Crashcup Calls

Clyde Crashcup answers the phone in a spoof of This is Your Life. The lousy VHS dub below doesn’t let you see what’s scrawled on the wall. I don’t know if there was a “Gertrude” or “Alice D” (at HOllywood 6-something-or-other) at Format Films but one name is familiar.



Let’s get a close-up.



Yes, it’s the name of Bob Kurtz, a Chouinard grad and Peabody Award-winning designer who was a story writer at Format at the time.

I’d like to think another scrawl is “Hee’s Turkey Ranch” named after ex-Disney writer Tee Hee (at LA-23156) but I can’t be certain that’s what it says.

This is one of the better Crashcup stories as he’s beaten by an ex-college football pal, insulted by his fifth grade teacher (played by June Foray), attacked by his dog (also played by June Foray), and meets Leonard’s annoyed mother (June Foray was busy on this episode), who is on the show only because Leonardo took advantage of the offer of a free flight from Nebraska.

The cartoon was made in 1961 at the tail-end of the tail fad in cars.

Here’s a great perspective design of the car Crashcup was in. Sorry for the unmatching colours; digital fuzziness from an old video dub doesn’t help. Note the UPA-style crowd on the left.



Shep Menken is doing his Richard Haydn voice as Crashcup. I don’t think he’s the emcee, but you can hear the exact same voice as Dialer in the Jerry Fairbanks industrial film Talking of Tomorrow (1962).