It's time for another post here, and today, we're looking at two Georges: Jetson and O'Hanlon. I'm sure you're all familiar with the former, but Mr. George O'Hanlon might not be as recognizable. George O'Hanlon provided the voice of George Jetson, the only cartoon voice he ever provided, but that's not to say he wasn't busy. O'Hanlon's career dates back all the way to the 1930s, and he did everything from acting to writing over the course of his over fifty-year career. Outside of The Jetsons, O'Hanlon is best remembered for playing Joe McDoakes in the Warner Bros. shorts from 1942 to 1956. If you've never seen any of them, I highly recommend checking out the ones available on Youtube to get a feel for them. All of the shorts are also available on DVD courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection, although copies can get pretty expensive nowadays.
From the research I've conducted, interviews with O'Hanlon are rather hard to find, and ones related to The Jetsons are even harder, if not nonexistent. That's why I was beyond ecstatic to find this interview he did in the pages of Thousand Oaks' News Chronicle. Dated June 13th, 1988, this is likely the last interview O'Hanlon ever gave, and in it, he reflects on his relationship with Hanna-Barbera, his many struggles, and his career in Hollywood in general. From the article, you really get the sense that George O'Hanlon was as charming offscreen as he was on it, injecting plenty of humor through the piece with his quotes.
Sadly, George O'Hanlon passed away on February 11th, 1989, right after finishing a recording session of Jetsons: The Movie. Joe Barbera was quoted as saying after his death that he died doing what he loved, and from this article, I have no doubts he was telling the truth.
'Jane, Jane, Stop this crazy thing'
By John Mitchell
News Chronicle
When George Jetson speaks, so does George O'Hanlon.
Jetson is the hero of the futuristic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, "The Jetsons." O'Hanlon is the 75-year-old veteran actor who is Jetson's voice.
The fact that O'Hanlon can still speak for Jetson, let alone travel from the Conejo to the Hanna-Barbera Studios in Hollywood for taping sessions, borders on the miraculous. The 19-year-resident of Westlake Village has suffered four heart attacks and a major stroke, is legally blind, has limited mobility and has undergone a series of operations that would have put many good men down for the count.
But since 1985 he's been healthy enough to have made 51 half-hour "Jetsons" episodes, two TV movies and he is now looking forward to doing a feature-length movie for release in theaters. "No problem; it's like doing three half-hour shows and then stringing them together," he says.
O'Hanlon's relationship with Hanna-Barbera actually began with a rejection, he says. In 1959, he was the choice of Joe Barbera to be the voice of Fred Flintstone in "The Flintstones." He made a tape which Barbera liked, but network executives in New York did not. O'Hanlon was dropped and Alan Reed got the part.
A couple of years later, Barbera came up with an idea for "The Jetsons," a spin-off of "The Flintstones." Again he tapped O'Hanlon for the lead role and this time he got it.
Unfortunately for O'Hanlon, in the fall of 1962, ABC-TV dropped "The Jetsons" into a Sunday slot against "The Wonderful World of Disney." After 24 episodes, it was canceled.
"But you know something, even though only 24 episodes were made, "The Jetsons" never were off the air for the next 22 years," says Nancy O'Hanlon, the actor's wife.
A few years later, in the middle of a two-year writing stint for "The Jackie Gleason Show" in Florida, O'Hanlon suffered and recovered from his first heart attack. After Gleason's show got the axe, he moved on to a variety of writing and acting jobs.
In June 1976, his life almost ended. He had just completed a role in "Rocky" — he's the television commentator — when he suffered another heart attack. Not realizing its severity, he didn't go to the hospital until the following day. After tests, doctors recommended he undergo bypass surgery. He agreed to do it, but only after he saw his daughter graduate from Agoura High School the following week.
During the bypass surgery, which was done at Los Robles Regional Medical Center, he suffered a stroke and went into a coma for a week. "When he woke up, he had trouble putting sentences together, he couldn't read, distinguish colors and, sometimes, he couldn't remember my name," says Nancy.
"I was a broccoli." O'Hanlon grins.
After a period, including a second trip to intensive care because of a collapsed lung, he was transferred to the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Calabasas. At the time, he required constant care.
"Just before Labor Day he tried to 'escape,'" says Nancy. "He got past security and out the door and started towards the freeway. Then he came back, tried to get in, but the door had locked behind him.
"Later, he said to me, 'Please get me out of here.'
"The doctors had told me that I'd never be able to take care of him at home, that the nurses and security could barely control him in the hospital. He couldn't even go to the bathroom alone. When I told George I couldn't take him home, he said, 'I'd do it for you.'
"That did it. I told the doctors I wanted to take him home for the weekend. They said they'd let me do it just so I could see for myself that I wouldn't be able to take care of him."
While O'Hanlon had been in the hospital, Nancy had rented a new house. "As we were driving there I told him over and over — he had a tiny attention span then — that it would be a different house. I asked him if he understood and he said, 'Yes.' Then when I stopped in front of the house, got out and walked over to unlock his door, he said, 'Just one question: Who are you?'"
O'Hanlon has come a long way back since then, to about a 90 percent recovery says his wife, though he still goes to the Motion Picture Hospital three times a week for "therapy and socializing."
In 1985, Hanna-Barbera decided to make new episodes of "The Jetsons" for television syndication. Because of his poor eyesight, O'Hanlon is unable to read a script and he must do his taping separate from the cast. The director speaks the line with voice inflection, and O'Hanlon, with the same inflection, speaks it into the microphone.
"It only takes a half-hour and we're out of there," says O'Hanlon. "In the early days a taping like that would take all day. Now when we get done we feel like celebrating, so we'll go out to lunch."
Although O'Hanlon's involvement with "The Jetsons" began a quarter-century ago, it has become the capper on a show biz career that stretches back to the early 1930s. That's when the native of Providence, R.I, came west for fame and fortune via the silver screen.
Early on, he gained steady employment as an extra in many movies, including the Busby Berkeley musicals for Warner Brothers. Later, he had character roles in "Jezebel" and "June Bride" with Bette Davis, "The Hucksters" with Clark Gable, "The Tanks Are Coming" with Steve Cochran and other flicks.
However, O'Hanlon will be most recognizable to moviegoers of the 1940s and 1950s as Joe McDoakes, the hero of a series of 10-minute comedy shorts. Each short opened with McDoakes behind a giant eight-ball, then featured a wacky routine about how the "average man" dealt with one of life's problems.
Also in the 1950s, O'Hanlon starred in his own radio show, "Me and Janie," with Lurene Tuttle.
"We were on the Mutual Network for a year, then Tums bought the show and moved us to NBC where we replaced "The Alan Young Show," he says.
For all the ups and downs of a checkered career, the O'Hanlons regard their current involvement with "The Jetsons" as extra special.
"Doing the show is very good for him," says Nancy. "It's as good as medicine. He was dying of boredom until they called."
"Yeah, it appeals to the ham in me; I get it all out of my system," says O'Hanlon with a grin.
"Not all," quickly corrects his wife.
