Video of the Week: Flintstones NFL, That's Enough Said!

 The NFL season may be over, but for the town of Bedrock, things are only getting started. Here's a 1993 commercial for a series of Flintstones NFL trading cards. This line was produced by Cardz Distribution, who made many other Hanna-Barbera series during this time, and they featured the Flintstones cast as members of various NFL teams. Also worth noting is that Wilma herself, Jean Vander Pyl, narrates the commercial. 

Here's a small sample of what these cards looked like. All of the main characters were represented, and they covered many of the NFL teams. It's a bit of an odd crossover, but this was the era of cartoon characters and sports mixing and mingling. At the very least, I'd say Flintstones and football make more sense than Looney Tunes and basketball. Why, who would ever think of such a ridiculous concept?

   

Hoyt Curtin Looks Back

Since I started this blog, I have unfortunately only spoken a few times of Hoyt Curtin, who gave Hanna-Barbera much of its musical identity. That is why I'm beyond excited about today's post. Coming to us from the October 11th, 1995 edition of The Flint Journal, is this fascinating look at Curtin's career. Unsurprisingly, the focus is on his work for Hanna-Barbera, but he also discusses his influences and life post-Hanna-Barbera. Check it out below, along with a nice photo of Curtin alongside Alan Reed and Hoagy Carmichael during the production of The Flintstones episode, "The Hit Songwriters."

Veteran composer's music lives on in TV cartoons

By Martin Natchez

    When Hoyt Curtin recalls his 33 years as music director of Hanna-Barbera Productions, he modestly takes credit for writing themes that became as popular as his studio's animated stars.
    Even today, Curtin's less-than-a-minute melodies can be sung by millions of adults and children by heart. 
    Remember "Get set, get steady, here comes Ruff and Ready"?
    Or "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they're the modern stone-age family"?
    Don't forget "The greatest show in town is Huckleberry Hound for all you guys and gals, dah-dah-da-da-dah!" 

    Nearly 50 of Curtin's famous "toon tunes" are anthologized on the new Kid Rhino Records CD "Hanna-Barbera Classics Volume 1." The offerings range from themes for Pixie and Dixie and Augie Doggie to later favorites like Magilla Gorilla and Scooby Doo.
    Chances are, Curtin's music still creates instant visual images of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's famous cast of TV celluloid celebrities. The musically minded trio worked together, in fact. Yet their creative end was often achieved in a slightly unorthodox exchange.
    "Usually, the pieces started with Bill and Joe writing the lyrics, because they knew what shows they were going to put out. Then I'd write the music and call them back on the phone," Curtin explained in a recent phone interview. "That's the way we did Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Huckleberry Hound - all those early ones. We rarely had a formal sit-down table meeting."
    When discussing his career, the good-humored composer, who, at 72, is still seeking his doctorate degree in music, enjoys relating how a slow clarinet lament in the premiere episode of "The Flintstones" was jazzed up with tympani, to give it "a real caveman feel." It was transformed into the series' second, and more popular, opening theme.
    And why does "The Jetsons" theme contain a few bars of "Chopsticks"? Without hesitation, Curtin replied, "Elroy was such a nice kid, I just figured he ought to take piano lessons."
    Although classically trained, Curtin said his biggest influences came from listening to the jazz stylings of Artie Shaw, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington. He, in turn, carried his love for that big brass sound toward a number of rousing cartoon scores.
    And from 1957 to 1990, Curtin wrote and recorded main themes and background "cues" for hundreds of Hanna-Barbera cartoons that are mainstays on cable TV.
    "Mozart I'm not, but Bill and Joe's philosophy about music was that it should be bright, up and happy," Curtin said. "I wrote all the themes and I chose all the bands. I had five arrangers, and we would all meet at a table in the corner of a Bob's Big Boy, give the waitress $10, and tell her just to bring coffee while we set up the recording sessions."
    For each season, Curtin had to have the music completed before the first week of September, when film would start arriving from animation studios based in Taiwan, Madrid and Hollywood. Primitively, he notes, the music had to be pre-written and timed to storyboards with a stopwatch.
    "It was all done before computers," said Curtin of the bygone practice. "But even today, all the guys who do what I did have huge workloads. It was murder, but you couldn't ask for a better job."

If you'd like to learn more about Hoyt Curtin, I highly recommend reading this e-mail correspondence the folks at Classic Jonny Quest had with him back in '99. Yowp also has a few great reads on him, but I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you that! I also shared a video interview with him last year, which you can watch that right here. 

Video of the Week: Yogi and Friends Invade London

 It's always fun to see how the Hanna-Barbera characters are used in other countries, and today, I've got an interesting commercial from the United Kingdom. This comes to us from the Muller Milk and Ingredients company in 2011. The advert revolves around a grey and dull London being transformed into a colorful and cartoony one. It's basically an excuse to have a commercial with a ton of famous characters, which we see a lot these days, but not as much fifteen years ago.

Characters like those from Mr. Men and K.I.T.T. of Knight Rider appear, but the most notable (at least for us) are Yogi Bear and Wacky Races' Muttley. Being that this is a UK production, neither are voiced by their usual actors. Instead, they are voiced by Scottish actor Lewis Macleod, who has been heard in everything from Star Wars to Harry Potter, though this is the only time he's portrayed either character. All in all, a charming commercial with some pretty fluid animation. 

T.C. and the Gang Get Into Advertising

While all of the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons had stellar voice casts, none were stronger than Top Cat. The series had many Hanna-Barbera usuals like John Stephenson and Jean Vander Pyl but made up its main cast with comedy legends like Arnold Stang, Maurice Gosfield, and more. All of the Top Cat actors had careers that included Broadway, sitcoms, and even commercials. So today, here's a look at a few instances where the stars of Top Cat tried to sell us stuff.

Let's start this off with the leader of the gang, Arnold Stang. Or two of him to be exact! This was a commercial for the Steak and Brew restaurant chain that aired in 1975. One can never have enough of Stang, so getting two of him in this commercial is a real treat.

I'll now share a commercial with narration from the real-life Choo-Choo, Marvin Kaplan. Fittingly enough, it's for Purina Cat Chow. This one aired back in the 1960s. Perhaps this was a gig Choo-Choo did on the side?

I'll share one more, this being a 1956 ad featuring Benny the Ball himself, Maurice Gosfield, for Camel cigarettes. He's joined by another Hanna-Barbera star, Allan Melvin. The two are acting as their characters from The Phil Silvers Show (which served as inspiration for Top Cat), but you'll probably know Melvin best as Magilla Gorilla. 

Don Messick: The Live Performance

 As I mentioned in last week's "Top Ten Hanna-Barbera Voice Actors" list, Don Messick is my personal favorite of the actors I included. So why not follow that up with a look at one of Messick's most obscure performances? This was something I learned of a while ago, and have been meaning to share it here. In early 1996, Don Messick participated in a live take on the classic Peter and the Wolf musical. Given this was the same year Messick retired from the industry, this may very well be one of his last voice-over performances, as well as one of his final public appearances. The January 5th edition of the Lompoc Record promoted the event, which you can read below. 

Interestingly enough, this was not the only time Messick was involved in a take on this particular musical. It was also done in 1993, which you can read about in this post from Yowp's blog. Also interesting is that they specifically mention it as a one-time performance. Clearly, that didn't exactly stick. 

Peter and the Wolf multimedia concert on stage at Lobero

    SANTA BARBARA—It's a day for the young and young-at-heart Sunday as the West Coast Symphony, under the direction of Christopher Story, presents a lively multi-media staging of Sergei Prokofiev's classic musical tale, "Peter and the Wolf."    
    The show takes place in the Lobero Theatre, 33 East Canon Perdido, at 3 p.m.
    Prokofiev combined narration with orchestration to vividly tell the exciting story. In the tale, a young Russian boy lives with his grandfather at the edge of a deep, dark forest. The audience hears, through word and instrument, Peter's adventure as he attempts to capture a wolf from the forest and deliver him to a zoo.
    International "voice-over" star Don Messick is the narrator. He has been the voice of many popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters since the 1950s. Over the years, Messick has received many awards for his vocal contributions to the animation industry. 

    In "Peter and the Wolf," he enlists his famous cartoon alter-egos, Boo-Boo Bear, Scooby Doo, Papa Smurf, Ranger Smith and others in the narration.
    Cartoon slides by artist Jamie Pfeifer add delightful visuals to the performance. 
    To open the program, storyteller Michael Katz spins one of his fabulous tales, with sound effects by the orchestra.
    He is the storytelling radio show, "Katz Pajamas," on KCBS. He is also the artistic director of the Flying Leap Storytelling Festival held annually in Solvang.
    A master storyteller, Katz finds exciting ways to pull his audiences into the multicultural folktales and personal adventure stories that he tells.
    Clowns from "Clown Town" add to the merriment of the afternoon.
    The program is sponsored by the Lobero and Cielo Foundations. Tickets are $20 general; $15, seniors and students; and $10, children and handicapped persons. To order, call the theater at 963-0761. Visa, American Express, and MasterCard are accepted.

Video of the Week: Scooby and Magilla Get Primestar

 Here's a pretty interesting commercial that aired back in 1993. This is an advertisement for Primestar, a shortlived satellite TV provider, featuring appearances from Scooby-Doo and Magilla Gorilla and a quick cameo from Mr. Peebles. Scooby is his usual self, but it looks like Magilla has gotten himself a date. The animation is quite fluid, but what I find most interesting is Scooby's voice. I don't know who it is, but it's definitely not Don Messick!

Top Ten Hanna-Barbera Voice Actors

Voice actors: The one thing almost everyone can agree on that Hanna-Barbera got right. Even people who can't stand any of their cartoons will say that they knocked it out of the park when it came to casting actors. Part of the reason so many of their characters are fondly remembered is the brilliant acting of the actors and actresses who voiced them. Even in their later years, as their quality began to wane, they continued to find and foster amazing actors. Frank Welker is arguably the best voice actor alive, and we'd never have him if it wasn't for Hanna-Barbera.  

Throughout the years, Hanna-Barbera employed many voice actors, but who were the best? Join me as I count down my personal picks for the ten best classic Hanna-Barbera actors. I have only two rules for this list. First, they had to work for the company during its golden years, which for me was 1957-1969. Anyone who works past this will not be included. Additionally, I'm only looking at an actor's contributions to the works of Hanna-Barbera. Almost all these actors voiced characters for other animation studios, but I'm only considering their Hanna-Barbera characters. Yes, these rules are complicated and arbitrary, but it's my blog! Now, let's take a few to salute those who gave life to the funtastic world of Hanna-Barbera.

10. Doug Young

Starting this list off is the most obscure actor here, and easily the most underrated. Young (pictured above on the right) was one of the first actors hired by the studio alongside Daws Butler and Don Messick, but unlike them, he only stuck with the studio for a few years. He portrayed characters like Doggie Daddy and was often heard as minor characters in series like The Flintstones. While he isn't as fondly remembered as Butler and Messick are, Young was an invaluable part of Hanna-Barbera's early years. Between that and the many voices he did, both big and small, it felt right to put him on this list.

9. John Stephenson

Unlike others on this list, Stephenson never voiced the lead of a series. That being said, he made up for it in the sheer amount of characters he voiced. He was the man who gave life to Mr. Slate, Fancy Fancy, Dr. Quest (at least initially), and a truly staggering amount of minor characters. If you've ever watched a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, no matter the era, you've heard Stephenson's voice more than a few times. He was every bit as important to the studio as someone like Daws Butler or Frank Welker and deserves more credit than he's given.

8. Arnold Stang

Contrary to popular belief, you don't necessarily need a thousand voices under your belt to be a great voice actor. Sometimes, one's enough, and Arnold Stang was proof of that. Stang didn't appear in a lot of cartoons over his long career in show business, but he nailed it with his most remembered character, Top Cat. Top Cat in general had a great cast, but it was Stang who stole the show. While his performance began as a parody of Phil Silvers, Stang made the character more his own as the show progressed. His voice is a big reason the character is still so beloved, and it's hard to imagine anyone else as the character. 

7. Howard Morris

Morris might be best remembered for his onscreen roles, but that doesn't mean he was a slouch in his animated roles. Howard Morris voiced many characters for Hanna-Barbera over the course of their forty-year history, but my favorites would have to be two characters he voiced in The Jetsons: Jet Screamer and Grandpa Jetson. Both of these roles showed that Morris could take even the smallest of roles and transform them into something memorable. In the hands of someone else, Jet could've easily been a cliche 60s rock singer, but with Morris' vocals, he became one of the most celebrated characters in the show. He could take anything and turn it into pure gold. That's a skill all the great comedians have, and Morris had that both in live-action and animation.

6. Alan Reed

Keith Scott (author of the exceptional Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age) stated on Greg Ehrbar's Hanna-Barbera podcast that there may never have been a better match of actor and character in animation than Alan Reed and Fred Flintstone. Honestly, I can't disagree with him. People often think that voice acting is simply doing funny voices, but that's not at all what Reed did. He approached the role of Fred Flintstone as if he were a character in a live-action sitcom, and clearly, that was the right choice. I don't think we'd be talking about The Flintstones today if it weren't for Alan Reed. Whether it was a serious moment or something comical, Alan Reed always brought his A-Game. So next time you hear someone talk about how voice acting is nothing more than silly voices, tell 'em about Alan Reed!

5. Jean Vander Pyl

The first recurring voice actress Hanna-Barbera employed, Jean Vander Pyl played many characters, with no two being the same: The prehistoric housewife Wilma, baby Pebbles, robotic housemaid Rosie, and many more. Even for bit roles, she constantly made an effort to differentiate them from each other. Beyond a great vocal range, she gave Wilma as much depth as Reed had given Fred. It was really the two of them that took the characters from being funny cartoons to being characters that people were genuinely invested in. And this was something she accomplished with most of her characters. Rosie only appeared in two of the original Jetsons episodes but is one of the most popular characters from it. Jean's voice is a big reason for that. She really was one of their best actors and one of the best classic voice actresses in general.

4. Janet Waldo

While Jean Vander Pyl was the first voice actress, none were more prolific than Judy Jetson herself, Janet Waldo. Like Jean, she had great range. She could play characters young and old, good and evil, whatever the call, she'd answer it. I ultimately gave her the edge over Miss Vander Pyl because she had more instances to show her abilities. She got several starring roles in shows like Penelope Pitstop and Josie and the Pussycats, which Jean did not. She also appeared in a lot more projects, further allowing her to demonstrate her range. Besides being a talented artist, Waldo was also a kindhearted human being. After her controversial dismissal from the 1990 Jetsons feature, she held no ill will towards the folks at Hanna-Barbera, despite being upset with the decision. She was a real class act, and while that could be said for most on this list, I think none fit that bill better than her.

3. Mel Blanc

Yes, yes, I can hear your complaints already. How could the man of a thousand voices only be at number three on this list? Remember, I'm only judging these actors based on their Hanna-Barbera work. If we were looking at his entire body of work, he'd easily take the top spot. Just off his Hanna-Barbera roles though, there are two who beat him. But I'm not saying Blanc phoned in any of these roles. Whether it was Barney Rubble or Mr. Spacely, he was nothing short of a pleasure to hear. Even in later productions, when the stories and animation had obviously declined, Blanc remained at the top of his game. Captain Caveman is one of the studios' more fondly remembered seventies series, and a big reason for that is Blanc's performance. He could take even the most mundane roles or lines, and make them funny. Mel Blanc loved what he did, and did it until he passed away in 1989. While his HB characters aren't quite as iconic as those he created at Warner Brothers, Blanc was a trailblazer in the art of voice acting. If it weren't for him, this list probably wouldn't even exist!

2. Don Messick

My personal favorite actor on this list, Don Messick truly does not get enough love. The list of characters he voiced isn't only impressive, but just from their names, you get a sense of his range: Boo Boo, Ranger Smith, Astro, Scooby, Muttley, Bandit, Dr. Quest, Bamm-Bamm, I could go on and on. I think the best thing I could say about Messick's talent is that, despite playing a fair amount of canines, they always sounded remarkably different. Most would say that Scooby-Doo and Astro sound the same, and many of the later voice actors certainly play them that way, but not Messick. Astro was energetic and outgoing, just like you'd expect from the family dog. Meanwhile, Scooby was paranoid and unsure of himself, which fits the character perfectly. He was also amazing at creating sounds for creatures, whether they be of this world or another. In that regard, he was kind of like the Frank Welker of his time.  An actor who could bring life to just about any animated character and a class act, Messick was a titan in the voice-acting world. There's a reason practically the entire animation industry showed up to his retirement party.

1. Daws Butler

Yeah, you probably saw this coming, but who else would it be? As Bill Hanna said himself, there probably wouldn't have even been a Hanna-Barbera without Daws! From Yogi to Huckleberry Hound, from Mr. Jinks to Snagglepuss, Butler and Messick were almost like the glue that held Hanna-Barbera together in its early years. Daws worked for the studio for three decades, and even in his later years, as both his health began to decline and the studio's output faltered, he gave each role and every cartoon his all. Even today, despite having left us over thirty years ago, Butler remains an important figure in the history of voice acting. His characters have endured, he inspired future voice actors, and trained many of them in his workshops. Many of today's voice-acting veterans, like Corey Burton, Nancy Cartwright, and Bill Farmer, came directly from those studies. He was a great mentor, and always made it clear that it's voice acting. The acting should always come first, and that's something that I think many, especially viewers, forget when watching animation. It's more than doing voices behind a mic for twenty minutes, and all of these actors understood that. Like I said at the beginning of this list, Hanna-Barbera hired a whole lot of voice actors over the years. However, there's only one you could say built the company into what we know it as. That man was Daws Butler.

And that's my list. Of course, this is only my opinion, and there were more than a few that would have made the list if I looked at all their animation credits (June Foray for example). If you'd like me to talk about more voice actors, check out this post I made last year discussing their most underrated actors. There is some slight crossover with this list, but for the most part, the picks are very different. And let me know who are your favorites in the comments below!