show yourself. Who are

you? Am I a stinker? Be very, very quiet. I'm

hunting wabbits. Oh, boy. Wabbit twacks. Bugsie,

pal, there's a friend here to see ya. Survival

of the Fist. And besides, it's fun! Hoo hoo,

hoo hoo! Did someone knock? Are you trying to

get yourself in trouble with the law? This ain't

webbing hunting season. It's not? No, it's duck

hunting season. That, sir, is an indiscriminate

fabrication. It's webbing season. Duck season.

Webbing season. Duck season. Webbing season.

Duck season. Webbing season. Webbing season.

Duck season. Webbing season. I say it's duck

season, and I say fire. Okay, I'll start it this

time. Right. Wabbit season. Duck season. Wabbit

season. Wabbit season. Duck season. Fire! Okay,

this time you'll start it. Whatever you say.

Wabbit. Everything's upside down. Strange. Can't

make heads or tails of things. Hey, you. Come

back here. Well, what do you know? No more bullets.

No more bullets? Hey, laughing boy. No more bullets.

No more blitz? Here, let me see that thing. Hmm.

Well, what do you know? One bullet went... laughing

boy there was I know I know let's go over it

once more now what are you I'm a hunter and what

season is it wabbit season good heavens he disintegrated

Oh, I didn't hurt you too much when I killed

you. Are you nuts? Why, if he's dead, then I'm

a mongoose. Wabbit season. Duck season. Wabbit

season. Duck season. Wabbit season. Duck season.

Uh -oh. Very, very quiet. We're hunting Elmas.