Today marks a very special occasion. On this day in 1927, voice actor Elliot Field was born. Field was one of the "Seven Swingin' Gentlemen" for the Los Angeles KFWB 980 radio station before becoming one of the first voice actors Hanna-Barbera employed. He worked with them from 1959 to 1965, but while his voice was heard in many of their shows, including the extremely popular Flintstones, many have overlooked his work. His most famous Hanna-Barbera role would probably be Blabber Mouse in Snooper and Blabber. He voiced the character in his earlier appearances before Daws Butler took over the role.
At an astounding 97 years old, Field is one of the longest-lived Hanna-Barbera voice actors, and the only surviving actor from their early years. Because of this, I think he more than deserves a celebratory post on this blog, especially as many don't recognize his contributions to these cartoons. Below is a lengthy interview with Field from just a few years ago, where he looks back on his entire life, both in and out of the entertainment industry. He looks fantastic here, and it's awesome to hear such an in-depth conversation with someone who hasn't always gotten his dues.
If that doesn't quite satisfy you, don't worry. Yowp has more than a few pieces on his blog dedicated to Field, and in 2014, Elliot wrote an autobiography, which you can purchase at Amazon right here. To wrap this up, I wish Elliot Field the happiest of birthdays, and that he spends it surrounded by those closest to him.
Hi, Noah. I keep hunting around on-line to see if Elliot is still with us but have been unsuccessful in finding out one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteElliot was part of a great era of the rise of personality disc jockeys as network radio was being buried. These guys were true entertainers and put an awful lot of work into their shows.
I gather the Blab voice and the one he did for the witch in a Snooper-Blabber cartoon were voices he used on his show.
He told me he got sick and that's why he gave up his work at H-B. He returned, as you know, in the Hitchcock parody on The Flintstones.