Don Messick at 100

Yes, you read that right. It was on this day 100 years ago that one of the voice acting greats, Don Messick, was born in Buffalo, New York. There's a lot one can say about Mr. Messick. You can discuss his characters, his love of ventriloquism, his charity work, the list goes on. This week, you're getting five straight posts of nothing but Don Messick. Today, we're starting with this surprisingly in-depth profile on Messick from the Santa Barbara News, published on January 24th, 1987. Messick reflects on his career, bumping into Bela Lugosi, and a favorite character of his you've probably never heard of.

I think that's enough out of me, though. Enjoy this deep dive into one of the best to ever do it, and then some! 

A man of a thousand voices

By Joan Crowder

    You might not recognize the face, but you've certainly heard his voice. He's been a flea, a talking spoon, a lemon, even a Rice Krispie. He's Scooby Doo, Bam Bam, Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Muttley the dog, Astro, and Papa Smurf.
    If you're more inclined toward the classical, you've heard Don Messick's voice on the local classical music radio station KDB (1490 AM, 93.7 FM).
    "When my voice started to change at about 13, I discovered it had an amazing flexibility," Messick said in an interview at his home and studio. "My parents gave me my first ventriloquist's dummy, and I bought a book and practiced in front of a mirror. I sent away for my second dummy, Woody de Forest," Messick said, introducing Woody who sat on the window seat in Messick's living room, along with Scooby Doo and a menagerie of stuffed animals and puppets.
    As he introduced these friends, each in its own voice, he explained that each one is dear to him, reminding him of various phases of his career. Woody donned a uniform and went in the service with Messick when he was drafted at 18. The little kiwi bird hand puppet recently toured children's hospitals in New Zealand with Messick, and Scooby, well, "'Scooby Doo' was the longest running network cartoon, running for 16 years before going into syndication."
    "The Smurfs" cartoon is in its seventh year, and Messick says he likes being Papa Smurf "because he has a good image." He gets fan letters for Papa Smurf. One girl wrote about a problem she had and said she wanted to know what advice Papa Smurf could give her. 

    Messick said radio and television are not as impersonal as one might think. He once got a braille fan letter for Scooby Doo and has kept up the correspondence with the blind girl from Pennsylvania who sent it. She and Messick correspond with cassettes.
    "It's nice to realize that you can have a one-to-one relationship through the immediacy of TV," Messick said.
    Messick had his first radio program at age 15, a 15-minute sitcom patterned after his favorite radio programs of the time, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee, Burns and Allen. He did all the voices himself—live.
    When he was drafted, during WWII, he met many people in broadcasting who later helped him break into the business. He worked in special services as an entertainer toward the end of his time in the service. When he got out, he became a free-lance radio actor on such shows as "Let George Do It" and "Night Beat."
    He had attended acting school in his home town of Baltimore and appeared on various radio shows. "I played a lot of doctors," Messick said. "I guess I had a good doctor voice."
    After the army, Messick went to New York for what he calls his "starving era." He appeared on the "Ted Mack Show" under various names. He said they sprinkled the amateur show with some quality so it wouldn't be too bad.
    It was during this time that he appeared as a ghost in a midnight spook show with Bela Lugosi. "Lugosi and his wife had a suite at a big hotel, and I didn't have any place to stay, so they invited me to share their suite."
    Messick and Woody did their ventriloquist act regularly on the "Horace Heidt Show" on television and they went on the road with the Dick Contino Company.
    When Messick came to Los Angeles in the 50s, he worked for six years on the "Beanie and Cecil" puppet show, doing a grueling three shows a day, five days a week.
    He got his start in cartoons at MGM, when he substituted for the regular voice of Droopy the Dog, Messick said, in Droopy's voice.
    "At the time they were releasing backlogs of cartoons because animation as they were doing it then, like Disney and the old Tom and Jerry cartoons, was too expensive for TV."
    Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were the pioneers of limited animation, and Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Scooby Doo came out of that movement. 
    "We do the voices first, then they animate to the voices," Messick explained. "With the voice-overs you do your job and get out fast."

    Residual fees for doing the cartoon voices have changed over the years, Messick said. Originally, under the Screen Actors Guild, after a cartoon's sixth run, the actors got no more fees. This was revised in the mid-60s to eight, then 10 runs. Now the residuals continue ad infinitum, but drop off after the 10th run.
    Payment varies for a commercial. If it is shown during a program, such as a commercial that interrupts a movie, payment is higher than if it is a "wild spot," which is shown between programs.
    A new two-hour Hanna-Barbera special, "The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones" are being filmed currently and Messick goes to Los Angeles to work on those. He is Astro, the family dog.
    He is also the voice of the lemon for Lemon Joy and Snap, of Snap, Crackle and Pop cereal fame. He's been a flea, a mosquito, and a hornet on the Raid commercials. He regularly auditions for cartoons and commercials through his agent, Charles Stern, in Los Angeles.
    He said when he first got the job as Joy lemon, he was flown to New York to "sit in the studio for hours" while they got the animation ready for his voice. He said he liked the trips to New York, but the method was too time consuming. Now they send him a video of the animation and he dubs the voice.
    Messick has come out from behind the screen in recent years to do live performances for children in hospitals all over the country and in England and New Zealand. He got started on this project through Kentucky Fried Chicken's support campaign for the March of Dimes. He was asked to travel to major cities to appear on talk shows and interviews to explain the work of the charity. He was asked to do a similar thing for the Spastic Children's Society in England and for the Crippled Children's Group in New Zealand.
    While he was shopping in New Zealand, Messick saw a kiwi bird hand puppet, and decided to adopt it for his appearances with the children in the hospitals there. He gave the little bird a New Zealand accent and it was a big hit. Now it's one of his favorite characters. He demonstrated the little fellow's accent in a conversation with Scooby Doo. The two voices interacted swiftly as Messick switched from the New Zealand accent to the Scooby voice.
    In addition to the satisfaction he gets from entertaining, Messick said the tours have given him insight into how much can be done through technology for the handicapped now. "I have gotten acquainted with some of these people who could do nothing. Now they are able to activate machinery which enables them to communicate and do things."
    The touring has an added advantage for Messick. "It gives me a chance to get into radio facilities of all kinds," he said. "In England radio stations are often in beautiful old manor houses, and I got to visit the BBC in London."
    Messick said he enjoys announcing for the KDB classical musical station here. He tapes the programs in his Sundial Studio, and he said he learns a lot about classical music and composers by doing it.
    The studio, an eight-track facility, is also used by local advertising organizations to tape commercials, sound effects and production music.
    Messick said he spends a good deal of time in the studio. "Radio is still my first love," he said with a smile.