tv star collector
08-24-2008, 06:40 PM
As an early sponsor of [I]The Flintstones, Winston cigarettes were hawked
by Fred, Wilma, and Barney in commercials.
Mighty Mouse was originally conceived to be a mighty fly.
Tom and Jerry were first conceived by Hanna and Barbera to be a dog and fox.
Asked if The Honeymooners influenced the creation of The Flintstones, Bill Hanna said, "Jackie Gleason was going to sue, but was talked out of it by his lawyers."
RCA engineers tested the transmissions of a television signal in 1928. They
daily trained their cameras on a Felix the Cat doll, making him TV's first star.
Walter Lantz refused to allow wife Grace to audition for the voice of Woody
Woodpecker. She submitted an anonymous tape and was chosen, out of 7
other hopefuls, for the job.
Betty Boop creator Grim Natwick, who passed the entrance exam to the same
art academy that rejected Adolf Hitler, often wondered if world history would
have been different if Hitler had been accepted instead of him.
Jean Vander Pyl, the voice of Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone, gave birth on
Feb. 22, 1963 ... the same day Wilma gave birth on TV to Pebbles!
Scooby-Doo's name came from the popular Frank Sinatra song "Strangers in
the Night." The chorus was "dooby dooby doo."
In some Jetsons episodes, George and Jane had separate beds, in others
the beds were pushed together, and in still others they slept in the same bed.
Baseball's Yogi Berra threatened to sue over Yogi Bear's name. Hanna-Barbera
swore the similarity was purely coincidental. [Joe Barbera claimed the name was literally drawn from a hat.]
The racy 1934 Betty Boop cartoon "Red Hot Mama" was banned in England by
the British Board of Censors.
Five tons of special paint, almost 800 gallons, were used to make "101
Dalmatians" ... enough to coat 35 homes!
When Mighty Mouse sniffed a flower being sold by Polly Pineblossom, the
Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association publicly charged
Mighty Mouse with snorting cocaine.
Singer Helen Kane thought Betty Boop looked and sounded suspiciously
identical to herself and sued Fleischer Studios and Paramount Pictures for
$250,000.
Mel Blanc was Hollywood's "Man of a Thousand Voices." His characterizations
included Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Barney Rubble, and Porky Pig. Mel's
tombstone reads: "THAT'S ALL FOLKS"!
[Source: Weird but True Toon Factoids, by Craig Yoe (1999)]
by Fred, Wilma, and Barney in commercials.
Mighty Mouse was originally conceived to be a mighty fly.
Tom and Jerry were first conceived by Hanna and Barbera to be a dog and fox.
Asked if The Honeymooners influenced the creation of The Flintstones, Bill Hanna said, "Jackie Gleason was going to sue, but was talked out of it by his lawyers."
RCA engineers tested the transmissions of a television signal in 1928. They
daily trained their cameras on a Felix the Cat doll, making him TV's first star.
Walter Lantz refused to allow wife Grace to audition for the voice of Woody
Woodpecker. She submitted an anonymous tape and was chosen, out of 7
other hopefuls, for the job.
Betty Boop creator Grim Natwick, who passed the entrance exam to the same
art academy that rejected Adolf Hitler, often wondered if world history would
have been different if Hitler had been accepted instead of him.
Jean Vander Pyl, the voice of Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone, gave birth on
Feb. 22, 1963 ... the same day Wilma gave birth on TV to Pebbles!
Scooby-Doo's name came from the popular Frank Sinatra song "Strangers in
the Night." The chorus was "dooby dooby doo."
In some Jetsons episodes, George and Jane had separate beds, in others
the beds were pushed together, and in still others they slept in the same bed.
Baseball's Yogi Berra threatened to sue over Yogi Bear's name. Hanna-Barbera
swore the similarity was purely coincidental. [Joe Barbera claimed the name was literally drawn from a hat.]
The racy 1934 Betty Boop cartoon "Red Hot Mama" was banned in England by
the British Board of Censors.
Five tons of special paint, almost 800 gallons, were used to make "101
Dalmatians" ... enough to coat 35 homes!
When Mighty Mouse sniffed a flower being sold by Polly Pineblossom, the
Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association publicly charged
Mighty Mouse with snorting cocaine.
Singer Helen Kane thought Betty Boop looked and sounded suspiciously
identical to herself and sued Fleischer Studios and Paramount Pictures for
$250,000.
Mel Blanc was Hollywood's "Man of a Thousand Voices." His characterizations
included Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Barney Rubble, and Porky Pig. Mel's
tombstone reads: "THAT'S ALL FOLKS"!
[Source: Weird but True Toon Factoids, by Craig Yoe (1999)]