Video of the Week: Fantastic Four Previews

 All good things must come to an end, and today marks the last post for Fantastic February. This was a lot of fun to put together, and I hope you had a great time reading these posts. For our big finale, I have three preview bumpers from the original run of Fantastic Four. These aired at the end of an episode, and featured a short clip from next week's episode. I don't know if these were the only ones produced, but they were recycled for multiple episodes. 

The first one I'll share is for "The Three Predictions of Dr. Doom". Ben Grimm, in the heat of battle, informs viewers to stay tuned for the sneak peek. 

The following clip previews the episode "It Started on Yancy Street." This time around, it's the Human Torch who introduces the scene.

And finally, we have a preview for "Danger in the Depths." Grimm again promotes the episode, all while being launched in the air during a battle with the Super Skrull. 

The Voices Behind The Jetsons

 Way back in the forgotten year of 2023, I shared a few photos of The Flintstones cast members, taken from 1960s casting ads. If you missed that, check it out through this link. Now I'm back with more, this time from their futuristic counterparts, The Jetsons. 

This first photo features the heads of the Jetsons family, George O'Hanlon and Penny Singleton. I'm sure I'm not the first person to point it out, but it's funny that both George and Jane were portrayed by actors otherwise known for their long-running film characters (Joe McDoakes for O'Hanlon and Blondie for Singleton). 

Next, we have ads for Janet Waldo, Don Messick, and Daws Butler. I was surprised to see Messick sporting a beard in his second photo. And you've gotta love that second photo of Daws! I believe it was taken pretty early on in his career, but I may be wrong.

The Curious Case of the Human Torch

There appears to be some confusion online over who played the Human Torch in Hanna-Barbera's Fantastic Four cartoon. A man named Jac Flounders was credited, but most fan websites and even Wikipedia agree that this was little more than a stage name for someone else, that being actor Jack DeLeon. Since the Fantastic Four film trailer came out, several outlets have repeated this claim. I have no idea where it came from, but let's examine it for a moment. 

For those unaware, DeLeon (pictured left) was an actor who worked from the early sixties to the late nineties. He was best known for his role as Marty Morrison on the series Barney Miller, but he was also heard in various animated productions throughout the years. He played characters in The Hobbit, Kwicky Koala, and the 1981 Spider-Man, just to name a few. He also portrayed the Mole Man in this version of Fantastic Four, and given that he went by other names during his career (he was credited as Christopher Weeks in his later years), it seems possible that he did voice Torch.

 That's the belief many hold, and even I thought the same before I started my research. As I rewatched the series, part of me didn't buy the idea that the same man voiced the Mole Man and Johnny Storm. Sure, they sound a little alike, but they're not that similar. I decided to look more into this Jac Flounders fellow, and somehow, I think I've managed to get to the bottom of this. To cut to the chase, no, Jack DeLeon did not voice Human Torch. It was, indeed, Jac Flounders. Well, Jac Flanders, to be exact. He was born Jac Flounders but changed his last name sometime after the show aired. Now, who was Jac Flanders? 

Jac Flanders was born on March 6th, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent most of his adolescence in Virginia, writing stories and appearing in plays. After graduating from the University of Richmond, he began to write ads for several agencies. He traveled all across the country during this time and eventually found himself in Hollywood. Shortly after his arrival, he became good friends with Mr. Fantastic, Gerald Mohr.

 You may be thinking Mohr got him the Fantastic Four gig, but according to Flanders, that wasn't the case. Flanders was actually friends with a writer on the show, who suggested he audition for it during a poker game. As you can imagine, Flanders was shocked to see Mohr enter the room for their first recording session. 

Now is a good time to discuss Flanders's take on Torch. Jac did a solid job bringing Johnny Storm's hot-headed and youthful energy to the screen. He's great, especially considering this was his first voice-over role. He didn't come from radio like Gerald Mohr, nor was he a cartoon legend like Paul Frees, but he took the challenge of voice acting head-on and conquered it. Even that description sounds pretty in line with the character of Human Torch.

After Fantastic Four ended production, Flanders more or less left the acting world. He had a few bit parts, but that was it. In the years following the show, he'd become the personal assistant to the one and only Jerry Lewis. In the nineties, he wrote several TV specials. He'd even get his own news program, The Adventures of Jac Flanders, on KTXL in the eighties. 

Jac Flanders appears to have retired around 2011, though he would publish an autobiography, What I Learned on the Way Down, several years beforehand. Sadly, Flanders passed away in March 2024. The news was made public through several Jerry Lewis fan pages on social media, which he also interacted with. He is survived by his wife and son. I send the best of wishes to Flanders' family, friends, and anyone else whose lives he touched. 

If you'd like to know more about Jac Flanders, I have a couple of places you could look at. You could read the aforementioned autobiography, but it's also worth mentioning that Flanders also had several websites. One was a blog full of his writings, and you can check it out here. He also had a more straightforward website during the 2000s that showcased his body of work. This is an archive of the website, but you'll need a flash substitute for it to work. All of these resources proved invaluable in putting this post together. I've really only scratched the surface of his life, so I recommend giving some of these a look.

So there you have it. Jac Flanders and Jack DeLeon were two separate individuals, and Flanders was indeed the man who portrayed Human Torch. Beyond setting this story straight, I hope I've done a good job bringing light to the life and work of the first man to portray the fire of the Fantastic Four. To wrap this post up in a nice bow, here's a segment of Jac Flanders during his KTXL days. Though this was twenty years after his work on Fantastic Four, he still sounds like Johnny. 

 

Video of the Week: Yogi Bear Shills for Geico

 Man, Geico sure loves to use the Hanna-Barbera characters in their marketing. I've already looked at a Flintstones commercial they did in the 2000s, and now, I return with an ad from 2021 starring Yogi and Boo Boo. These two are no strangers to advertising insurance (check out this Quicken Loans promo I've also covered), but this one feels a bit more in line with what you'd expect from an insurance commercial starring Yogi. The animation is not as strong as it was in the Quicken Loans one, but it does at least feature Jeff Bergman as both Yogi and Boo Boo, who does terrific as usual. 

Remembering What a Cartoon!: The Ten Best Shorts

Thirty years ago today, Hanna-Barbera's What a Cartoon! began on Cartoon Network. A series composed of creator-driven shorts, to say the show was a game-changer would be putting it lightly. It launched the careers of creators like Genndy Tartakovsky. It was the birthplace of shows like Johnny Bravo. It injected the fading Hanna-Barbera studio with some much-needed energy.

However, you all know this. You don't need me to tell you the shocking story of how Larry and Steve was essentially the pilot of Family Guy. We all know of the show's impact, but what about the cartoons themselves? That is what I'll be focusing on today. To celebrate thirty years of What a Cartoon!, I give you my picks for the ten best cartoons of the bunch. I don't know the consensus on these, so I'm sure your choices are far different from mine. If you have a list of your favorites, I'd love to see it in the comments. Now, onto the toons!

10. Help? (Bruno Bozzetto)

Created by Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto, Help? is as simple as it is effective. Our protagonist, Jof, gets his finger pricked, and heads to the hospital to get it checked out. The problem is the hospital staff does everything but take care of his finger. Much of the humor comes from the doctors and the many situations they get Jof into. All of the usual procedures you endure in a doctor's visit are here and taken to their absolute extremes. More than anything, this short perfectly captures what it's like to get help for everything but the thing you actually needed it for, a situation I think everyone can relate to. The art style is also one of my favorites, as it is one of the more unique styles seen. It's got a great look, great comedy, and great animation. What else do you need?

9. Awfully Lucky (Davis Doi)

Of the many cartoons in this series, Awfully Lucky might have my favorite premise. The short follows a positively unlikeable fellow who gets ahold of a pearl which bestows the owner amazing luck. However, that is then followed by bad luck. It's a solid premise, and some genuinely funny jokes come out of it. There are a few you can see coming a mile away, but there are several curveballs, too. Really, it's a shame that we didn't get more shorts that follow this premise, especially as the ending hints at more to come. It's entertaining cartoon hijinks held together with an intriguing hook that leaves you wanting more. 

8. Boid 'N' Woim (C. Miles Thompson)

Boid 'N' Woim follows, of all things, Boid and Woim. It's your typical cartoon chase, and it's a rather entertaining one at that. The art and animation are both on the simple side, but I love the colors used here. The red in the desert setting is especially lovely and pops off the screen. The characters are again, simple, but I love how Woim is animated. Thompson got some great humor and acting out of a character who has no limbs at all. It's no Kaa from The Jungle Book, but it works for what this short is going for. There were a lot of cartoons in this series that followed the exploits of a particular duo, but for my money, few did it better than Boid 'N' Woim.

7. Cow and Chicken in No Smoking (David Feiss)

The beginning of what would become Cow and Chicken, No Smoking is a story focusing on Chicken ending up in Hell after smoking, and Cow trying to get him out. If that's not an A+ premise, I don't know what is. Feiss had been employed at Hanna-Barbera for quite some time before this, but No Smoking really allowed him to show the world what he was capable of. The animation is fast and frenetic, and the look of the short is unlike almost any other short from this series. The cherry on top is the voice work, done almost entirely by the underrated Charlie Adler. He's great in every role, but his take on the Devil (otherwise known as the Red Guy) is legendary. It's a great cartoon from start to finish, and you can tell why this one got a full series. 

6. The Powerpuff Girls in Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins (Craig McCracken)

The first short to air in this series, Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins is also one of the best. This short introduced the world at large to the city of Townsville, the Powerpuff Girls, and the villainous Fuzzy Lumpkins. Though this runs shorter than an average episode of the series, you still can get a good sense of the show's world, the girls and their personalities, and their supporting cast. It's also fun to watch simply to see its differences from the series. Several characters look vastly different, and a couple sound different as well. There's a fun premise, strong action, and like any good superhero story, a memorable villain. Not too bad for a short that spawned two cartoons, a feature film, an anime, and a buttload of merchandise!

5. Buy One, Get One Free (Charlie Bean)

This short focuses on two cats, both with vastly different personalities, holding a house party while their owners are on a date. The plot isn't anything to write home about, but it's the execution of it that makes this one of my favorites. It's got some stunning backgrounds, strong character designs, and two leads who bounce off each other better than you'd think. One cat is on edge, and the other is laidback, making for some entertaining moments between them. And speaking as a cat owner, I feel like anyone who has had two cats feels like that describes their dynamic perfectly. Kind of like Help? from earlier, this takes an everyday story (cats running amok while their owners are away) and injects it with some classic cartoon comedy. Add in an impressive list of cartoon veterans and you've got one of the best shorts here!

4. Yuckie Duck in I'm On My Way (Pat Ventura)

Pat Ventura did probably more shorts for What a Cartoon! than any other animator, so obviously one would end up here. But of all his shorts, his second Yuckie Duck cartoon is my favorite. Yuckie is back, and this time around, he plays the part of a paramedic. The art direction is even more simplistic than his other shorts, but the comedy is the best it's ever been. I especially love how a heart attack is depicted. Rather than the usual trope of a character fainting, maybe with their chest-pounding out, the heart becomes sentient and pummels the victim! That's a funny subversion, and the animation sells it. I'm On My Way was the last time the world saw Yuckie Duck, and that's a shame. He absolutely could've held his own show in the way say, Cow and Chicken did. But this cartoon ensured he went out with a bang. Or two or three.

3. Johnny Bravo (Van Partible)

The first Johnny Bravo short, this one is pretty in line with an episode of the series it spawned. Johnny wants to impress a zoo keeper, and so he embarks on a quest to find a gorilla that's escaped. The story is effective, but a good story is nothing without a compelling protagonist, and Johnny Bravo definitely fits that bill. He's funny, sports a design that tells you a lot about his character and is brilliantly brought to life by Jeff Bennett. There is also slapstick aplenty in this cartoon, usually at Johnny's expense, but I think this short's strong spot is its pace. It never lingers on anything for too long, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. I also believe that's true of the actual Johnny Bravo series at its best. In all honesty, Johnny Bravo is one of my favorite of the early Cartoon Network series, so it's not surprising that this short is one of my favorites as well.

2. Dexters Laboratory: The Big Sister (Genndy Tartakovsky)

While the original Dexter's Laboratory short is great and all, I think Genndy's follow-up, The Big Sister, was even better. Dexter's Laboratory is great as an introduction to the characters, but this short feels more true to Genndy's animation interests. It's basically a giant robot fight, and we all know he loves his fight scenes. Though it's not on the level of something like Samurai Jack, even this early in his career, the timing is excellent and the "fight" is well executed. Also like Johnny Bravo, The Big Sister is very well-paced. Each scene tells us the essential information and does so as fast as possible. In a day and age where so many cartoons seem chockful of preamble and exposition, this is a breath of fresh air. Besides, when everything is said and done, you simply can't beat giant robots!

1. Courage the Cowardly Dog: The Chicken From Outer Space (John R. Dilworth)

Do I need to elaborate on this one? With a title like that, you know you're about to watch something great. This short has a strong premise, and the execution more than lives up to everything it promises. Unlike the Courage series, there is no dialogue in this cartoon. The animation and visuals provide the humor, and they do it well. Before I sat down and watched these to prepare for this list, I hadn't watched this in probably twenty years. I was legitimately surprised by how much I was laughing. From beginning to end, it's a laugh riot, especially the "showdown" between Courage and the chicken. And clearly, I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Courage got his own cartoon that remains a fan favorite to this day, and this short is why. It delivers on its premise, has all the elements you want in a great toon, and truly feels like something only this particular creator could've made. Not only that, but it's the only cartoon out of this whole series that got nominated for an Oscar! Even the Academy knew this was great stuff!

That's everything for today, but I've got two links to share to keep the anniversary celebration going. Starting off, I highly recommend you check out my chat with Fred Seibert. We talked at length about his Hanna-Barbera days, with a heavy emphasis on What a Cartoon!. Vulture also put out a great retrospective for the series in 2020, complete with quotes from many of the individuals involved in the series. It's also very in-depth, providing far more extensive commentary on the show than most sources online. Now, I open the floor to you. What are your favorite shorts? Are there any hot takes you have about a specific cartoon? Let me know in the comments.

Paul Frees Does His Thing

 If there was a Mount Rushmore of classic voice actors, Paul Frees would inarguably have a spot on it.

Just like his contemporaries Mel Blanc and Daws Butler, if you've watched cartoons, you've heard Frees' voice. It's that simple. On Rocky and Bullwinkle, he was Boris Badenov. For Disney, he portrayed Ludwig Von Drake and several characters for their parks. He did a staggering amount of voices for Rankin Bass' Christmas specials, ranging from Burgermeister to Jack Frost. And in the Marvel Comics universe, he was the very first man to utter the phrase, "It's clobberin' time!"

The Thing, originally known as Ben Grimm, was not the first character Frees voiced for Hanna-Barbera. Beforehand, he was the title character on Squiddly Diddly, Fluid Man of The Impossibles, and Morocco Mole on Secret Squirrel. He also supplied the voice for many minor characters across several series. And just like Blanc and Butler, he did a superb job making each of those roles totally unlike the others. His take on Ben Grimm is my favorite to this day. It's impossible for me not to hear his voice when I read the character. He perfectly embodied the character's "tough guy" attitude, and even though he wasn't quite as sympathetic as his comic counterpart, he's still responsible for some of the best comedic moments in the show.

After Fantastic Four, Paul Frees began to appear in fewer Hanna-Barbera productions until disappearing from them completely in the seventies. He continued to appear in other projects (mostly from Rankin-Bass) until November 2nd, 1986 when he passed away at age 66. Though his life was tragically cut short, his exceptional body of work will continue to entertain and inspire viewers for years to come.

For those interested in learning more about Frees, BearManor Media has published several books on him. But today, I'll be sharing a piece the Kalamazoo Gazette ran about him on March 26th, 1980. It's a pretty good overview of his career and an intriguing look at how well it paid.

Paul Frees: When he talks they pay

By David Einstein

  

  SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—A trivia question to stump the experts: What do the Pillsbury Doughboy, "The Millionaire" and Ludwig Von Drake have in common?
    Answer: They all speak with the voice of Paul Frees, for a generation the most versatile and sought-after narrator in radio and television. 
    The scope of his talent is astonishing. He is the equal of Mel Blanc as a cartoon voice, is pursued for blue-chip commercials and does as much prestigious narrative work as Orson Welles.
    Such is Frees' stature that he has been able to flee Hollywood for his personal paradise—the San Francisco Bay area—and producers still seek him out. 

    When people want his voice these days, they come to him, and he does all his recording either in San Francisco or in a studio in his lavish home in Marin County across the Golden Gate Bridge.
    It doesn't bother this fiftyish man with silver hair and a British mustache that few people recognize him when he dines out - which happens to be one of his foremost passions.
    "If I were interested in adulation of strangers I would have remained in Hollywood and gone on camera," he says. "I avoided that because I value my privacy above all else."
    And Frees can afford the privacy he shares with his sixth wife, Beverly, because he is one of the highest-paid men in the country for the time he puts into his work.
    Frees estimates he may work as little as 50 hours a year, since many of his jobs can be done in 10 minutes or less. But he is paid far above the union scale of $188 per day, and he gets residuals for each time a commercial airs, which could be up to 175 times a month.
    "If you want to boil it down to how much I make an hour, it's ridiculous," he says.
    It wasn't always so easy, however. Born in Chicago, Frees left home at 13 and got his start by winning an amateur radio contest.
    In World War II, he suffered a leg injury after the invasion of Omaha Beach and was discharged in Southern California.
    He was passing the CBS radio station in Los Angeles one day, limping along with a cane and wearing a purple heart, when one of the station's officials asked if he'd like to see a show.
    "What I'd like is a job," Frees said.
    The CBS man asked him if he could talk like an Australian, and Frees said sure. Thus was born the character of Digger Slade, Australian adventurer on "A Man Named Jordan." Frees' career was under way.
    Among Frees' most famous voices is that of John Beresford Tipton on the old "Millionaire" television series. He was also the voice that opened the "Suspense" radio series.
    Frees' characters have included Disney's wacky Von Drake, Boris Badenov and Inspector Fenwick on "The Bullwinkle Show," Pittsburgh Paint's peacock, Kellogg's Toucan Sam and all the villagers in the Jolly Green Giant commercials. He is also the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, a symbol valued by the company at $25 million.
    Of all the characters he has done, Frees' favorite remains the evil but bumbling spy Boris Badenov.
    "The funny thing is that 'Bullwinkle' has gone beyond being a show to become a tremendous cult experience," says Frees. "The people who watched it are people I work with now. They have a whole cult group that gets together and watches 'Bullwinkle.'"
    Frees does not regret for a minute his decision to leave Hollywood seven years ago.

Jerry Eisenberg: 1937-2025

This last week, the animation industry lost a giant in every sense of the word. As many of you may know, animator Jerry Eisenberg passed away on the evening of February 11th. Stu Shostak and Mark Evanier broke the news the following night. He was 87 years old and left behind a truly legendary legacy.

The son of the great Harvey Eisenberg, Jerry's animation career started during the final days of MGM. Soon afterward, he moved to WB and, in 1961, found himself at Hanna-Barbera, the studio he would become most associated with. If you can think of a series the company made between '61 and '77, he probably worked on it in some capacity. He did layouts for Jonny Quest, The Flintstones, and more. He created character designs for Wacky Races, Atom Ant, and many others. I could go on for hours.

Though this period of his career is his most famous, Eisenberg continued to work in the animation industry until his passing. He had stints at Ruby-Spears, Marvel, Disney, and WB Animation, to name a few. He even returned to Hanna-Barbera during the 1990s and made his own cartoon for the What a Cartoon! program. His career spanned over six decades, a testament to his talent.

I never got the chance to meet Mr. Eisenberg, but I know several who did. Every single one of them has spoken positively of him. He was a gentle and friendly soul who loved his work. My heart goes out to all who knew him, his wife most of all. He will be sorely missed. 

Jetsons Valentine's Day Cards

 Happy Valentine's Day everyone! As this day approached, I noticed I did not make a celebratory post for the holiday last year. I decided to change that this time, and I have a fun thing to share. Here are several Jetsons Valentine's cards, released in 1989, likely in anticipation of the feature film released the following year. 

The first one I'll share is pretty generic. It's George alongside a quote that anyone could've thought of for a futuristic-themed Valentine. Yawn!

Let's follow that with something a bit more interesting. This card centers on Judy and makes a nice reference to the original series episode "Rosey's Boyfriend". Definitely gift this one to the person in your life who is the most "ut"!

This third card is unique in that it is addressed to a friend, rather than a Valentine. It's also interesting to see Orbitty here, considering he wasn't in the last season of the revival or the film. Still, it's a pretty charming card.

Here are two cards that focus on the show's couples, the first being George and Jane, while the second is Rosie and Mac. This is also the only Jetsons merchandise I've ever seen where Mac is featured. 

And because we can't leave man's best friend behind, I'll share one more card of Astro, complete with a heart in his mouth!

Video of the Week: A Super Chunk of Fantastic Four

Like much of Hanna-Barbera's library, Fantastic Four found a new home in the nineties on Cartoon Network. The show began airing mere days after the channel launched, and it would be featured in various programming blocks. One such block was Super Chunk, which aired marathons of specific shows on weekends. Below is an introduction to a Fantastic Four-themed broadcast of Super Chunk, which aired in 1999. CN truly knew how to make a memorable programming block back in the day. This promo, and Super Chunk in general, was proof of that. 

This marathon is also notable in that it's probably the last time CN paid much attention to Fantastic Four. Only a few months later, Boomerang came along, taking much of the Hanna-Barbera programming with it. Fantastic Four made sporadic appearances on the network until their big 2004 rebrand. It still ran on Boomerang, but ever since the Disney acquisition of Marvel, it has disappeared from that channel as well. As of 2025, recordings like these are the only way for American viewers to watch the series. 

Jo Ann Pflug Turns Invisible

 To most people, she was Lieutenant Maria "Dish" Schneider, a nurse from the 1970 Robert Altman film M*A*S*H. To fans of cartoons and comic books, however, she was the very first Sue Storm, better known as the Invisible Woman.

Hailing from Atlanta, Pflug was, like most of the other major cast members from Hanna-Barbera's Fantastic Four, a newcomer to cartoons. Indeed, Fantastic Four was the first cartoon she did, and it was also the last. That being said, it makes sense she was cast considering her resume. Back when she attended the University of Miami, she hosted her own radio show, crafting a new story with every installment. Her experience behind the mic, coupled with her great looks, made her an excellent choice for Sue. 

Jo Ann Pflug had limited acting experience before playing the Invisible Woman, but that didn't stop her from doing great in the role. Sue has always been like a mother to the group, and Pflug did an excellent job capturing that core aspect of her character. Since Sue is also a member of the group, she also had the benefit of getting more interesting material to work with than many other actresses in superhero cartoons of the time, who were usually relegated to the role of the damsel. That's not to say Sue was never a damsel in the show, but she could easily hold her own in a battle, too.

Though she left voice acting behind once Fantastic Four ended, Jo Ann Pflug's career was only beginning. She appeared in films like the aforementioned M*A*S*H, and many popular TV shows, such as Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, and more. She worked in the industry until 2011, with her own radio show being her final work, a fitting finale to her career.

As of 2025, Jo Ann is the only surviving cast member of Fantastic Four. When asked about the series decades after it ended, she remarked that she had never actually seen an episode, but enjoyed working on it nonetheless. She saw it as a natural extension of the work she had done in radio and was honored to work alongside the iconic Paul Frees. Below is a short story focusing on her career that appeared in the Kenosha News Courier on October 24th, 1978. There's no mention of Sue Storm here, but there is a lot of insight into her body of work.

Jo Ann Pflug splits personality

    HOLLYWOOD (UPI)— Jo Ann Pflug is that rare performer currently appearing in two weekly television series, as hostess on "Candid Camera" and as the efficient Navy nurse in "Operation Petticoat."
    As if two shows were not enough, Jo Ann is also a wife— married to game show host Charles (Wheel of Fortune) Woolery— and the mother of three-year-old Melissa.
    Happily for her home life, Jo Ann's stint on "Candid Camera" is one of the easiest gigs in show business. She flies to Nashville twice a year to knock off 13 segments in a week's time.
    Juggling the two shows, however, has given the slender, 5-foot-10 beauty a slight case of split personality. 

    On "Candid Camera" she is her own bubbly, chatterbox self. On "Operation Petticoat" she is the somewhat starchy Lt. Katherine O'Hara in charge of nurses on a World War II U.S. submarine. 
    "'Candid Camera' is a lot easier for me to do," Jo Ann said, taking time out from her busy schedule. "I majored in radio and TV communications at the University of Miami and I've done a lot of live television.
    "I was hostess of 'Tempo I,' a talk show here in Hollywood for a year. And I was among the first women to do interview talk shows before female personalities were being used for news, sports, and interview programs.
    "So when I'm doing 'Candid Camera' I'm relaxed and at ease. I just sit back and enjoy myself.
    "It's altogether different on the set at Universal for 'Operation Petticoat.' I've got to get into the role of Katherine O'Hara. Until just recently I've thought of her in the third person. It's important that I think and behave automatically as the Navy nurse and not as Jo Ann Pflug.
    "The two jobs require different disciplines and challenges even though Nurse O'Hara is very much like me.
    "The difficult thing about my part is that I'm playing a straight character rather than in a dramatic or a comedy role.
    "'Operation Petticoat' and 'Candid Camera' are my first series. When I first started out I wanted to concentrate on movies. After doing the original 'M*A*S*H' I did get a lot of movie work.
    "I didn't know it at the time, but my agents kept turning down TV series without even letting me know about them. 
    "Now television is where actresses are working most. And at the moment I guess I'm as busy as any other actress in the business.
  " In a situation comedy, the more real I play the character, the funnier everyone else in the cast is."
    Jo Ann, along with Mindy Naud and Hillary Thompson, provide the sex appeal in the series but Jo Ann is mightily pleased that "Operation Petticoat" does not fall into the jiggle show category.
    "The women in the cast are mostly around for decorative purposes," she said. "But we're not being exploited as sex objects. The scripts don't go in for those kinds of jokes. We have to walk a fine line between realism and comedy."

If you'd like to know more about Jo Ann Pflug, she used to have her own website. Thanks to the Internet Archive, you can visit it with this link. There's also this archived interview she did in the early 2000s, which does touch on Fantastic Four, though the second part of the interview is unfortunately lost. Both are great resources that are well worth your time.

Warner Archive's Got a Gorilla for Sale

 Warner Archive's Blu-Ray release of Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles basically just came out, but they're already prepping for another Hanna-Barbera release. This time, it's Magilla Gorilla, coming home on March 25th.

Put together using 4K scans of the original negatives, the series will be spread across three discs. The original opening and closing are included, as are the bridges. Below is a list of the special features you'll find in this release. Owners of the DVD set will notice these are the same bonuses (as is standard for these releases), but I thought I'd share them for anyone curious.

• Magilla Theme Song: Live and Unplugged
• Mr. Peebles Pet Shop featurette
• Here Comes a Star TV special

Overall, this looks like it'll be yet another solid title from Warner Archive, though I hope they begin to put out more of Hanna-Barbera's earlier productions in the future. Nothing against the late-sixties shows, I just prefer their work in the years prior. Given how many releases they put out last year, I'm sure they're only getting started for this year.

Enter the House of Hanna-Barbera

 It seems safe to say that MeTV Toons and its Hanna-Barbera programming have been successful. Later this month, those offerings will expand in an all-new block titled "The House of Hanna-Barbera."

Beginning with a primetime preview showing on February 16th, The House of Hanna-Barbera is exactly what it sounds like: a two-hour block of early Hanna-Barbera toons. Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf, Magilla Gorilla, Pixie and Dixie, and many more will be featured in this block. There are some notable exceptions to the lineup so far (Ruff and Reddy and Quick Draw McGraw spring to mind), but those do have legal hurdles standing in the way, so there's not much they can do about those ones. Maybe someday they'll show up here. One can only hope!

After the initial preview airing, the block will air on weekdays starting on the 17th from 11am to 1pm ET. It will also be featured on Sundays, airing from 1pm to 3pm. For more information on the House of Hanna-Barbera, check out the original announcement on Cartoon Brew. You'll find a short trailer, an official press release, and comments from Jerry Beck. Also, check MeTV Toons' official website to see what cartoons will air during the first block. I myself am pretty excited to see this air. The MeTV Toons people have been killing it since the channel launched, and they don't seem ready to slow down yet. But what do you guys think? Any shows you'd like to see join the block in the future?

Video of the Week: A Super Bowl Sweepstakes Spectacular

 Super Bowl Sunday is nearly upon us, and I've got two short videos to celebrate. Both of these aired on TNT back in 1995 as part of a sweepstakes promotion with Purina that enticed viewers with a trip to the Super Bowl XXX. The first one features Top Cat, who I believe is still voiced by Arnold Stang. As far as I know, this was one of the last (if not the last) times Stang voiced the character.

The second ad in this series focuses on Huckleberry Hound and Mr. Jinks. It's pretty surprising to see Jinks here, as he really doesn't show up in a lot of these kinds of productions. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe Greg Burson voices both of them. 

The Man Behind the Metal Mask

 They often say your hero is only as good as your villain. Batman has the Joker. Superman fights Lex Luthor. Spider-Man's arch-enemy is the Green Goblin. But of all the comic book superheroes, I think the Fantastic Four had the perfect nemesis. I am talking about none other than the ruler of Latveria, Dr. Doom. 

While Doom is commonly referred to as one of the greatest villains in comics, he hasn't been treated all that well in adaptations. The live-action movies have all featured characters who were Doom in name only, and it doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon (RDJ as Doom...I shudder). Animation has similarly been rocky, but one of the better versions had to have been the version seen in the 1967 cartoon, portrayed by Joseph Sirola. (Quick note: Sirola was never credited for the role, but a 1974 profile in The Orlando Sentinel confirms his involvement)

Born on October 7th, 1929 in New Jersey, Sirola had a long career that spanned film, TV, commercials, and the stage. He started on TV, appearing in shows like Perry Mason, Get Smart, Gunsmoke, and several others. He'd continue to appear in TV shows until the late eighties. Shortly after his TV career began, he took to the stage and would later begin producing plays in the 2000s. But of all his work, it may be his commercial credits that are his biggest claim to fame. Over the years, his voice has been used to sell burgers, cars, oil, you name it. It was this area of his career that likely inspired Hanna-Barbera to court him as the Latverian ruler for their take on the Fantastic Four. His experience playing villains didn't hurt either.

While Joseph Sirola wasn't the first actor to portray Doom (that honor goes to Henry Ramer in The Marvel Super Heroes a year earlier), he was the first to play the character opposite the Fantastic Four. His take on the character was more campy than threatening (not helped by the odd decision to animate his mouth), but it fit the show all the same. While I'd have liked a more intense version of the character, would that have fit a show where the Super Skrull gets turned into a cow? Not exactly. Even if he wasn't that intimidating, Sirola nailed Doom's theatricality and pompousness. There's no doubt that his theater background helped him achieve that major part of the Doctor's character.

Like other members of the show's voice cast, Joseph Sirola disappeared from animation after his work on Fantastic Four concluded. He'd continue to be heard in numerous commercials, but for Sirola, I guess one cartoon was enough. He'd retire in the 2010s after nearly sixty years in the entertainment industry. On February 10th, 2019, Sirola passed away from respiratory failure at the age of 89.

In celebration of his work, I share with you this piece that ran in the October 24th, 1989 edition of the News Journal, focusing on his career. It mostly gravitates towards his work on Wolf, a crime drama series that Sirola starred in, but there's also discussion of his voice work.

Voice-over king heard and seen

By Thomas D. Elias

    HOLLYWOOD—Turn on your TV and leave it on all day and you'll probably hear the voice of Joseph Sirola at least 30 or 40 times. But you'll never see his face. 
    Tune the tube to CBS at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays, and you'll finally get a look at Sirola.
    Sirola, dubbed the "king of voice-overs" by the Wall Street Journal, at last is getting to do something other than pitch products and portray Mafia dons. 

    In "Wolf," the 58-year-old plays Salvatore Lupo, an aging Italian-American in seemingly perpetual conflict with his 35-ish son (Jack Scalia), Tony Wolf.
    "I see my role as a little like the 'Golden Girls', except I'm a Golden Boy," Sirola said, sipping a trademark glass of champagne over lunch here the other day.
    An unapologetic lover of the good life, Sirola said "I'm a real rogue in this one, but a charming old devil. They're going to give me ladies, but I can't get too serious with them. I'm true to my dead wife."
    In real life, there is no wife and never was.
    But there are plenty of touches of the real Joe Sirola in "Wolf," places where audiences can finally learn something about the man who tells the world that "GE brings good things to life" and that "Mobil 1 [is] the oil that saves you gas."
    Sirola is also the guy who says a Club Med vacation is "the antidote for civilization" and that Hertz is "The No. 1 way to rent a car."
    But there's nothing so crassly commercial in "Wolf," taped on location in San Francisco.
    You get Sirola playing boccie (an Italian form of lawn bowling), just like he did while growing up as the son of Italian immigrants in New Jersey. And you get outbursts of Italian expletives that would be hard to fake.
    "Someone who's not Italian can't do our expressions right," says Sirola. "They have to come from the gut, they can't be cerebral."
    The real Joe Sirola habitually passes out red roses to almost everyone he meets, and Sal Lupo does a bit of that, too.
    But Sirola's life today is starkly different from the threadbare existence lived by the far more elderly Sal, who lodges in a boarding house whenever he's not running away to escape its regimentation. 
    The real Joe Sirola lives in an 11th-floor penthouse near New York's Central Park with a large balcony garden.
    He keeps a house in Hollywood, too, complete with a mint-condition 1956 Mercedes 300SC coupe originally built for billionaire J. Paul Getty.
    Voice-overs are the key to a lifestyle that lets him grow figs, apricots, grapes, blueberries, peaches, pears, and— most delightful of all— many varieties of roses in that unlikeliest of agricultural centers, Manhattan.
    "Back in 1966, I made $3,200 from unemployment benefits," he recalls. "In 1967, I get $5,200 for the whole year. Then somebody mentioned voice-overs."
    The key to Sirola's success, he says, was that he didn't merely try to boom out the advertiser's message in a deep voice, which he's fully capable of doing.
    Instead, he says, "I started talking to the microphone like a person. You have to think of who that person is, the kind of person you want to convey the message to.
    "A natural sense of timing also helped. If they tell me to make it in 58.2 seconds, that's exactly what it'll be, the first time. That's why I can do many commercials in one day. The most I ever made was 102. Anyway, I made $81,000 in 1968 and $310,000 the next year and now I make well into seven figures from voice-overs."
    Sirola has to be careful which clients he chooses. "There are some outfits which the president of GE wouldn't want me to be representing," he says. "And you have to watch for conflicts. If I do a beer commercial, I can't do a different beer for a year and a half. So my agent has to investigate carefully how big the buy will be."
    Once he takes a gig, Sirola gets double or triple the usual scale of $275 per national commercial, plus residuals every time one airs. 
    Heard, but never seen. For this famous voice doesn't want to have a face that's associated with a particular product.
    "If you're constantly on TV commercials where you're seen, you are limited in the parts you can get," he said.
    Sirola has been somewhat limited in that department, anyway, usually being typecast as a crook in everything from "The Untouchables" to "Super Cops," with a stint on the daytime soap opera "The Brighter Day" in between.
    He sees "Wolf" as a way out, a shift of gears for his career.
    "I'm hoping other roles will come from this," he said. "This is my first opportunity in years to play a real human being. I don't want to play charming villains all the time."

Now, for a little bonus, here's an example of Sirola's commercial work. Here is a 1991 Nyquil commercial featuring narration from Dr. Doom himself.

Fantastic Storyboards

 There's unfortunately not a lot in the way of behind-the-scenes info on the Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four cartoon, but we do at least have a few sets of storyboards! This post will be dedicated to sharing them, starting with several from the episode "The Way It All Began," the third episode produced and the seventh aired. It is notable for telling the origin of not only the Fantastic Four, but also their nemesis, Dr. Doom.

These boards were done by Howard Swift.  Like many Hanna-Barbera artists, Swift worked on several Disney feature films, including Pinocchio and Fantasia. He began working at HB in the mid-sixties and continued to do so until the early eighties. He passed away at the age of 70 on January 13th, 1983.

These next two come from "Prisoners of Planet X" and "Demon in the Deep" respectively. I believe Swift did these ones as well, but I'm not totally sure.

And to finish this off, here are several more boards from the episode "The Mysterious Molecule Man," one of the last episodes to be both aired and produced.

Gerald Mohr is Fantastic

 Hanna-Barbera struck gold when they cast Gerald Mohr in their Fantastic Four series. Somehow, they got a man who had a voice that perfectly fits Mr. Fantastic, and he looked like him, too!

A New York native, Mohr's earliest acting roles, like other Hanna-Barbera actors, were in radio. He'd later branch out into film and television, but even today, his radio credits are among his most notable. He was heard in Jack Benny, Lux Radio Theatre, The Lone Wolf, and Philip Marlowe. Supposedly, he turned to radio after a hospital visit for appendicitis saw him cross paths with a broadcaster who noticed his voice. It is estimated that Mohr participated in over 500 radio shows. With such a resume, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Hanna-Barbera got their hands on him.

Now, Reed Richards is a man who exemplifies many traits: brilliance, heroism, and warmness are a few that spring to mind. Gerald Mohr did a fantastic (no pun intended!) job bringing these qualities to life in just twenty episodes. When I read Fantastic Four, it is his voice that I hear whenever Reed speaks. Even nearly sixty years later, I can't think of an actor who I like as Reed as much as Gerald. That's no disrespect to the others, many of whom did great, I simply think Gerald Mohr had the best take. 

While Mohr was a prominent figure in radio, his animation credits were more minuscule. Fantastic Four was the only Hanna-Barbera cartoon he appeared in. He also portrayed Green Lantern in the Filmation Aquaman series airing around the same time and was heard in a few theatrical cartoons. On November 9th, 1968, merely two months after Fantastic Four ended, Mohr died of a heart attack. He was in Stockholm filming a TV pilot when he passed and was only 54 years old. Though his career is often overlooked, Mohr is remembered for his strong voice, his body of work, and his portrayal of two of the most well-known superheroes out there.

I'll now share a piece about Gerald Mohr which is written, funnily enough, by the man himself. This appeared in the Star-Ledger on August 6th, 1950. The piece is focused on Philip Marlowe, a gritty detective whom Mohr portrayed for three years on radio. To be more specific, it's a humorous look at how many saw Mohr and Marlowe as one and the same. 

Mohr isn't so tough even if he's Marlowe

By Gerald Mohr

    Sure, I'm Philip Marlowe. And Philip Marlowe is a rough guy, whether it comes to cops, mugs or women. I'm only Philip Marlowe on CBS radio, and I wish people would realize it.
    I don't know how often I've been approached by some stranger (usually a little loaded) who'll say:
    "Hey, Marlowe, you think you're tough?"
    I assure them that I'm really Gerald Mohr and no, I don't think I'm tough. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
    Even worse are the calls that come to my house from dames who try to sound like the sexy-voiced women on my CBS show, "The Adventures of Philip Marlowe." We can tell from their voices that they're usually teenage kids, but not always. My wife Rita gets most of these calls and has become an expert at shunting them off. But she sometimes wonders out loud about the calls I might get when she's not home. 

    Well, I sometimes, wonder about them, too, Rita.
    This confusion of me with my radio role carries over in our social life, also. Even friends of long standing will occasionally start to introduce me to guests at a party as Philip Marlowe and have it come out Philip Mohr or Gerald Marlowe.
    And my wife has long ago gotten used to being called Mrs. Philip Marlowe by people who should know better. Besides, Marlowe isn't married, a minor point that any real fan would be aware of.
    This is sometimes funny, but it is sometimes embarrassing or annoying, too. And in the case of oversized drunks who want to choose me just to prove they're tougher than Philip Marlowe, it can get real uncomfortable.

    Now, I have a confession to make. I really don't blame people who don't know me well for mixing up my identities, because...well, if this be schizophrenia, make the most of it, but I get confused, too.

    Since I've done the Philip Marlowe show for two years, I find myself thinking like him every now and then, and I find myself talking like him and adopting his mannerisms. I read in the newspapers about some mobster and I find myself feeling that I know him. When I walk by the gun shop, I find myself eyeing the "rods" with a professional interest, and the police handling of a crime, as reported in the newspapers, earns my professional approval or contempt.    

    I even find myself, occasionally, thinking I really am tough!

    This can be dangerous, I know. But I can't help it.
    So listen, pal, the next time you come up to me looking for trouble, watch out. And listen, gal, if you think you're playing for keeps, I'm a footloose guy and gonna stay that way. And copper, if you want my help on the next caper, you gotta play ball, too.
    Sure, I'm Philip Marlowe. And Philip Marlowe is a rough guy, whether it comes to comps, mugs, or women. 
    Er...I think!