Magilla Gorilla's Hand Caught in the Cookie Jar

 Few things bring me as much joy as weird and oddball Hanna-Barbera collectibles. Today, I'm presenting probably one of the strangest I've come across so far. It's a ceramic cookie jar of everyone's favorite animated ape, Magilla Gorilla. Sounds like a run-of-the-mill product, but wait until you get a look at the thing. To say they took a few creative liberties would be an understatement in every sense of the word. Remember the banana on his hat? Of course you don't!

Unfortunately, I couldn't find much in the way of info regarding where this guy comes from. All I know is it was produced by a company named Brinn's and was likely released during the original run of the series. I also noticed that there may be a variant version of this jar, sporting a green top instead of a red one. Apart from that, though, they are more or less the same. He's still got that charming, and maybe a bit creepy, grin on his face. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this spooked a few kids back in the day. I know I would've been!

Video of the Week: The Stars of Hanna-Barbera at Halifax

Here's something I think you'll all really dig. Airing over in the UK in 2016, below is a series of commercials for the Halifax banking company starring several Hanna-Barbera characters. What's great about these commercials (and the reason I'm highlighting them) is that their art style stays very close to how the characters looked in the original series. It's not an exact replica, but it's far better than how they look in most commercials. The first one I'll share is the Flintstones one, complete with Jeff Bergman and Tress MacNeille as Fred and Wilma. The two have been the primary actors for both characters since 2000. 

The second series represented in this campaign was Top Cat, no stranger to being used in advertisements for British banking companies (check out another one here). T.C. is voiced by Jason Harris Katz, while vocal duties for Benny are handled by Chris Edgerly. You may not be familiar with them, but both portrayed these characters before in the CG Top Cat films released in Mexico. I'm not certain as to who plays Dibble, but I imagine it's Bill Lobley, who played him in the previously mentioned films. Halifax also created another video featuring Top Cat, comprised of several "bloopers" taken during the making of the ad.

The last franchise featured in these ads was, unsurprisingly, Scooby-Doo. However, the voice cast here is a bit of a weird one. Scooby and Shaggy are voiced by Scott Innes, who's only occasionally voiced the characters since the early 2000s. I'm not sure why they didn't get Frank Welker and Matt Lillard, maybe they were too expensive for them? Velma's voiced by Mindy Cohn. She began voicing the character in 2002, but by 2016, she had been replaced in all media by Kate Micucci, who voices her to this day. That makes this ad the last piece of Scooby media to feature Cohn in the role, at least as far as I know of.

Last but certainly not least, here is a behind-the-scenes video displaying how the Flintstones and Top Cat adverts were done. It's not every day you get to see how a commercial was put together, so the fact this exists is something special. I especially love seeing the animation tests they did for this campaign.

Don Messick's Moment in the Spotlight

 Earlier this month, I had the pleasure to share with you all an interview I conducted with Tim Messick, son of Hanna-Barbera voice actor Don Messick. If you happened to miss it, check it out right here. That interview made me feel like I should share a little something featuring Don, so here goes! On June 14th. 1987, The Los Angeles Times published an extensive spotlight on Don Messick and his long career in animation. I've read many newspaper articles where Messick is interviewed, but this might be the most detailed one I've seen thus far. There's a lot here that you've probably already heard, but there are also details you may not be familiar with. Highlights include Messick's early years, his voice work in camera TV, and the charity work he did across the globe.

Don Messick—the voice of Papa Smurf and Scooby-Doo

By Andrea Troutman

     "My little Smurfs, what are you doing? Fighting is not the smurfy way..."
    So says Papa Smurf, whose voice is easily recognizable by the Saturday morning faithful who watch him and the other Smurfs on Hanna-Barbera's number-one cartoon show.
    When Papa Smurf, Scooby Doo, Boo Boo Bear, and a host of other Hanna Barbera characters speak, it's really Don Messick breathing life into the animated beings.
    The 60-year-old actor specializes in voices and has done about 1,000 different characters in 3,000 individual episodes (200 different series) during his 45-year career.
    "I have a very flexible voice with a wide range of sound possibilities," Messick explained, "which I discovered when my voice started to change as I entered adolescence."
    Messick does commercial voiceovers, too. He has been the voice of Snap in Kellogg Rice Krispie commercials and that of a lemon for Lemon Joy. He has also been a flea, a mosquito and a hornet for Raid commercials. 
    Scooby Doo, who was on TV for 16 years, is Messick's favorite cartoon character.
    "He has natural foibles like all of us," Messick said. "He's a big, lovable, cowardly, hungry creature who's funny, because, in spite of his fears and intrepidations, he always stumbles into solving the mystery. 

    "His feisty little nephew, Scrappy Doo (also a Messick voice), always reinterprets what Scooby's actions are," Messick continued. If they appear to be the cowardly or strange, if Scooby ends up clinging to a chandelier, Scrappy says, 'I know why you're hiding up there...' Scrappy sees his uncle's actions as some secret plan to pounce on the villain and solve the mystery."
    Messick's own voice is recognizable in the Santa Barbara area by listeners of the classical music program, "Opus 94," on radio station KDB AM and FM. He pretapes his portion of the three-hour programs in his own recording studio. "Sundial Studio," located in his Montecito home, is an eight-track facility that is also used by local organizations to tape commercials, sound effects and production music.
    "I've always enjoyed creating with tape," said Messick, who added the studio to his home about 20 years ago.
    Messick started experimenting with different voices when he was 13 and found his voice changing. His parents gave him a ventriloquist's dummy to practice with, and not long after he bought his second dummy, Woody de Forest, for $15.
    "I was a very shy teenager, a real introvert," Messick recalled, "who grew up in the era of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. I had always been fascinated by the entertainment industry, so when I discovered that I had a very flexible voice, I decided to develop that talent. Being a ventriloquist seemed to be a natural for me," he added.
    By the time Messick was 15, he and Woody were doing a weekly radio show in Salisbury, Md.—a half-hour variety show with a live audience.
    "I would appear as a ventriloquist and then as a harmonica player," Messick said.
    Messick had another weekly show at the same time, a 15-minute sitcom about Woody and his friends and their misadventures. Messick wrote the show and performed all of the characters.
    After graduating from Nanticoke High School in 1943, Messick studied acting in Baltimore--"to get rid of my country hick accent"--and performed frequently in little theaters and radio theater. He even did some off-Broadway plays in New York.
    "I was very serious about stage acting in New York," Messick said, "but the Army brought me to the West Coast, and I liked it so much, I stayed."
    Messick arrived in Hollywood in 1946 and spent several months playing nightclubs with his wooden partner until he was cast as the voice of Raggedy Andy in "The Raggedy Ann Show," a radio series that lasted for 39 weeks. 
    His first break in the cartoon industry came when he substituted for the regular voice of MGM's Droopy the Dog. A few years later, he met William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who headed MGM's cartoon department.
    Hanna and Barbera split from MGM in the late '50s, when the film production company was shutting down its cartoon facility. After Hanna and Barbera formed their own company, Messick costarred with voiceover artist Daws Butler in the new firm's first TV series, "Ruff 'n' Ready." Messick narrated the series and did the voices of Ruff (the cat) and Professor Gizmo.
    Messick's voice has also been heard on numerous TV sitcoms, including "Chico and the Man" and "All in the Family."
    Doing voices live for TV, even off-camera, can be taxing, according to Messick. He recalls an episode of "All in the Family," when Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner were going out for the evening. Carroll O'Connor decided he would take care of his baby grandson, even though he was hosting a poker game.
    Messick, who was to make the baby gurgles and cries for the episode, was in an announcing booth just off the control room while the episode was being taped in front of a live audience.
    "I had to hear all of the babble of the technical crew in the booth, as well as the director's cues, in one ear," Messick said. "And in the other, I was listening to the dialogue on the set and viewing the action on a monitor so I'd know exactly when to start my gurgles or cries."
    Messick has done other on-camera work, including a 13-week series called "The Duck Factory." The MTM production was based on "a fictional, funky little Hollywood cartoon studio called Buddy Winkler Productions."
    "I played the part of Wally Wooster who did most of the characters for Buddy Winkler Productions, including the voice of Dippy Duck."
    Messick's latest "live" performances have been on the road on behalf of children's charitable organizations in England and New Zealand. Messick has visited numerous hospital wards to amuse children. He shows the youngsters cartoon cels (celluloid) and adlibs with them to demonstrate what the various TV characters might say.
    "Then, after a dozen or so characters, I bring out Kiwi (a kiwi bird hand puppet he purchased in London) and do a little ventriloquism. I like to make orange juice talk, or perhaps a bottle. A bottle is best, because the children usually imagine someone being inside a bottle."
    Messick first took his show on the road during the 1985 Colonel Sanders Memorial March of Dimes Campaign. He served as the campaign's co-chairman, along with Sanders' widow, and visited 10 major cities on behalf of the charitable organization.
    The man who plays Astro, the Jetson family dog, is offended when people refer to his work as impersonations.
    "I don't do impersonations," Messick said firmly. "If a program or commercial calls for a character based on a specific personality, then I refuse to take the part.
    "I only do original characters," he continued, "which made finding work in my field more difficult in the beginning. It wasn't until Astro came along that I began to carve a niche for myself with substantial characters that were original."
    Messick is first and foremost an actor, he said. He believes his acting skills are necessary for him to bring life to a character whether—he (Messick) is seen or not.
    "Even when you're doing voiceovers, you need to act with your total body to get the proper animation in your voice. You can't just sit there stiffly and read words off...you're performing."
    There are limitations, however, to how active a voiceover artist can be.
    "Many people forget the microphone is very directional," Messick said. "If you turn to address an actor to your right, then you're 'off-mic.'"
    A new character in Messick's repertoire is a yappy dog named Pepe, who is part of a cartoon series about dogs called "Foofur." Messick commutes to the Hanna Barbera Studios on La Cienega Blvd. in North Hollywood an average of three times a week to tape "Foofur" episodes, as well as sequences of the "Smurfs." He recently finished filming new episodes for the Jetson series.
    Does he still like his work?
    "Absolutely. What else would I do?" Messick mused. "seriously, I enjoy being in the world of fantasy. It's healthy to get away from some of the harsher, negative realities of today's world and to bring joy and laughter not only to the audience but to oneself. It's therapeutic," Messick added.

   

Yogi, Huckleberry Hound, and Quick Draw Enjoy a Smoke Break

 Everyone seems to know about how The Flintstones promoted cigarettes in the show's early years (usually under the false pretense of it being advertised to kids), but how many are aware of these toys where smoking was the main feature? Below are the Lovable Smoking Traveler's Pets, issued in the early 1960s. Each of the three figures is accompanied by faux cigarettes, which can be lit to emit smoke like an actual cigarette. Fun for the whole family! I think what I love most about these figures though is their expressions. They have this strange, almost "deer in the headlights look" to them. Yogi Bear especially looks hilarious here.

As weird as these toys are, I guess they sold well. Or, at least, well enough to package all three into one set. This one might be a bit weirder, if only for the packaging depicting Yogi, Huckleberry Hound, and Quick Draw McGraw smoking their cigarettes. Definitely not something that would fly today!

A Magic Carpet Ride with Huckleberry Hound

 Boy, did Hanna-Barbera love to slap their characters on everything and anything. If you need proof, here is a collection of Huckleberry Hound rugs from the early 1960s. Yowp's discussed these on his blog a few times, but I don't believe he's shared the full collection of them. Or, at least, all the carpets that I could find online. According to a newspaper ad he shared on one post, these would've set you back $5.98 back in the day. Each one measures 22 x 38 inches and comes to us from Belgium.

I'm not quite done yet, though! In the early days of Cartoon Network's website, they actually had concept sketches for these rugs available. They didn't have art for all of the pieces I've shared today, but they did for the majority of them. Oddly enough, the website just labels them as sketches for "Huckleberry Hound merchandise", making no mention of the merchandise the art was made for. Perhaps those creating the website didn't even know themselves?

HB Voice Actors in Classic TV Shows Part Deux

 This is a post I've been meaning to get out for a while now! At the end of January, I uploaded a post sharing several appearances from Hanna-Barbera voice actors in live-action TV shows of yesteryear. If you missed that, check it out right here. Now, it's time for part the second! Last time, I looked at the original Flintstones, Alan Reed and Jean Vander Pyl, so it's only natural that this installment focuses on the Rubbles. Let us begin with Barney Rubble, voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc. Blanc's name may be synonymous with animation, but he did have a few live-action credits. One of those, just like Alan Reed and the other major Flintstones actors, was The Beverly Hillbillies. He appeared in one episode as a cab driver, and made the most out of what could have been a pretty plain role. Here's a little excerpt from said episode.

Barney wouldn't be anything without Miss Betty Rubble, so the next actor I'd like to spotlight is the lovely Bea Benaderet. Benaderet is arguably different from other voice actors HB employed in that she's far more known for her screen work than she is for her work in animation. She was in many shows, including Beverly Hillserbillies, I Love Lucy, and Petticoat Junction, the last of which was her big starring role. Benaderet played Kate Bradley in the series, a widow who runs a hotel known as the Shady Rest. Here's a clip from one of the show's Christmas episodes. She truly was an underrated talent, whether it be in animation, live-action, or radio.

The final actor I'd like to spotlight today is one of my favorite voice actors, Don Messick. Messick was a king of cartoon voiceovers, but what many might not know is that in the 1980s, he was a regular on a live-action series. Titled The Duck Factory, the show focused on a young cartoonist working at the titular Duck Factory, the masterminds behind "The Dippy Duck Show". Messick, unsurprisingly, played a voice actor. The show is also notable for starring an actor who would go on to become one of the most in-demand actors of the next decade. His name is Jim Carrey, perhaps you've heard of him?  Below is the pilot episode of the series. Give it a watch, and if you're interested, check out the rest of the show, too! As far as I know, every episode is available on YouTube.

Video of the Week: A Space Ghost C2C 30th Anniversary Celebration

 This coming Monday, April 15th, marks a big anniversary for one particular superhero and his late-night talk show. 30 years earlier on that same night, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast premiered on the Cartoon Network. Although none knew it at the time, Space Ghost would become a notable show for many reasons. It was one of CN's first original shows, it set the template for much of the early programming that would air on Adult Swim nearly a decade later, it reintroduced Space Ghost to a whole new generation, and that's just off the top of my head! To celebrate this special occasion, here are two wonderful videos, the first of which is a behind-the-scenes look at the show from February 1996. This aired on an Atlanta news station and features a chat with Mike Lazzo and other important figures in the show's development, as well as a look at how a Space Ghost episode is put together. 

As critical as people like Mike Lazzo were to making Space Ghost a hit, if we're being honest with ourselves, it was George Lowe's performance as the titular character that made the show so great. His take on the role was every bit as memorable as original Space Ghost actor Gary Owens was, albeit for different reasons. Below is an interview FOX 13 Tampa Bay did with Lowe back in 2021, focusing on his earlier years and love of art. I also believe I should mention that the last year or so has been rather rough for Mr. Lowe. He's gone through several health issues as of late, so please wish him the best at this time. I'll now allow him to do the talking. Here's to thirty years of Coast to Coast, and hopefully thirty more!