It's Mel Blanc's birthday! [END]

[Andrew Gilmore]

It's Mel Blanc's birthday!

[The Dork Knight]

Happy birthday Mel.... We miss you :(.

- Foley Is Good

[PorkyandDaffy]

Happy birthday to the Man of 1000 voices.

[Matt Yorston]

..B-b-but that was only n-n-nine hundred and n-n-ninety nine voices! ;)

[Sogturtle]

Happy Birthday to Mel
Happy Birthday to Mel
Happy Birthday to the Lon Chaney of voices
And I wish your son was you!!!!!

(Who knows, if Mel hadn't smoked he just might have been still palling around with Chuck in the Nineties and early 2000's...) :(

[Hyper_Anthony]

Happy Birthday!! Exactly how many voices did he do?

[Brandon Pierce]

Try checkin' out the Internet Movie Database. Mel Blanc voiced about like, 500 voices.

[Thad Komorowski]

It should also be noted that Mel Blanc also did the voice for Woody Woodpecker in the early 1940s. He didn't do it for long though, (his last one was either "Pantry Panic" or "Hollywood Matador") but his recording of "Guess Who?! He-he-he-HA-HA-he-he-he-HA-HA-he-he-he-HA-HA-he-he-he-he-he-he-he", was used in at the beginning of every Woody cartoon in the 1940s (the recording was also used during the cartune as well). But in the opening titles in the 1950s and 1960s, Blanc's laugh was gone (and replaced with Gracie's), but it seems that Blanc's "Guess Who?!" lasted the whole series.


Mel Blanc also did the voices of the Fox & Crow in "The Fox and Grapes".


Happy Birthday, Mel!



Thad K

[Pietro]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEL!

And yes, Thad, Mel DID voice Woody in "Hollywood Matador" for the last time.

-Pietro:D

[Sogturtle]

Mel is also heard prominently in the late Thirties and early Forties MGM cartoons, almost certainly hired as a result of Friz Freleng's presence. Toons like "Jitterbug Follies (1939) ", "The Bookworm" (Freleng), ""The Bookworm Returns" (Freleng), "Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers" (probably Friz), (1940) "The Lonesome Stranger" (1940) (Freleng?-Harman) etc.

He's also heard in some of the early Forties Columbia toons, in one of which he utilizes his future "Marvin Martian" voice (the title eludes my poor little pain-wracked brain at present, siiiiiiigh). I BELIEVE the title I'm thrashing about for is "Dumb Like A Fox" (1941) (Lou Lilly-Allen Rose).

It also should be pointed out that Mel's immediate replacement as Woody for the remainder of the Forties was by another Schlesinger-ite, our ol' compadre Ben Hardaway!!! Doubly pointed since Hardaway was Woody's real creator, and his then functioning as both writer and voice artist gave him a fair amount of control... (Much to Shamus Culhane's horror).

[Daffyfan2002]

And don't forget Barney Rubble:

"Right, Fred. Uh, hee-hee-hee!"

[Lonestarr]

Originally posted by Matt Yorston
..B-b-but that was only n-n-nine hundred and n-n-ninety nine voices! ;)

Shucks, I'm sure there's another one somewhere. Well, he'll think of it.

Happy Birthday, Mel. We all miss you. :)

[dendawg]

Originally posted by Daffyfan2002
And don't forget Barney Rubble...

And Dino, Cosmo Spacely, Speed Buggy, and countless hundreds of others! :D

[Emmanuel Cruz]

Happy birthday, Mel!

Hope your having a swell time with Chuck, Friz, Bob, Frank, and Tex! We miss ya, bub!

-Emmanuel

[Knothead]

While all of our favorite directors turned in a 'dog' now and again,
Mel Blanc has nothing short of a flawless performance in every classic
Warner's cartoon he participated in. I'd be curious to see if anyone
disagrees with this, but I can't think of a single Looney Tune or
Merrie Melody that didn't measure up because of anything he
did or didn't do.

This is even even MORE amazing when you remember
that all the directors had fairly specific styles and demands.
Mel wrote in his 1988 autobiography that Bob Clampett
was the most difficult to work with, as he could be
"irritatingly indecisive" while recording. Of course none
of this at all apparent in the finished cartoons.

Many of today's voice actors are unquestionably gifted,
but time and again they'll SOUND as though they're merely
READING WITH A FUNNY VOICE ATTACHED, not acting.
Listen to some of the animated programs on the
cable networks, and you'll witness 'performances'
that showcase a rushed voice actor spitting their
character's lines out, and little else.

For years I took Mel's skilled performances
and natural delivery for granted.
He was indeed the man
of a thousand voices...
and one of a kind, as well.

[Dane Martin]

I know I'm late, but... Happy b-b-b-b-day of birth!

Okay, yes, that was cheap. :p

[backdoc425]

Happy Birthday to the Man of 100 voices and (lest we forget) 1 car... Jack Benny's Maxwell! :D

[oldgreypole]

Incidentally, the man who was dubbed "The King of Swing," Benny Goodman, shared the same birthday as Mel Blanc. Benny Goodman was exactly one year older.

[oldgreypole]

I stand corrected. :eek: Benny Goodman was exactly one year younger than Mel Blanc. Blanc was born in 1908; Goodman in 1909.