You have to wonder when Estelle Blanc saw her husband.
Until he was signed to an exclusive theatrical cartoon contract by Leon Schlesinger in April 1941, Blanc was providing starring voices for Warner Bros. and Walter Lantz, and played various characters in MGM and Columbia/Screen Gems shorts.
On top of that, he was very much in demand in network radio and had regular weekly roles on some shows. It got to the point that a few years after World War Two he was on just about every week on Jack Benny’s radio show. He wasn’t considered a regular in the opening credits, but Jack got around that by mentioning his name, or introducing him, on a number of shows. (Benny was not a social friend with his cast, but Blanc was the exception).
Mel got credits on other shows and mentions in newspaper radio columns. Here’s a sample of what the papers said in 1943. Evidently a profile of him was sent to newspapers (perhaps by CBS or an ad agency) as it was published in a Washington, D.C. paper and parts of it elsewhere. According to it, Joe Dougherty apparently never existed.
Of note is one of his characters on the Judy Canova show was named “Sylvester” and talked like a certain cartoon cat to be invented. I’d love to know more about the Porky war cartoons that were made.
• • • • •
January 7
Mel Blanc (“Uncle Petie” on the Tommy Riggs show) always signs his scripts in his own handwriting, feeling his performance won’t be up to standard without it. (Helen King, Buffalo Evening News)
January 10
Radio versus parental authority is the problem facing Mel Blanc, many-voiced actor who divided his time before the Great Gildersleeve and Abbott-Costello programs. Blanc's four-year-old son, Noel, always catches his pop's broadcasts, which means that, sometimes, Noel tunes in an advance program so he'll be sure to catch his old man on the follow-up.
The other day, Noel caught a psychologist in the midst of advising parents how to control their offspring. Consequently, next time Blanc was readying himself to administer a spanking, the four-year-old stopped him short by asking:
"Pop, are we supposed to believe what we hear on the radio?"
Blanc thoughtlessly said, yes, whereupon the youngster cracked:
"Then let's just forget the spanking. The man on the radio said spanking was bad child psychology."
January 17
At this week’s rehearsal Tommy Riggs had a violent fit of coughing. Mel Blanc (Uncle Petie on the show) asked, “What’s the matter, Betty Lou?” In a disgusted voice, the “child” replied: “It’s not me. It’s that dope I work for!”
January 21
The voice of Porky Pig, "Bugs" Bunny, and 50 other comedy characters of the movie cartoons, Blanc has a chance for full use of his versatility on the series.
One week he went through a repertoire of 30 identical bird calls, interjecting them for comedy relief in the program. In another program he was "Juan," the Mexican singer who brought with him a five-piece Mexican band which he insisted on bringing into the show. Another week he was afflicted with "hiccups" whenever Cotello [sic] yelled at him.
"Blanc or Twink, as you will, is just another way of getting continunity into the programs," Martin Gooch, producer, explains. "It helps to keep the programs from being just a series of jokes." (Bob Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer)
January 22
Mel Blanc, Uncle Petie on the [Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou] show, has been putt-putting about Hollywood on his bright red scooter bike. He’s discovered it’s a good means of transportation—and a patriotic one that saves on gas.
January 26
Another guy who gets plenty of radio work is Mel Blanc. Last Thursday Mel was on every commercial show aired from Hollywood Radio City expect Crosby’s. Which adds up to the Vallee show, Abbott & Costello (show was cancelled) and Coffee Time. (William Moyes, The Oregonian)
March 4
Mel Blanc, Hollywood radio action who specializes in impersonations of Eastern dialects, has never been east of New Mexico. Yet he is considered an expert in Brooklyn, New England, Deep South dialects. (Si Steinhauser, Pittsburgh Press)
March 7
There’s no such thing as mike fright, according to Mel Blanc, who plays “Floyd, the barber” [on The Great Gildersleeve]. “It’s just one of the sprites sitting on your shoulder, distracting your attention by whispering in your ear when you’re reading lines,” said Blanc. “I know, because I’ve had touches of mike fright several times in the past year and certainly I should be bothered by mike fright after 15 years of broadcasting.”
March 25
At a time when most radio agencies are thinking about summer replacements two new programs shove off for nationwide coverage over CBS. First to the tee is the Camel Comedy Caravan, taking to the air tomorrow night for a 45-minute spin starting at 7 p.m. ...
Caravan, which wended its way here from New York, is trying out a new emcee in Jack Carson and a formula untried on the cigarette show. Final quarter hour of the show will be given over to Carson’s ‘vaudeville show,’ in which the regulars and guest stars participate in an afterpiece of specialties. Onn the talent side are Herb Shriner, Connie Haines, Elvia Allman, Billy Gray, Mel Blanc, Freddie Rich orchestra of 24 and Dudley Chambers choral group of nine mixed voices. (Variety)
April 13
Mel Blanc’s contract as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and other cartoon characters has been renewed by Leon Schlesinger. (Daily Variety)
May 24
Mel Blanc, who is the Happy postman on the Burns and Allen show, Jerkins and Pablo on the Comedy Caravan, various characters on other networks, and little Bugs Bunny in the Movies, will be interviewed by Beverly Barnes on the KNX Open House show at 5. (Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen-News)
May 30
Mel Blanc, called upon for frequent comedy characters on the Al Jolson show, this week completed two more Government-sponsored Leon Schlesinger cartoons on Victory gardens and food conservation in which he portrays his best known character, Porky Pig.
June 21
For the first time, the voice of a film cartoon character will receive screen credit. All future Bugs Bunny cartoons will credit his voice to Mel Blanc, who helped originate the character. (Erskine Johnson, NEA)
June 24
Mel Blanc, Uncle Petie on the Tommy Riggs show, is learning cartooning so that he can sign in character when he is asked for the autograph of one of Leon Schlesinger’s brainchildren. Mel plays the parts of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck in the cartoon movie series. (Earle Ferris, Burley Bulletin)
June 27
“Anyone,” explained Actor Mel Blanc of the “Blondie” broadcasts, “can neigh like a horse, but musically, by pinching one nostril, neighing through the other, and at the same time, carrying a tune through the open mouth.”
“What,” asked Blondie’s Dagwood, “do you do with your feet and the other hand?”
July 11
Blanc is a motion picture star who doesn't get marquee billing. He's the mainstay of the Leon Schlosinger [sic] cartoon studio where he has invented voices for such notable cartoon characters as "Porky Pig," "Daffy Duck" and "Bugs Bunny." He does about 85 per cent of the voice work on Schlesinger cartoons and has even had his voice dubbed in to form a singing trio.
Blanc is famed for his "57 varieties of voices," running the gamut from humming bird to elephant.
He's a veteran of radio, too. He started in 1927, in Portland, Oreg., where he sang comedy songs on the "Hoot Owls" show. In his off moments he played violin and tuba in many of the Northwest's name bands.
In 1932 Blanc went to San Francisco, where he acted as master of ceremonies on one of radio's early variety shows, "Road Show." Within two years he was back in Portland, where he wrote his own half-hour program six nights a week. This was a variety show in which Blanc imitated all voices. In addition he wrote the script for the Portland Breakfast Club show. Blanc was working 16 hours a day, decided it was too much and went to Hollywood in 1935.
He appeared on several local radio stations doing as many as three or four different voices on a single program. Blanc's big-time break came when he won an audition at the Schlesinger studios and invented a unique voice for a new cartoon character. "Porky Pig." This brought him to the attention of the late Joe Penner, with whom he was on the air for three years, doing the duck voice. He followed this by appearing on practically every big-time radio show in the country.
Blanc is married, has a 6-year-old son, Noel, who is already trying to imitate him. He was born May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, Calif. (J.W. Stepp, Washington Evening Star)
July 26Not every unusual radio noise is made by complex sound-effects gadgets. Mel Blanc, character actor of many voices, all of which are sooner or later heard on the CBS “Blondie” show, has his own formula for sounding on the air as if he is being choked by Dagwood, Mr. Dithers, etc. Blanc merely chokes himself. Simple?
August 10
When Henry Charles, announcer of the “Silver Theater” series, arrived at rehearsal for the premiere broadcast, he was surprised to see his brother, Mel Blanc, in the cast of supporting players. The brothers, both busy in their respective radio jobs of announcer and actor, seldom cross paths in their professional work. Mel, incidentally, created the role of the “happy postman” on the Burns and Allen show.
August 21
In reply to queries, Mel Blanc supplies the voice for the “parrot” on the Joan Davis-Jack Haley program. (Helen King, Buffalo Evening News)
October 14
Mel Blanc, who plays the Happy Postman on the Burns and Allen show, is star, quizmaster, stooge and sound effects operator on a twice-weekly quiz show which is recorded for our overseas fighting men; rings bells, toots horns, has a swell time. (Virginia Vale, Western Newspaper Union)
October 21
Another thing that could stand mopping up [on the Judy Canova Show] is Mel Blanc’s act whenever he talks. A little of that goes a long way, and after laying down a dense spittle-fog with a couple of lines of script, Mel could dispense with the other 19/20ths of that act. Right now Mel is working on a dozen big shows, some of which would be pretty dull without him. But his oral spray act is the only one that could make listeners feel that at last they are getting too much Blanc-Blanc monkey business. (William Moyes, The Oregonian)
November 2
We wonder what other customers thought when Mrs. Mel Blanc took her son along on a recent shopping trip. Mel, who plays Sylvester in the Judy Canova show, also plays Porky Pig in the famous animated cartoon. His youngster, shopping with mother, saw a huge porcine illustration on the meat man’s wall and gleefully piped, “Look, mommy, there’s daddy!”
December 1
DO radio producers do anything about entertaining their studio fans? Well, Mel Blanc’s literally in velvet because they do. He’s costumed to the rafters for his Bugs Bunny role in the Abbott & Costello show—and the audiences love it. Which is more than you can say about Mel. It’s too confining, he complains. Fun is fun but when he zippers himself from feet to head in the costumer's dreams of a frisky little rabbit, Mel says he loses his identity, to say nothing of the use of hands and feet.Even a few months ago, the order for such an outfit might have been easy to fill, but not now. A veritable treasure hunt for substitute material was conducted by the company that created the costume. Finally yardage of fuzzy grey and white velvet was obtained at an upholster's show. More velvet, pink for rabbit ears, was discovered packed away in moth balls somewhere, and an ersatz tail was constructed with hatters' plush. But that was far from everything required.
Zippers presented quite a problem, too. Because quick changes are often necessary for Mel, who takes extra parts requiring dialect perfection in the weekly scripts, zippers were a "must." Another headache for the costumer, but finally solved by robbing some feminine evening gowns of their zip fasteners, and replacing them with hooks and ryes, Then came the problem of rabbit whiskers. No rabbit could be sartorially correct without whiskers. This hirsute foliage was finally achieved with horse hair.
The fresh carrots which Bugs Bunny munches during his scenes with Abbott and Costello were one item in the list easy to find in southern California. Several large samples of that favorite rabbit food are carefully washed, scraped and placed in Mel's dressing room before every program. In the interest of realism, Mel Blanc certainly looks the part. (Ben Kaplan column)
December 24
Children of Navy men missing or killed in action will be entertained at a Christmas party today at 3 p.m. in the Naval Reserve Armory, 850 Lilac Terrace.
Besides the distribution of presents, entertainment will include Jack Brooks, Daisy, the movie dog, and her pups; Dippy Diers, Arthur Q. Bryan, Bobbie Dupont and Jimmie O’Brien.
• • • • •
You can see that Mel wasn’t exactly an unknown. Getting a screen credit at Warner Bros. (and, no, his contract did not state he was the only actor to be credited) certainly didn’t hurt. He felt it was the reason he was offered his own sponsored CBS show for the 1946-47 radio season.
Unfortunately, about all Mel could offer were his various voices. Take those away, and there wasn’t much left. His writers built a clichéd character of an earnest, bumbling young man with a somewhat exasperated girl-friend, the same as Dennis Day, or Alan Young, or Eddie Bracken. They found some contrived ways to work in his talent for accents and it just never worked. His show lasted a season.
He was no worse off because of the experience. His career carried on as it had, though some changes were in store thanks to the death of network radio and the slow dismantling of the theatrical animation business. He found a place in animated TV shows and commercials. He opened his own commercial agency. He hit up the talk show circuit. And he survived a horrific car crash.
Perhaps more importantly, all those Warner Bros. cartoons he voiced found a young audience on television, airing over and over and over starting in the mid-1950s. When he died, people may not have known who Judy Canova or Point Sublime were, but they knew Mel Blanc.
