It is amazing that one individual provided the voice for virtually all of the Warner Bros. major cartoon stars (including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Tasmanian Devil, Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote, and Marvin the Martian) with the exception of Elmer Fudd, who was voiced by the great Arthur Q. Bryan. (Mel did occasionally voice the part of Elmer after Arthur Q. Bryan passed away in 1959).

Mel Blanc was born in 1908 in San Francisco, California. The musician turned voice specialist was a remarkable actor with ultra astonishing vocal chords. Mel would relentlessly attempt for a year and a half to get an audition for Warner Bros. cartoon department, and his impression of a drunken bull at the request of Tex Avery would be his first role for Warner Bros. cartoons in the 1937 short "Picador Porky."

Receiving “Voice Characterization” screen credit (in lieu of a pay raise) for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons would reveal the name behind all of those characters and open the door for a slew of opportunities in radio. Mel would perform with just about every radio program in the 1940s including The Jack Benny Program, The Burns and Allen Show, The Abbott and Costello Show, The Judy Canova Show, and his own radio program, The Mel Blanc Show. He would also be instrumental in keeping World War II troops morale strong through entertainment.

In 1960, Mel would join Hanna-Barbera cartoons as the voice of Barney Rubble and Dino the Dinosaur on The Flintstones. On January 24, 1961, he was involved in a near fatal traffic accident and remained in a body cast for nearly a year. To keep the Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera cartoon teams from being out of work, Mel would record the voices (including an estimated 40 plus Flintstones episodes as Barney Rubble) in his bed during his time of recovery (thanks to Mel’s son, Noel, who built a mini-recording studio in Mel’s bedroom).

With a career in cartoons that would span 53 years, the “Man of a Thousand Voices” would continue to voice other Hanna-Barbera characters, including Captain Caveman, Speed Buggy, Heathcliff, and Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons, more Warner Bros. cartoons, and a number of other cartoons until his death in 1989.

Photo used from B.B. Hudspeth’s personal collection.

Jack Mercer

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