Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} That's Not All Folks My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio by Mel Blanc That's Not All Folks: My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio by Mel Blanc. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 6585378edbfcc3e8 • Your IP : 188.246.226.140 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. That's Not All Folks: My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio by Mel Blanc. Actor (30-May-1908 — 10-Jul-1989) SUBJECT OF BOOKS. Mel Blanc; with Philip Bashe . That's Not All Folks: My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio . New York: Warner Books. 1988 . AUTHORITIES. Below are references indicating presence of this name in another database or other reference material. Most of the sources listed are encyclopedic in nature but might be limited to a specific field, such as musicians or film directors. A lack of listings here does not indicate unimportance -- we are nowhere near finished with this portion of the project -- though if many are shown it does indicate a wide recognition of this individual. That's Not All Folks: My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio by Mel Blanc. AKA Melvin Jerome Blank. Gender: Male Religion: Jewish Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Actor. Nationality: United States Executive summary: Man of 1,000 Voices. For 50 years, Mel Blanc was the voice of many popular cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, The Tasmanian Devil, Pepe LePew, Marvin the Martian, Roadrunner's "Meep meep!", Barney Rubble and Woody Woodpecker. His tombstone is engraved, "That's all, folks". Wife: Estell Rosenbaum (m. 04-Jan-1933) Son: Noel Blanc (Vocal Characterizationist) Author of books: That's Not All Folks: My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio ( 1988 , memoir) Creator / Mel Blanc. Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 — July 10, 1989), note His surname was originally Blank, but he changed the spelling after a teacher made the obvious mean-spirited pun about the name a.k.a. the original "Man of a Thousand Voices", was one of the most prolific voice actors of all time, as well as one of the best, starting in The Golden Age of Animation and working up until his death in 1989, right at the beginning of The Renaissance Age of Animation. Born in San Francisco and raised in Portland, Blanc got his start on local Portland radio after high school, before moving to Hollywood in 1935. After getting work in commercials and radio, Blanc decided he wanted to voice cartoons too. For two years straight he would make a biweekly trip to the Leon Schlesinger studios — who produced cartoons for Warner Bros. in the late 1930s only to be rebuffed by the head of the sound effects department, who thought they didn't need anymore voice actors and couldn't even be bothered to listen to Mel. Luckily he died and his replacement, Treg Brown did agree to hear Mel. He was impressed and had him perform in front of the directors. They too were impressed and then one of them asked Mel if he could do a voice for a drunken bull — Mel did it and he was hired on the spot, and the rest is history. Blanc is most notable for voicing most of the cast of Looney Tunes (among other cartoons), which frequently saw him Talking to Himself. What's amazing is that most people probably wouldn't be able to tell that most, if not all , of the characters in each Looney Tunes short were being done by the same guy (Leonard Maltin once put his talent into perspective by marveling that Tweety Bird and Yosemite Sam were the same man ). He was that good. It even got to the point that his knack for doing many voices was lampshaded in the Porky Pig short Curtain Razor . He was also one of the only voice actors in his day to ever get a credit for his work in any theatrical shorts (which led to a variant of Misattributed Song when voices done by Daws Butler, Stan Freberg, or Arthur Q. Bryan were also assumed to be Blanc). It ought to also be remembered that Blanc essentially won voice actors the honor of being credited cast members. He had become so indispensable to Leon Schlesinger's studio that the only way the cheapskate could avoid giving into Blanc's demands for a raise was to guarantee him sole on-screen credit as a voice actor, which gave Blanc the notability to be sought after by name. Later, other voice actors followed suit, and within a few years it was unthinkable to not credit a voice actor. Blanc's work was not just limited to cartoons; when he wasn't recording the voice of Bugs Bunny he could be found working on many classic radio programs — like the Happy Postman on The Burns and Allen Show . But his most famous radio work was on The Jack Benny Program where he played dozens of characters — Jack's long suffering violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Jack's Maxwell car, amongst others. At the height of Mel's popularity brought on by now having screen credit for his cartoon work, he was given his own show on CBS, The Mel Blanc Show where he played himself as the fumbling owner of a fix-it shop. Sadly the program didn't play to Mel's comic strengths by having him play the straight man and it only lasted one season. His wide range of work gave him the cool nickname, "The Man of a Thousand Voices", hence he is the Trope Namer (it should be noted that this is an exaggeration; he admitted in his autobiography that he'd done around 850 voices which is still very high, but not quite 1000). Despite his propensity for driving a hard bargain, especially later in his career, he was known for being affable and easy to work with once was actually in the studio. He had a fair amount of respect for his contemporary – and the only other Looney Tunes actor to regularly receive a screen credit – June Foray (though Chuck Jones held Foray in higher esteem and never hesitated to say so). Unfortunately, Blanc was also a heavy smoker and that addiction later affected his voice to a noticeable degree by the late years of his career. It didn't ruin Blanc's voice completely, but some clips used in at least one TV special had to have Blanc rerecording the soundtrack to fit, another reason why Smoking Is Not Cool. Mel was notable for his refusal to do imitations as he believed it to be disrespectful to be "stealing" another's person's voice — he was very reluctant to takeover the voice of Elmer Fudd after Arthur Q. Bryan passed way, but did so since no other suitable replacement could be found (which is why Elmer is not on the "Speechless" Lithograph). When he was cast as Barney Rubble for "The Flintstones" he rubuffed HannaBarbera's request for him to imitate Ed Norton, what he gave them was a voice similar to Norton's but not an exact imitation. Mel was also a Friend to All Children, gladly call kids on their birthday in their characters' favorite voice, and his house would be the most popular on Halloween. He was also a Shriner and would lend his talents for ads to raise money for their children hospitals. In his later years and his son Noel formed Mel Blanc Associates, an advertising agency and would give lectures on voicing acting. Blanc was still recording lines for cartoons from his hospital bed mere days before his death in 1989, note He died one day before another master from another end of the acting spectrum, Laurence Olivier when he fell out of a hospital bed without guardrails (though Blanc aficionados would just as soon credit exhaustion). To this day, few, if any, voice actors can match his range. Warner Bros. currently requires a regular cast of voice actors to cover what was once done by one person . Oh, yeah, this is his tombstone ◊ . The "Speechless" ◊ lithograph was also made following his death. Needless to say, Blanc is a legend among voice actors and fans. His voice work is considered the milestone that marks the Golden Age of animated comedy, and his characters' catchphrases are still remembered nearly a half-century later. Mel Blanc Project. Tour Mel Blanc’s Portland: July 23 & July 30. Where are you in Mel Blanc’s Portland? Find out on July 23 and on July 30. The tour begins at 1:00 PM at the Hollywood Theater. Suggested admission: $10.00! Remember to bring train fare for the MAX; we’ll be headed to downtown Portland. Here are some of the stops. Tour guides Bill Crawford and Dennis Nyback will provide the historical context for each site. Some stops will include screenings of films from Dennis Nyback’s archive. All quotes, unless otherwise indicated, are from That’s Not All Folks! My Life In The Golden Age Of Cartoons And Radio, by Mel Blanc and Philip Bashe. Hollywood Theater : Mel Blanc writes: “Once each show (Cobwebs and Nuts, for which he served as writer, producer, director and star) had taken shape, we relaxed, sometimes by driving down to the Hollywood Theater for a late afternoon movie.” Steel Bridge : Mel Blanc writes about playing hooky with high school friends: “Betcha can’t dive off the bridge,” he challenged, pointing to the steel structure connecting the east and west halves of the city. It had to be at least thirty feet high. Too young and impulsive to assess the potential dangers, the three of us dove in repeatedly, sometimes turning somersaults in midair.” Sharon Wood Wortman, Portland’s leading bridge historian, confirms that the Steel Bridge is the only Portland bridge which matches the description Mel Blanc gives. She adds that he would have been trespassing on railroad property, since the lower level was at that time was reserved for trains, and pedestrians were forbidden. Multnomah Hotel (now Embassy Suites): Ronald Kramer writes in Pioneer Mikes, A History of Radio and Television in Oregon: “Blanc was playing violin in Herman Kenin’s Orchestra when Degree Team member Harry Grannatt heard him sing and play his ukulele during one of the Multnomah Hotel’ s Breakfast Club programs. Mel Blanc writes: “For the next two years, when I wasn’t behind the microphone, I was playing dance halls throughout the Northwest…At intervals, I’d set down my cumbersome instrument and step out front to sing, all the while watching impeccably attired young men make plays for begowned girls with bobbed hair.” Charles F. Berg Building: Mel Blanc writes: “Our little radio troupe was called the Degree Team, and all members were accorded descriptive appellations. My friend, Harry Granitt, an insurance salesman, was nearly seven feet tall, hence his sobriquet The Grand Stringbean. Charles Berg, who ran a downtown department store, was The Grand Screecher. Because of my faculty for fetching laughs, I became The Grand Snicker.” The Degree Team was the collective name of the innovative media pioneers who performed on KGW radio as The Hoot Owls, a program conceived and produced by Charles F. Berg, whose name appears on his downtown building. Lincoln High School (now Lincoln Hall): Mel Blanc writes: “ Lincoln High had a cavernous hallway that produced a resounding echo; acoustically optimal, I determined, for trying out this new voice I’d been practicing: a shrill cackling laugh.” Mel Blanc failed to match that manic cackle up with Happy Rabbit, the prototype for Bugs Bunny. He finally found a home for it with Woody Woodpecker. This is not a complete list! Just some of the stops on the tour. Because several of the buildings on the tour are architecturally significant, we have invited Sara Garrett, the executive director of MotivSpace, along as a guest speaker. Sara received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Physics and Building Science from Portland State University, and is completing the final steps for her Masters in Architecture with the University of Toronto. In addition to our walking tours, a visit to the Oregon Jewish Museum’s Mel Blanc exhibit is a great way to explore the importance Mel Blanc’s Portland years played in his overall development as an artist. “Despite what some might term the “frivolous” nature of my job, I consider myself an artist, and cartoons, art.” Mel Blanc. The Mel Blanc Project is a series of public history/art education events made possible in part by a grant from the Kinsman Foundation and by a grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.