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.
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.
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