8 Hanna-Barbera Casting What-Ifs

 For today's edition of our ongoing "Scrapped September" series, I've decided to talk about something else besides canceled shows or movies. Over the years, many actors auditioned for the roles of some of Hanna-Barbera's most famous characters, even more than some may think! So let's take a look at the voices that almost were, with eight actors who very nearly portrayed our favorite cartoon characters.

1. Morey Amsterdam and Pat Caroll as George and Jane Jetson - We all know George O'Hanlon and Penny Singleton as the voices of Mr. and Mrs. J, but for a time, two others were signed on to play the characters. Morey Amsterdam, best known for appearing in The Dick Van Dyke Show, was to voice George, while Pat Carroll, remembered for portraying the unfeeling Ursula in The Little Mermaid, would play his wife. The pair only recorded one episode before being replaced but had already signed for a twenty-four-episode season, leading the two to sue Hanna-Barbera. Now, why were they replaced to begin with? Supposedly, it was due to sponsor conflicts the two had with other shows (Dick Van Dyke for Morey, and The Danny Thomas Show for Pat). In the end, the courts ruled in favor of Hanna-Barbera. That's where Amsterdam's association with the studio ended, but it should be noted that Pat Carroll did do several voices for the studio in the eighties.

2. Bill Thompson as Fred Flintstone - Jumping from the space age to the stone age, Fred Flintstone is a character who had many trying out for the part before Alan Reed was chosen. One of the more interesting names looked out was Bill Thompson, who did voices for everyone from MGM to Disney. He was Droopy, Jock the Scottish Terrier, and Touche Turtle. Thompson was later chosen to voice Fred and actually completed several episodes, but Joe Barbera felt his voice didn't have the roughness needed for a guy like Fred. He was ultimately replaced, as was Hal Smith's Barney, by Alan Reed and Mel Blanc respectively. Despite this, the two can still be heard in a few moments of the early episodes. If you'd like to hear more about the Fred and Barney we never got, I implore you to check out Tim Lawson's great The Magic Behind the Voices book. 

3. Mickey Rooney as Top Cat - Much like Fred, TC was a character who many auditioned for before Arnold Stang was locked in. But the most intriguing name? Hollywood heavyweight Mickey Rooney. Rooney wasn't a big-time voice actor, but he did have a few credits to his name, and Top Cat was almost one of them. He was one of around a hundred actors who auditioned for the role, and according to Stang, was their number-one choice until he came in. After that, Rooney was out, and Stang cemented himself as the main character in one of the studio's most fondly remembered shows.

4. Lucille Bliss as Elroy Jetson - George and Jane weren't the only members of the Jetsons clan to go through some growing pains. The same holds true for their boy, Elroy. Initially, the part was to be played by Lucille Bliss, a voice actress legend whose roles range from Disney's Cinderella to Nickelodeon's Invader ZIM. She was voicing the character for six weeks, but was being credited as "Little Lou Bliss", as the team in New York wanted a little boy for the part. Her agent wasn't exactly a fan of this, and went forward to HB demanding she be credited with her real name and receive more money. The studio fired her shortly afterward, and Bliss went on to refer to the entire ordeal as a "heartbreaker", though she'd later return to the studio to play one of her most famous roles, Smurfette in The Smurfs. If you'd like to hear Bliss herself discuss the situation, check out the above Archive of American Television interview from 2005 (Jetsons talk begins at around 5:30). Some really fascinating stuff here!

5. Don Messick as Zorak - Trust me, I know exactly what you are all thinking right now, and yes, Messick did play Zorak in the original Space Ghost series from the 1960s. However, he was initially intended to reprise the role for Cartoon Network's late-night take on the series, Space Ghost Coast to Coast. This comes courtesy of a 2021 oral history piece on the show from Syfy's website that unfortunately doesn't seem to exist anymore, though I absolutely remember reading it. Apparently, the show's creators never thought for a moment that the role would go to anyone other than Messick, but there was one little thing standing in the way: Cartoon Network didn't want to pay him! Understandable since the network was still in its infancy at this time, and I imagine Messick wasn't a cheap name to get. Ultimately, the part went to the late C. Martin Croker, who mentioned he could do a good recreation of Messick's take on the character. He did a test line, and almost instantly afterward, the part was his!

6. June Foray as Betty Rubble - As most of you know, The Flintstones voice cast went through major changes from pilot to full series. Jean Vander Pyl stayed on as Wilma, but everyone else was recast, and that included June Foray's Betty Rubble. Losing out on the part somewhat soured Foray's relationship with Bill and Joe for the next few years following this, although she could be heard in a few Flintstones episodes following this, as well as The Man Called Flintstone feature film. Similarly to Bliss, her most notable Hanna-Barbera role would also come from The Smurfs, where she portrayed Jokey Smurf.

7. Daws Butler as Spook - This one was unearthed recently and comes from Yowp's great blog. Shortly before Top Cat premiered, it was announced that the spectacular Daws Butler was to portray Spook, the olive-green member of Top Cat's gang. However, when the show did premiere, the part was played by Leo De Lyon, so what happened? We're not entirely sure, but I should mention that Daws was close to playing Top Cat himself for a time, but Joe Barbera felt he was voicing too many major characters in their shows, causing him to lose out on the role. It's possible that it was this same line of thought that led to Butler not getting the role of Spook as well. Although, interestingly enough, Daws would play Top Cat in the 1972 TV movie, Yogi's Ark Lark.

8. Too many to name as Scrappy-Doo - If you know anything about Scrappy-Doo's inception, you probably know it was a tumultuous one. That extends to his voice, which is also known to be a complicated affair, but I don't think many know just how complicated it got! The character was initially to be voiced by the one and only Mel Blanc, due to his similarities to Henery Hawk, but he was too expensive. After that, the search really began, with almost every notable voice actor who worked for HB being in talks to play the role. Dick Beals, Howie Morris, Paul Winchell, Daws Butler, Frank Welker, and Don Messick were all considered for the role until finally, Lennie Weinrib got the part...until he asked for more money. Weinrib was then replaced by the previously mentioned Messick, whom Frank Welker actually suggested the part go to in the early days of development. If you want to know more about the casting process and work that went into bringing Scrappy to life, I suggest you check out animation writer and historian Mark Evanier's enthralling multi-part piece focusing on the matter. He puts this point in the character's inception rather succinctly, saying Scrappy may have been the first character to "have more voices than fans."

But I am curious as to what you all think. Are there any of these you would've liked to have seen happen, or are you perfectly happy with the voices we got? I cannot imagine anyone else as Fred, Top Cat, and Mr. Jetson, but maybe you might feel different? Sound off in the comments below!