We’re back with another assortment of spots that may actually help to improve life in your town, maybe even the world. (I’m sorry, but we are legally obliged to devote a certain amount of our blog space to community service. Next week we’ll get back to the soda and candy and beer and like that, I promise.)
Navy
From UPA circa 1950. Starring the voices of Jerry Hausner and Marvin Miller.
Metro Coach
From Era Productions. Animated by Ed Aardal.
Red Cross
Featuring the voice of Jim Backus. This is probably from Pelican Films.
United Way
Starring our favorite red-headed Woodpecker. Wally Walrus has been studying elocution here. From Walter Lantz Productions circa 1965. Animation by Art Davis, Les Kline, and Ray Abrams. Voices by Grace Stafford and Daws Butler. I suspect that Butler may have written this spot as well.
Cruelty to Autos
Kenny Delmar speaks. Senator Automobilehorn, maybe?
Lung Association
In an earlier post we featured a Hanna-Barbera anti-smoking ad from the late 60’s starring Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. Fast forward about ten or twelve years, and we have another one from H&B, and an odd little commercial it is at that. Directed and animated by Gerard Baldwin, and starring Daws Butler and Don Messick. Yogi seems to have traded his pik-a-nik baskets in on a ukulele.
Mike Kazaleh is a cartoonist and animator whose work can be seen in comic books like Bongo’s The Simpsons, Futurama and Papercutz’ Gumby – and on screen in Warner Bros. Tiny Toon Adventures, Ralph Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and Cool World.
Mike:
Some great PSAs.,especially the ones with Jim Backus and Daws Buthler and Don Messick (though I wouldn”t have dreamed Yogi would turn down his beloved pic-a-nic baskets for a ukelele.And as Yogi himself put it for “NUTS AND BERRIES? YECH!”
Yeah that doesn’t settle right for me either but I suppose for a worthy cause it had to be.
I recall H-B did a piece for the Girls Clubs of America featuring the guys from Butch Cassidy, though not having seen the show, the animation in this looks pretty much recycled from other episodes just so they could have an easy 30 seconds to blow through to get this done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z5EkxKB1rw
MK-
Three to get ready:
1. How can you tell the Metro shill is by ERA?
2. The Red Cross spot is wonderful! BTW, Jim Backus uses his “Mr. Magoo” voice there!
3. Something you should check out: http://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/world-characters (It features the Burgie man, and the Western Airlines bird, Playhouse Pictures creations…)
I found an old publicity piece about the Metro spots where the studio was identified as ERA Productions. Incidentally, storyman Milt Shaffer was one of the co-founders of ERA.
Is Parker Fennelly the other voice in the Red Cross PSA?
These are great (your artwork as well) but you didn’t include my faces – The Heart Association with the Tin Woodsman(done by Myron Waldman) and the dental association’s ads by Rick Rheinhart Studios. Maybe in a future post?
We can only hope! A post about Rick Reinert alone would be terrific!
Actually we did feature the tin woodsman spot in our earlier PSA column.
The Heart Assocation Tin Man Ad …
http://youtu.be/GJsl2PRxkVk
Also the expanded version made for school use!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6SEHR-cZjY