Alex Toth Space Ghost Art

 Alex Toth has got to be one of my favorite character designers to work at Hanna-Barbera, if not animation as a whole. An exceptional artist who worked at nearly every other comic book company in the business, Toth brought a superhero sensibility to the world of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Whether you love the likes of Space Ghost, Birdman, and The Herculoids is irrelevant.  His work on these shows is nothing short of fantastic, and a big reason these characters are discussed to this day. And on this particular day, I'm sharing some of the great character artwork he did while working on the original Space Ghost. 

This first piece shows some head turns from Space Ghost himself, alongside some notes highlighting things to keep in mind when drawing the character.

Second up, we have a collection of Space Ghost's most fearsome adversaries: Brak, Black Widow, and not one, but two designs for Metallus. The one on the right is what ended up in the show, but I must say the design on the left isn't too shabby, either. Of course, it also goes without saying that Brak and the Black Widow are great designs in their own right. A superhero is nothing without a good set of villains, and Space Ghost is no slouch in that department.

I'm not done discussing Space Ghost's villains just yet. Here's a look at one my personal favorites, Moltar. It's like a hazmat suit with an added dose of pulpy science fiction, how can you not love it? Whether it's with his original yellow and white colors or the more iconic red and gray, it remains one of the most memorable in the show for me at least. I'd love to know from you all what you're favorites are as well.

Lastly, ever wondered what Space Ghost looks like without the cowl? Well, here you go. Not exactly the most shocking reveal, but you never do see him like this in the show itself so I'm not surprised it's a little bland. It's also interesting that the model sheet mentions the show as "Space Ghosts," which makes me wonder if this is a remnant of the show from before it became a more straight forward superhero cartoon.

The Voice Behind a Superhero

While exciting powers and a cool costume are key to making a great superhero, they aren't everything. For starters, what good is a hero without a voice? In the case of a character like Space Ghost, I don't think anyone could imagine a better pick to bring him to life than the indelible Gary Owens. 

I've discussed Gary Owens a few times on this blog, but I can't stress enough how perfect he was for this character. Owens voice was practically made for a superhero, so it's no wonder he voiced so many throughout his life. You've also got to hand it to Owens for giving the character a genuine personality. Everyone and their mother knows who Superman or Batman are, but nobody knew who Space Ghost was. There were no comics to draw on for inspiration, leaving Owens to create the character using just a script and his own vocal chords. Space Ghost could've easily been a character forgotten to time, but he endures to this day, thanks in large part to both Alex Toth's striking design and Gary Owens fantastic vocal work. 

With all that being said, just where did Owens' love of voice acting begin? Give this piece from the Wisconsin State Journal a read to find out that and more. This ran on December 7th, 1980, and is a great breakdown of Owens career to that point. It even makes mention of the then-upcoming Space Stars, though it is referred to as "Space Heroes" here.

Gary Owens is filmland's favorite voice

   

     HOLLYWOOD —Gary Owens was 10 years old when, after coming out of a diabetic coma, he overheard his doctor predict he wouldn't live beyond his teens.
    "He didn't realize I was on the other side of the partition in the hospital hallway. I heard him mention my name and say, 'No, there's not much hope for him.' 
    "That's when I really started working hard. I wanted to prove I could do something before my time ran out."
    Owens has been working hard—very hard—ever since. At 12, he won "one of those 'Draw me and win an art scholarship' things" and went on to sell some of his art work to Colliers and The Saturday Evening Post the following year.
    "The man who chose my drawing was Charles Schulz," says Owens. "It's amazing how many people there were who were influences in my life who've done well. George McGovern was my history teacher and Joseph Robbie, who now owns the Miami Dolphins, was my economics teacher."
    Employed as a radio announcer in his Mitchell, S.D., home town by age 16, Gary juggled that job with a sportswriter-cartoonist post at a local newspaper while attending college, all of which kept him busy 18 hours each day.
    Now 43, Owens still works at a pace that would frighten most people.
    He has what is arguably Hollywood's favorite speaking voice: the voice chosen by a large number of studios to promote their movies, the voice featured in thousands of cartoons (he's currently working on "Space Heroes") and countless commercials (he tapes an average of two voice-overs a day). Besides his appearances and announcing duties on NBC's "Games People Play" and guest appearances on such video outings as Bob Hope's election-theme special and NBC's "The Battle of Beverly Hills" tongue-in-cheek celebrity competition, he has his regular post as a KMPC Los Angeles radio personality.
    And he's involved with such a myriad of charities that rarely does a week go by when he's not working on a fundraising function, or two or more. The campaign against diabetes is, naturally, of special interest to Owens. Though he acknowledges the picture for diabetics has improved somewhat since he was terrified at 10, he's not about to slow down his efforts toward combating the disorder. 
    And, "I try to put aside some time to spend with the guys," says Owens, referring to his and wife Arleta's 16 and 19-year-old sons. 

    He has known Fred Silverman, the NBC president, for well over a decade, since beginning the "Space Ghost" cartoons when Silverman was a junior network executive.
    "Fred has always been very close to the cartoons," Gary notes.
    As for his own involvement, he still finds speaking for animated heroes, villains and other fanciful creatures a great deal of fun. Not only that, but "it's a good way to make money. You get residuals for 20 years. Cheryl Ladd used to work in cartoons. Tim Matheson was on 'Space Ghost' with me. Paul Lynde has worked on them. Well, there are so many familiar names, I could go on and on.
    "We do cartoons exactly as the old radio shows were done, except that we leave pauses between lines so that our dialogue is easier to cut for the animation. You'll see 10 microphones lined up in a row, with the actors going through the scenes. "It gets interesting when you have to fight against yourself," adds Owens. "I once played 'Space Ghost' at the same time I played the giant metallic monster who was fighting against him: 'Alright, Space Ghost, I'll get you now!'" he says in a high, robot wheeze. He turns and answers himself—his voice dropping to a low, hero-style tone. "No, I'm going to turn invisible."
    Another good way to make money is by doing commercial voice-overs. "I once did a whole campaign in 20 minutes—which went on to be shown for the next seven years: 'Pepsi Cola, in the 16-oz. bottles,'" he demonstrates, showing off his familiar dulcet tones.
    That 20 minutes of work proved to be very lucrative. "People look at that and think, 'I'm going to get into commercials.' It looks so easy. But it's not an easy field. It's highly competitive."
    He credits his success to the high profile he attained as "Laugh In's" perpetually perky announcer. 
    Owens has many fond memories of the "Laugh-In" years, of joshing about "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" and its mythical Nurn Hotel. "It wasn't the classiest of places," he recalls. "They didn't have caviar—but they would bring you a dish of tapioca and a pair of smoked glasses."
    Whatever the future of his low-rated "Games People Play," Owens is likely to remain a primetime fixture. There are prospects for other series for him, in acting as well as commentating capacities. Though he considers himself less an actor than a comic, he'd already emoted in some 300 TV roles before "Laugh-In" made him a celebrity.
    "I've done almost everything I set out to do at this point in my life," he says. It isn't hard to believe.

Video of the Week: Greetings From Space Ghost

 Despite this month being a celebration of Space Ghost, I haven't touched on its late-night follow-up, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, a whole lot. Today marks my first post of the month focused entirely on this show, and what better place to start than the beginning. Check out this commercial for the show's premiere, which consists mostly of footage from the first few episodes. Nothing too shocking, but it's still very cool to see the beginnings of the show that would change Cartoon Network forever.

Space Ghost, Now in Plush Form!

 Out of all the Hanna-Barbera protagonists, I feel like Space Ghost is the last one I'd pick to be transformed into a bean bag plush toy. WB must've felt differently though, considering they went and made one of their own back in 1999. 

At that time, the WB Studio Store had a large line of plush toys based on many of their franchises, Hanna-Barbera included. Space Ghost was, interestingly enough, the only character they did that came from one of the studios action-adventure shows. Honestly, I'm a little surprised they never did any Jonny Quest characters considering how hard they pushed that series back then. But Space Ghost here looks pretty darn cool for a bean bag toy. He looks just like the character and, at a time where Space Ghost collectibles were on the more expensive side, this gave you an affordable toy version of everyone's favorite space hero and late-night host. Better yet, he fits right in with the DC superhero bean bags the WB Studio Store was also selling, which you can see below. And before you ask, no, I have no idea why Superman's head looks so big.

Ginny Tyler and the Festival Players

 While many of the cast members on Space Ghost pulled double duty with their characters (and some did even more), I believe Ginny Tyler had the hardest job. She had to voice not only the heroic and youthful Jan, but also the vile and decrepit Black Widow. A very difficult task, but to Tyler, I imagine it was just a normal Thursday.

Over five decades, Ginny Tyler maintained an impressive career largely due to her flexible voice. Like many of her contemporaries, Tyler got her start in radio before transitioning to cartoons following the TV animation explosion of the 1960s. Her first roles at Hanna-Barbera were relatively small, but memorable nevertheless (who could forget the Carhops from The Flintstones?). Space Ghost gave her her first major characters, and she would become a notable member of the Hanna-Barbera voice actor stable afterwards. Tyler could be heard in Cattanooga Cats, Jeannie, Fantastic Four, and Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. Towards the end of the 1970s, Tyler relocated to Seattle and largely retired from voice acting. She was named a Disney Legend in 2006, and passed away on July 13th, 2012 at the age of 86.

We could sit here for a long time discussing Ginny Tyler's work at Hanna-Barbera, Disney, and elsewhere, but I've got something a bit different in mind. Below is a story about Tyler that appeared in the May 8th, 1968 edition of The Signal. It focuses on a Mother's Day performance featuring Tyler, showcasing her fantastic musical abilities that could also be heard on the various Disney records she appeared in. A short profile on both Tyler and the Festival Players is also included.

Festival Players At Val Verde Park

    

The Val Verde Teen Club will present a special Mother's Day program on Sunday, May 12, at 2 p.m., in the clubhouse at Val Verde Park where Ginny Tyler and the Festival Players of California will be featured in their all-new program entitled "Music and the Masques." 

    A Hollywood entertainer, Ginny Tyler has appeared at Disneyland, in numerous theatrical productions, TV shows such as Joey Bishop, The Lucy Show and Space Ghost, and motion pictures for Disney, 20th Century Fox and MGM, her latest being Dr. Dolittle. She is also an author and featured story-teller on Disneyland Records.
    The Festival Players have for many years reportedly enjoyed enthusiastic acclaim throughout California for their virtuoso artistry and diversified repertoire, is recognized by leading critics as one of the truly outstanding chamber music ensembles in the concert field today.
    "Music and the Masques" is a program of classical music and drama, presented with the unique style of the Festival Players and highlighted by the effervescent personality of Miss Tyler.
    Mistress of Ceremonies will be Miss Dorothy Graham, vice president of the Val Verde Teen Club. A special Mother's Day recitation will be given by Miss Anita Barbosa, who is also a member of the Teen Club. Both teenagers attend Hart high.
    A social hour will follow the musical program.

Jack Kirby Space Ghost Sketches

Alex Toth wasn't the only comic book legend to work on Space Ghost. Believe it or not, but Jack Kirby, the king behind characters like Captain America, Hulk, and the Fantastic Four, also lent his artistic prowess to the show.

During the 1980s, Kirby worked as a character designer on several Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and one of those were the Space Ghost segments found in 1981's Space Stars. While these installments aren't exactly as fondly remembered as the originals, Kirby's designs were easily among the highlights. In celebration of his amazing work, here's a collection of art he produced during his time on the series. 

Below is a model sheet of a character Jack designed for the show, Eclipse Woman. She appeared in the ninth Space Ghost segment of the show, and was one of the series' new villains. While she may not be as beloved as some of Space Ghost's other adversaries, her design is unmistakably Jack Kirby.

Here's another villain he helped design, the Toymaker. The model sheet here actually calls him "Toyman," but his name was changed in the final series, I imagine to avoid confusion with the DC Comics supervillain. Speaking of DC, Toymaker as presented in the model sheet wouldn't look at all out of place in New Gods. Fitting, as that comic was created by Jack himself. A very cool design that, unfortunately, doesn't look nearly as interesting in the finished product.

Last but most definitely not least, we have Kirby's concept art of Krugar the space pirate. The character was very much in the vein of Brak from the original series, but Jack Kirby was able to make this guy feel totally distinct. He's far more cat-like than Brak ever was, and the pirate motif is on full display through his wardrobe.

Video of the Week: Cartoon Network Gives Viewers a Scream

 Halloween's a little over two weeks away, so here's a treat to get everyone in the spirit. This is a promo that aired on Cartoon Network in the late nineties and features Daphne and Shaggy spoofing the opening scene of the horror film Scream. A funny commercial that I couldn't see the CN of today doing, and as many have pointed out, it's even a tad ironic, since actor Matthew Lillard went on to play Shaggy in the live-action Scooby films a few years after Scream (and eventually the character in animation as well). Give it a look below!