Tuesday 13 October 2020

Call Eddie

Background artist Bob Gribbroek buries an inside gag on the wall of Tuffy’s Tavern in Hush My Mouse starring the annoying, talks-too-much version of Sniffles.

The cartoon’s one of those programme parodies Tedd Pierce liked to write, except television wasn’t big yet so he focused on the radio show Duffy’s Tavern. It opened with a piano version of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and manager Archie on the phone with Duffy using the same line every show.

We have the same thing in this cartoon. You’ll notice by the phone there’s a phone number: Eddie GL-4131. That happened to be the phone number of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio and Eddie is producer Eddie Selzer. Below is phone number NO-17449. I suspect the Normandie exchange number belongs to the background artist himself.



The parody’s weak and Sniffles makes you want to smack him. But there is bit of smear animation on consecutive frames.



Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam, Ken Harris and Basil Davidovich are the animators, with Earl Klein handling the layouts for Chuck Jones. Mel Blanc and Dick Nelson provide the voices (I can never figure out Nelson’s voices, but Thad Komorowski can and did on this one).

4 comments:

  1. The Eddie G. voice is actually Dick Nelson (as it is in Racketeer Rabbit).

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  2. That number 4131 appears a lot. In "A Feud There Was" the commercial announcer tells us to call Hollywood 4131. In "Sahara Hare" the sign in the desert outpost reads "For Rent or Lease, Morocco 4131"

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  3. SO either Blanc or Nelson is Sniffles, and not Sara Berner? (who had taken over from Gay Seabrooke(?) and before Marjorie Tarlton.)(Speaking o Gay Seabrooke, who appears on a Joe Penner boxing radio episode show that Yowp mentioned on TTTP/GAC/IAD , was she EVER in any cartoons, now that no indication actually exists of her voicing ANY character?) May be a good time to do a Gay Seabrooke article, Yowp. Cheers!

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