Dough Ray Meow

[Cartman]

Is Heathcliff the cat in this cartoon supposed to be based on a famous person? Other characters who have occurred in the LT/MM series who have a voice like this include Mugsy and Little John (from Rabbit Hood).

[rodney]

I think it's just a typical "stupid" voice. I may be wrong though. Similar voices were used in the many Of Mice And Men spoofs that WB did.

"But I can't say Sylvester, George."

[Daffyfan2002]

Yeah, I remember that was the voice he originally gave Barney Rubble. I still wonder why he changed that. Maybe after a few episodes, he decided that Barney wasn't really a "dumb" character so he gave him more of an Art Carney-like voice. Uh-hee-hee-hee-hee! J. Lee, you're the cartoon expert so if you have any input on this I'd appreciate it.

[rodney]

Blanc always liked to claim that he didn't do impressions of people and was reluctant to do a voice that Hanna/Barbera described as a 'prehistoric Art Carney'. I'm also not certain if that's Blanc doing the voice in those first couple of episodes, as he was in the hospital recovering from a near fatal car accident. Eventually, recording equipment was brought into the hospital room for the recording of Blanc's various obligations.

However, if Blanc wouldn't impersonate others, how would he explain the voice of Foghorn Leghorn, which sounds *exactly* like Senator Claghorn as performed by Kenny Delmar on the Fred Allen radio program?

[J Lee]

As Rodney said, the source is "Of Mice and Men," or specifically, Lon Cheney Jr.'s portrayal of Lenny in the movie (produced by Hal Roach of "Our Gang" and Laurel and Hardy fame, BTW). Avery took Cheney's portrayal in the 1939 movie, stuck it in Willoughby the dog for "Of Fox and Hounds" and the rest of the Warners staff (plus Tex over at MGM) took it from there.

[Daffyfan2002]

Actually, in contradiction to what you said Rodney, Blanc's car accident was at the beginning of the second season which was when Daws Butler took over the role. I'm pretty sure it was Blanc who did the voice at the beginning of the first season and he gradually changed it.

[rodney]

Ah, my apologies. Yes, that makes sense.

[PorkyandDaffy]

I really wish Heathcliff and Louie turned into recurring characters for WB. They really had potential.

[Matthew Hunter]

Well, they did and they didn't...great characters, but would they really have worked that well in a sequel or series? It'd be hard to come up with gags to make Heathcliff look any dumber :p
-Matthew

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
Well, they did and they didn't...great characters, but would they really have worked that well in a sequel or series? It'd be hard to come up with gags to make Heathcliff look any dumber :p
-Matthew

Actually Matthew I would be very prone to believe that Art Davis working with Sid Marcus could have well come up with wonderfully inventive gags for poor Heathcliff.

Annnnnd Rodney, you are quite right. Mel could and did impersonate stars (including of course Kenny Delmar) very successfully. But it clashed to some extent with his desire to be a method actor (yes, yes, I know "A method cartoon voice artist??"). Sooooo he conveniently forgot having done much of it, in particularly on "Foggie".

[Daffyfan2002]

I have to agree with PorkyandDaffy. I think they could have done about a few more cartoons with Heathcliff and Louie. The chemistry between those two characters worked out very well. And it's a good twist on the normal plot. Instead of a cat chasing a bird, the bird trying to do away with the cat. Very interesting.