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Mel Blanc once shared his favorite cartoon of all time
Not only was it his favorite Looney Tune, but it featured his favorite character!
Every animation fan has the cartoon they like best, but did you know that voice actors also like to play favorites? Mel Blanc was commonly known as The Man of One Thousand Voices, which is only a slight understatement. He's responsible for cartoon favorites like Bugs Bunny and Barney Rubble of The Flintstones.
Blanc was able to provide a firsthand perspective of his legacy before his death, detailing his life and career in his memoir, That's Not All Folks!
In the book, he was able to reveal his favorite cartoon of his entire, rather lengthy, filmography.
"'Birds Anonymous' stands as my all-time favorite cartoon," Blanc wrote.
You might remember the short "Birds Anonymous," which focuses on Sylvester attempting to curb his addiction to chasing sweet, small, Tweety Bird. Both Tweety and Sylvester the cat were voiced by Blanc, though he confessed that Sylvester was undoubtedly the easiest voice to perform.
Blanc wrote, "Sylvester has always been a favorite of mine. He's a great deal like Daffy: a perpetual fall guy with a near-identical voice. Daffy's is pitched up slightly, while Sylvester's is recorded at regular speed and sounds the closest to my natural way of speaking. He's always been the easiest character for me to play."
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"Birds Anonymous" is actually one of the projects that earned Warner Brothers an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. Originally, the award went home with Warner Brothers producer Eddie Selzer. Blanc had told Selzer that, were he to own an Oscar, he'd want the one awarded for his favorite short. Years later, Selzer hadn't forgotten Blanc's wish.
"When he did pass away a year or two later," said Blanc, "I received a phone call from his wife. She hadn't forgotten and insisted that I take the Birds Anonymous award. 'Eddie wanted you to have it, Mel.'"
"I will never forget Eddie's generosity."
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28 Comments
answering Benny's questions. Benny would ask if he was in Mexico, "si".
His sister's name? "Sue." Benny: "Sue?" "Si". Benny: "Your brother's name?"
"Cy." Benny: "Cy?" "Si." Reading it here via my clumsy recollection doesn't do
this bit justice, its fall on the floor funny. They recycled it for years on Jack's
radio show, verbatim, then on his TV show.
I am sorry, but comedians, and the list is almost endless who were around the 50-s and 60-s no longer exist.
Another brilliant voice on the Jack Benny Show was Frank Nelson, Mr Yeeeees.
How sad !!!!
Don- "If you're feeling rather lucky,"
Jack- "Don......."
Don- "Daffy Duck or Donald ducky,"
Jack- "Don!"
Don-"and you thought you taw a puddy tat,"
Jack- "Don!"
Don- "there's just one thing to do for that"
Jack- "DON!"
Don- "Oh. what is it, Jack??"
Then a frustrated Jack Benny answers Don🤣
That bit tickled young me soooo much
and before he could say "yesssss" the audience would laugh and clap.
That was a classic routine, thank you for sharing it. Benny is still shown late at night,
I believe at 3:30 AM after Groucho on JLTV.
I assumed with it running so many years there would be a lot of episodes but somebody
told me it didn't run weekly, rather just once a month?
I guess it rotated with other shows but that seems odd to me.
By the way, am I the only one to think "The Horn Blows at Midnight" is actually funny?
When I was growing up Channel 5 in NYC ran it late every New Year's Eve.
Right alongside Bill (My name Jose Jimenez) Dana...?
And as "Sylvester" and "Daffy" would say: "Sufferen' Succotash!" And of course, Sylvester and Daffy say it with a lisp.
Trust me...I'm the first one to pick on bad writing....this wasn't necessarily that...
100 years from now his voice will still be heard on the Mars Colony with people tuning
in to "Bird's Anonymous". MeTV will still be rerunning "Mannix" there, plus Carol Burnett.
Tweety never said "Cat"