A few years ago, I was lucky enough to interview the great Mel Blanc, the voice of all the Warner Brothers cartoons, including Bugs Bunny. He told me an incredible story about his relationship to the character and how he believes it saved his life. 

It happened in 1961, when Blanc was involved in a terrible car accident going around the legendary "Dead Man's Curve" in L.A. He was so badly injured, it took paramedics an hour to cut him out of his car and he was in a coma for 21 days. They weren't sure if he would live.

Family members were encouraged to talk to him to try and get him to come out of it, but nothing worked and the voice of hundreds of cartoon characters lay there lifeless. Finally, with nothing left to lose, one of his doctors came up to his bed and said "How are you feeling today Bugs Bunny?"

From somewhere in the mists of unconsciousness, Blanc replied - in Bugs' voice - "Eh, just fine doc, how are you?"

Blanc had no memory of any of it, but those were the first words he'd spoken in weeks and he soon came out of his coma and eventually recovered. 

Quite the story, but it shows how deeply ingrained the character was in his life. 

Jody Thornton wrote:

I say that .. I say that Foghorn Leghorn was always my favourite Looney Tunes character. Mel and June (the voice of the female characters) deserve tons of credit.

That would be June Foray, who perhaps was best known as the voice of Natasha Fatale of Rocky & Bullwinkle fame. (And, hokey smoke, she also voiced Rocky!)

A legendary character, and a legendary voice actor... used to watch the compilation shows (e.g. the Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show) on Global as a kid. But did you ever notice how, when many of Blanc's characters (including Bugs) would yell/scream, they all sounded pretty much the same?


 

When it comes to Looney Tunes, I love any of the cartoons that feature Marvin the Martian. However, my absolute favourite of all time is the 1957 Stan Freberg voiced Three Little Bops where the three little pigs form a jazz combo and the big bad wolf is continuously rejected from joining them. The music is pretty hot also.

mic'em wrote:

What a maroon, a line I use to this day. 

HA! Me too.
 

There is a group of us in our sixties and seventies that had the unedited versions of the WB cartoons, and we're not all that bad of a bunch.  CFRB should probably using that demographic for a contest base, not a Mothers' Day tie in.

A bit of trivia in that Elmer Fudd in that era was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan, veteran of numerous radio and film roles.  Most notably he was Fibber McGee's foil Doc Gamble on 'Fibber McGee and Molly'.

Mel Blanc had it written into his contract that Blanc alone received billing for voices, even though he didn't do all of them.  A lot of the radio personalities ended up on the early days of television, and also voicing animated characters.  Anyone remember Frank Nelson?  Nelson's "Yyyyyyyyeeeeeesss????" persona transferred from Jack Benny's radio program over to Benny's television show, and also was a semi regular voice on 'The Flintstones'.

Last edited by Easily Amused (May 1, 2025 10:54 am)

RadioActive wrote:

Easily Amused wrote:

Anyone remember Frank Nelson? Nelson's "Yyyyyyyyeeeeeesss????" persona transferred from Jack Benny's radio program over to Benny's television show, and also was a semi regular voice on 'The Flintstones'.

There's a great interview with Frank Nelson, now long deceased, on my SoundCloud page. It apparently aired on CJCL in Toronto in 1983. I came across it sometime in my travels and liked it so much, I decided to post it there. He tells some great stories about his time on Jack Benny's show and even does his famous "Yeeessssss?" at the beginning - and explains how he came up with it.   

Frank Nelson interview

Thank you.
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EDIT: An interesting departure from Nelson's normal roles came in an episode of the radio drama series 'Suspense', where he played a radio announcer committing a supposedly perfect crime.  1954.

Last edited by Easily Amused (May 1, 2025 11:54 am)