A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE…
By PETER BOSCH
Today is special because Melvin Jerome Blank came into this world May 30, 1908. Better known to cartoon lovers everywhere as Mel Blanc, he filled all of our lives with great laughter and our hearts with smiles. And this year in particular is extra special because it was 90 years ago, in late 1936, that he was hired by Warner Bros. as their newest – and, ultimately, greatest – voice actor. He would become known as “the Man of 1,000 Voices” and when you look at his career you too will believe it.
So let’s start with an excellent feature on his life:
The clips in that video leave you wanting more, so here are 13 GREAT CARTOONS featuring Blanc’s amazing talent — and, after that, a hilarious BONUS!
Enjoy!
In no particular order:
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1. Picador Porky (1937). Mel Blanc’s first cartoon for Warner Bros., in which Porky dresses himself up as a matador and his two drunken friends put on a bull costume. Blanc provided the voice of one of the friends, not yet graduating to the role of Porky Pig.
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2. Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944). On numerous occasions in the early 1940s, Blanc asked Leon Schlesinger, the producer of the Warner Bros. cartoons, for a raise but he wouldn’t grant it. After being turned down yet another time, Blanc got Schlesinger to agree that Blanc would be credited on the cartoons for the voice characterizations. Little Red Riding Rabbit in 1944 was the first to carry the credit. The short is also one of the best-written cartoons of the day, with Bea Benaderet as Red and Billy Bletcher as the wolf.
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3. Duck Amuck (1953). Even with so many gems over the years featuring Daffy, Duck Amuck stands as pure genius.
Duck Amuck
by inlooneytunes
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4. Hillbilly Hare (1950). Picking just one Bugs Bunny cartoons is next to impossible, but this one should be near the top of everybody’s list. Blanc is the voice of Bugs and Clem Martin, with John T. Smith as Punkinhead Martin and the jukebox’s square dance caller.
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5. Operation: Rabbit (1952). Wile E. Coyote was for the most part a non-speaking role in the Road Runner cartoons, but the first few appearances with Bugs had him talking. Blanc provided both voices in this outing.
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6. Rabbit Fire (1951). While a staple of the cartoons from the ’30s, Elmer Fudd was never better than as a foil for Bugs and Daffy, and this is one of the trio’s greatest cartoons! Blanc voices Bugs, Daffy, and the elephant, while Arthur Q. Bryan is Elmer Fudd.
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7. Birds Anonymous (1957). Tweety was introduced in 1942, but it wasn’t until 1947 that he found his perfect sparring partner, Sylvester, in Tweety Pie. This one, Birds Anonymous, was from 10 years later and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
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8. Here’s a mashup of several Foghorn Leghorn and Hennery Hawk cartoons, including Walky Talky Hawky (1946) and Crowing Pains (1947). That’s the tall and short of it. Tall? Short? Tall and short of it… just like Foghorn and Hennery. That’s a joke, son. You’ve got a hole in your glove! I keep pitching them and you keep missing them.
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9. For Scent-imental Reasons (1949): The model for the French lover skunk, Pepé Le Pew, was set in 1945’s Odor-Able Kitty, which had Blanc inspired by Charles Boyer’s Pepe Le Moko in the movie Algiers (1938). The fourth in the cartoon series, For Scent-imental Reasons, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
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10. Haredevil Hare (1948): This short contains the first appearance of the character eventually known as Marvin the Martian. Blanc provided the voices for Bugs, the Martian, and K-9 the Martian dog (whose accent is right out of Brooklyn).
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11. Speedy Gonzalez: A compilation of several shorts featuring Mexico’s fastest mouse.
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12. Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1948). While all Yosemite Sam/Bugs Bunny cartoons qre enjoyable, this is one that some fans call their personal favorite.
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13. Zip Zip Hooray! (1965). Out of all the Road Runner/Coyote cartoons, there were only two in which the Coyote spoke: Road Runner A Go-Go (1965) and this one.
And here’s the BONUS!
In addition to doing voice work for animated features, Blanc was a member of many radio casts, dashing from one program studio to the next, sometimes three or four in one day. He was also in a great many television shows, most notably from 1950 to 1965 on The Jack Benny Show.
Think he was funny in cartoons? Wait’ll you see him as a sales clerk in this episode’s segment trying to deal with the king of the cheapskates. (And watch Jack Benny at the 04:00 minute mark as he tries to hide how he breaks character by laughing uncontrollably at Blanc’s performance!)
Blanc died July 10, 1989 at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife of 56 years, Estelle, and his son Noel (who also became a voice artist).
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MORE
— Tex Avery’s RED HOT RIDING HOOD: Still Red Hot After More Than 80 Years. Click here.
— The Many Lives and Careers of BATMAN Voice Actor OLAN SOULE. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is out now. (Buy it here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
