Toon Trivia

[tv star collector]

TENNESSEE TUXEDO was originally conceived as an educational series in
response to a 1961 speech by the FCC Chairman Newton Minow calling television a "vast wasteland."

Before David Seville (Ross Bagdasarian Sr.) exploited the technique of sped up
recorded voices in such hits as "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song," Jon
Arthur used the same gimmick for Sparkie the radio pixie on his radio show BIG
JON & SPARKIE (a.k.a. NO SCHOOL TODAY), back in the early 1950s. [I recall
listening to that program every day before we got our first television set.]

Before he unleashed The Three Chipmunks (Alvin, Simon & Theodore) on an
unsuspecting public, Ross Bagdasarian wrote a No. 1 hit for Rosemary Clooney
titled "Come On-A My House," in 1951.

Arthur Q. Bryan was not only the original voice of Elmer Fudd, but Elmer's
appearance was also modeled after Bryan.

Pinto Colvig (the original voice of Goofy) co-wrote the song "Who's Afraid of
the Big Bad Wolf?" from the 1933 short "The Three Little Pigs" and was also
the original "Bozo the Clown." His son Vance was the voice of Yakky Doodle's
bulldog pal Chopper.

William Conrad (best remembered as TV detective Cannon) was the narrator
on ROCKY & HIS FRIENDS and THE BULLWINKLE SHOW and, before that, was
Matt Dillon on the radio version of GUNSMOKE.

In 1965, Underdog made his first appearance as a giant balloon in Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Kenny Delmar ("The Hunter" on KING LEONARDO & HIS SHORT SUBJECTS)
was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre radio troupe and was
featured in the infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast. He later became
popular on radio's FRED ALLEN SHOW in the late '40s as blustery Senator
Claghorn (one of the inspirations for Foghorn Leghorn).

Today Billy DeWolfe is probably best-known as the voice of inept magician
Prof. Hinkle in the perennial holiday favorite "Frosty the Snowman." But
earlier in his career he was known for portraying impeccably dressed,
elegant characters. He was tall, dark haired and had a meticulously groomed
mustache and dark piercing eyes. His parents wanted him to be a Baptist
minister, but he decided instead on a performing career and appeared in
about 20 films, incl. "Duffy's Tavern," "The Perils of Pauline" and "Tea for Two"
and such TV shows as THAT GIRL, THE DORIS DAY SHOW, THE DICK VAN
DYKE SHOW and THE DEBBIE REYNOLDS SHOW. He died of lung cancer in
1974, at age 67.

Micky Dolenz of THE MONKEES made his TV debut at age 12, as the star of
CIRCUS BOY. He supplied several voices for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, incl.
DEVLIN, THE FUNKY PHANTOM and BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KIDS.

ROCKY & BULLWINKLE villain Boris Badenov is a take-off on the character
in the opera "Boris Godunov" and his favorite exclamation ""Raskolnikov!" is
the name of the murderer in Dostoyevski's "Crime and Punishment."

Stan Freberg (Pete Puma in the Bugs Bunny shorts) is a noted satirist who
produced record parodies like "St. George and the Dragonet" (a DRAGNET
spoof) and some very witty TV commercials for such diverse products as
Jeno's Pizza, Heinz Soups and the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Paul Frees (the voice of Boris Badenov and Ludwig von Drake) began his
career as "Little Buddy Green" on the vaudeville circuit.

Brad Garrett (EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, 'TIL DEATH) was the voice of
Hulk Hogan in his cartoon series and also Fatso of The Ghostly Trio in the
first "Casper" movie.

Barry Gordon, a regular on FISH and ARCHIE BUNKER'S PLACE, was the voice
of Donatello of THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. In the '50s, he was
a popular child star on such TV shows as Milton Berle's and had a Christmas
hit record, "Nuttin' for Christmas." Bonus trivia note: as President of SAG
(Screen Actors Guild), he served longer than any other President (1988-1995).

Pat Harrington (ONE DAY AT A TIME) was the voice of The Inspector on
THE PINK PANTHER SHOW.

Casey Kasem (the voice of Shaggy on SCOOBY-DOO) was a popular radio
personality and deejay.

Allan Melvin (PHIL SILVERS SHOW, BRADY BUNCH, ALL IN THE FAMILY) was
the voice of Magilla Gorilla.

Jack Mercer is listed in the GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS as the longest
serving voice actor in a cartoon series, having voiced Popeye for 45 years.
He also wrote many of the Popeye cartoons as well as some Deputy Dawg
cartoons.

Howard Morris (the voice of Beetle Bailey and Archie's pal Jughead) was one
of Sid Caesar's cronies on his classic TV show and played Ernest T. Bass on
THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.

Clarence Nash was hired by Walt Disney to do Donald Duck's voice when
Disney heard Nash doing an impression of a duck reciting "Mary Had a Little
Lamb" on a radio program.

Gary Owens (voice of Space Ghost and the Blue Falcon) was the announcer
on the ground-breaking NBC comedy-variety series ROWAN & MARTIN'S
LAUGH-IN.

Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of Tony the Tiger and the featured soloist on
the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," was a member of the singing
quartet, "The Mellowmen."

Bill Scott, co-producer of THE BULLWINKLE SHOW (and the voice of
Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody and Dudley Do-Right) was also a storyman and
wrote several Daffy Duck shorts in the '40s, as well as the Oscar-winning
UPA short "Gerald McBoing-Boing" (based on a story by Dr. Seuss).

Penny Singleton, the voice of Jane Jetson, portrayed Blondie Bumstead in
28 motion pictures between 1938 and 1950.

Hal Smith, best-remembered as Otis Campbell on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW,
was the voice of Davey's dog Goliath on the Lutheran Church animated
series DAVEY & GOLIATH (produced by Art Clokey of GUMBY fame).

Grace Stafford, wife of cartoon producer Walter Lantz, auditioned anonymously
for the role of Woody Woodpecker ... because she knew her husband would
never knowingly hire a woman to do Woody's voice!

Arnold Stang, the voice of Herman the mouse and Top Cat, was Milton Berle's
sidekick on his classic NBC-TV show.

John Stephenson, the voice of Top Cat's pal Fancy-Fancy and Fred Flintstone's
boss Mr. Slate, was one of the two announcers who did the opening and
closing voice-overs for DRAGNET (the other was George Fenneman).

Sally Struthers (ALL IN THE FAMILY) was the voice of the teenage Pebbles
Flintstone during the first season of THE PEBBLES & BAMM-BAMM SHOW, as
well as Charlene Sinclair on DINOSAURS.

Cree Summer (A DIFFERENT WORLD) was the voice of Inspector Gadget's
niece Penny and Elmyra Duff on ANIMANIACS.

The cartoon character Droopy was inspired by Bill Thompson's meek
delivery as Wallace Wimple on the FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY radio show in
the 1940s. Besides Droopy, Thompson was also the White Rabbit in
"Alice in Wonderland," Jock in "Lady and the Tramp," Mr. Smee in "Peter
Pan," and Touche Turtle.

Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger and Dick Dastardly, was a popular
ventriloquist on television in the 1950s (THE PAUL WINCHELL & JERRY
MAHONEY SHOW) and also invented the first artificial heart.

Alan Young, of MISTER ED fame, was the voice of Scrooge McDuck.