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< Welcome! ~ Mel Blanc.

Tom Wagner

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:59 am

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 597 Location: Long Island, NY

Here is a 2007 documentary I found on Youtube about Mel Blanc narrated by Maurice LaMarche. It's pretty good if you look past some of the standard stories that Mel liked to tell. After watching this you can safely say Mel Blanc was insanely talented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRlmb0xAtBs

ENJOY!!

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 2:49 pm

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 905 Location: HERE!

Tom Wagner wrote:

...Mel Blanc was insanely talented.

Even fellow superhuman voice talent Paul Frees called him "The King of the Cartoon Voice World". Daws Butler marvelled at "Mel's cast iron voicebox"; commenting that even though never known for restraint in consumption of food, drink and tobacco, and seemingly "did nothing to take care of his voice", Blanc could scream all day as Yosemite Sam or Cosmo Spacely without apparent soreness or audible vocal fatigue. They certainly "Don't Make'em Like That Anymore" - and with all due respect to the modern day talents who've been hired to play his characters, NOBODY ever comes close to his consistently extraordinary sound, nor can amaze us all with such a dazzling level of skill and showmanship as a performer. He surely was the Pavarotti of Comedic Character Voices.

Tom Wagner

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:20 pm

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 597 Location: Long Island, NY

I'm curious if you ever came across Mel in your travels and what was your personal opinion of him? What was his reputation in dealing with "younger" talent? Was he willing to help them out? It seems he was putting all his efforts into hoping his son could/would succeed him. I guess protecting one's legacy is a tough thing?

Thank you.

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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:01 pm

Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 905 Location: HERE!

Never did meet or encounter Mr. Blanc...

Tom Wagner wrote:

What was his reputation in dealing with "younger" talent? Was he willing to help them out?

Other than a reputation of kind attention towards children and "fetching" young ladies, he wasn't known to be terribly keen on sharing the Character Voice spotlight with anyone else. Daws hinted that though knowing one another for 30 years working around Hollywood, he ever only received grudging glances of recognition as a fellow cartoon voice veteran; and Blanc has been quoted as deriding my personal Industry Mentor with the unflattering characterization of "...all his characters sound Southern". And though suitably impressed by Blanc's obvious gifts as a performer, he quietly griped about Mel's apparent desire to dominate the entire specialty of character voice acting by limiting name recognition to his own singular brand association; commenting that "It seems like he doesn't think anyone else can/should really do this but himself, and probably wishes the rest of us weren't even there at his recording sessions.".

Quote:

...hoping his son could/would succeed him. I guess protecting one's legacy is a tough thing?

Try as he did to maintain the Blanc moniker as having exclusive ownership and control over all his credited characterizations (whether he originated them or not), in the end there was no denying the fact that the Studios indeed hold all legal rights to the character likenesses and continued casting/performance of their voices - and as we all have come to realize, the executives in charge of such matters at any given time simply can't be made to comply with Mel's wish to convey his career legacy over to his son. And we've all seen, time and time again, that exceptional Talent is neither inherited nor in any way guaranteed to pass from one generation to the next. Despite the many typical well-intentioned claims (in this or any other such case), the son or daughter of any notable celebrity surely does NOT "sound just like their..." famous parent, especially when thrown the unfair challenge of attempting to replicate their most notable achievements from a past era, to suit new media, extended story production and re-purposed material. Never happens.

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