Hello to all the longtime Cartoon Research-aholics.
What a year 2025 ended up being…not only did I move house, but I also even managed a quick trip in December to Seattle, for an old-time radio get together, and also Hollywood, where I was able to catch up with my voice colleague pal Jeff Bergman. And as for the animation bug which infects us all, we cartoon aficionados had a marvellous collecting year. There was the first Looney Tunes Collectors’ Vault set, followed by two giant Blu-ray collections from Animation Heaven, the huge HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW box, and the amazing complete and uncut TOM & JERRY set. And there was also the added bonus of Thad’s wondrously restored Paul Terry silent AESOPS FABLES… what a set of additions to all our cartoon history libraries. And it’s looking like 2026 will be huge, too – just announced is a new Tommy Stathes Cartoon Roots set: Back To The Inkwell (pictured at right) due out this week, as well as the Looney Tunes Collectors’ Vault, Vol. 2 in March, and a bunch of Lantz cartoons, new to HD, with Woody Woodpecker & Friends: Golden Age Collection. And Thad is promising some spectacular looking Famous Studios cartoons!!
First the personal update. I’ve been completely out of the loop as far as any new pieces for Cartoon Research. For me, 2025 was also the year of finally reaching that age where my wife and I decided to move to a new apartment…the old house we had been in for over 35 years was simply getting too big for us to maintain as we enter our senior years (for want of a better euphemism), and way too expensive to contemplate giving the old abode a makeover. So we bit the bullet and put it on the market. That whole process took a good eight hectic months, including endless downsizing and decluttering. Meantime, however, I was still keeping an eagle eye out for maintaining new revisions needed for my CARTOON VOICES book update (a little over a year ago, I wrote a piece here about upgrading that mammoth book and correcting a bunch of pesky mistakes. As you know I’m a stickler for being as accurate as I can, and I can assure you that no one feels the little errors that creep in like I do!).
Working on those revisions leads me to this current piece. Thanks to the research conducted by eagle eyed cartoon experts like Devon Baxter and E. O. Costello, three new names can now be confirmed and added to the many uncredited voice artists who made the Golden Age theatrical cartoons such fun to listen to. The three voice talents I will mention this time around are Jerry Stewart, Gil Turner and Darrell Payne.
The first name Jerry Stewart is now confirmed as the excellent Bing Crosby imitator in two 1936 Friz Freleng-directed releases, LET IT BE ME and the quick follow-up BINGO CROSBYANA. Both cartoons satirized the immortal crooner Bing Crosby, who was at the time a huge star in Paramount musical comedy films, as well as being radio’s top vocalist, and a huge seller of Decca 78 rpm records.
1936 was the year Bing became nationally famous in his high budgeted radio variety show, THE KRAFT MUSIC HALL. Many Warner cartoon buffs will recall a note in Jerry Beck’s and Will Friedwald’s indispensable 1989 book Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: in their entry on BINGO CROSBYANA they note how Bing’s attorneys didn’t find these parodies amusing (“’A potential threat to cartoon producers who caricature stars,’ was how The Hollywood Reporter [August 5, 1936] described the legal action. ‘The Crosby corporation has demanded that Warners cease distribution and exhibition of the reel. The demand states that the Crosby voice is imitated and the character of BINGO CROSBYANA is shown as a vainglorious coward.’”)
The voice imitation is accurate… at the time the younger Crosby had a slightly huskier sound, before his voice deepened a tone and became mellower in the 1940s. At the time I published the CARTOON VOICES book in 2022, I wanted the filmographies of each studio’s credits to either reflect confirmed voice artists or, if the information was only half-complete, I would append a “?” to names that were educated guesses. An unsigned 1930s news item had the name Billy Paye, a singer who had owned up to doing a Crosby imitation for cartoons, but that was all I had. I was waiting for the day when I could remove Mr. Paye’s question mark via more evidence.
This is Jerry Stewart in “Mystery Liner” (1934) with a blurry Zeffie Tilbury.
A publicity drawing for “Let It Be Me”
All these news items were sourced by ace researcher E. O. Costello [who a few years back did some impressive research here on Gus Wicke, the great Bluto voice in Fleischer Studios cartoons of the 1934-38 period.] And all these newspaper pieces stress Jerry Stewart’s Crosby voice as if it was a highlight of his shows. Just last month I found a 1933 radio show in my collection from a syndicated series called The Laff Parade, in which Stewart does a routine in a most authentic take off of comedian Ed Wynn. From this brief appearance I can vouch for his strong stage presence and accuracy of voice.
So finally we know who the Crosby delineator of these 1936 Warners cartoons was. Of course Bing, being such a huge star name, was mimicked in animation by various other singers as well, including Cliff Nazarro, Bill Roberts and Art Scott. This brings us to my second new name.
It was in the 1940s when, as previously noted, Crosby’s voice deepened. He was an even bigger name throughout the war-torn 40s, but he now faced new competition from the younger radio sensation of the bobby-soxers set, Frank Sinatra. Radio shows soon began featuring light-hearted “feuds” between Bing and Frankie, as to who was the top swoon-inducing voice of the era, and the Warners cartoon gag men sniffed a new opportunity for celebrity satire.
“Swooner Crooner”
Except …. Well, it now appears that Mr. Clampett recalled slightly incorrectly: Bickenbach indeed DID do the dreamily soft crooning of Sinatra singing numbers like “As Time Goes By,” “It Can’t Be You” and “Always in My Heart.” But he did NOT do the hilarious pipe-puffing Crosby voice from that cartoon, as I mistakenly assumed and first reported in my book.
Cartoon expert Devon Baxter’s digging into Warner cartoon history recently turned up a small but most interesting item from the well-known trade paper The Hollywood Reporter in its March 19, 1944 issue. In a brief item entitled “Schles Finds Voices,” it is noted that, “After testing scores of Hollywood imitators seeking vocal counterparts of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra for his forthcoming ‘Merrie Melodie’ cartoon ‘Swooner Crooner,’ Leon Schlesinger found just the right talent in his own backyard. Gil Turner will do the Crosby voice, and Dick Bickenbach the voice of Sinatra. Both are [Schlesinger’s] staff animators.”
Gil Turner
And in 1947, Art Davis’s new unit carried on with still another topical Crosby-Sinatra feud cartoon, CATCH AS CATS CAN, with Bing animated as a parrot and Frankie as a canary. This time those famous voices were mimicked by impressionist-comedian Dave Barry, less authentically perhaps, but just as amusingly.
So that takes care of a few factual corrections I have appended to my revised “CARTOON VOICES” book. But regarding the aforementioned Bob Clampett, another research error further marred my book’s quest for accuracy. And it involves Clampett’s legendary, and controversial, cartoon classic COAL BLACK AND DE SEBBEN DWARFS.
The first edition of my book claimed – incorrectly, as it regrettably turns out – that Danny Webb, a highly prolific cartoon voice man based in Hollywood from 1937-41, had done the dialogue for the Amazonian wicked Queen in COAL BLACK (1942). It had previously been noted by my late research associate Hames Ware in the magazine Animato! (issue #40, Winter 1999). Clampett, who was normally possessed of a razor sharp memory for these production and personnel details, had apparently mis-remembered who did this famous froggy-voiced character in a letter he sent to British cartoon buff Graham Webb back in 1977.
As it turns out, comedian MC Darrell Payne (known professionally as “Don” Payne) was the one who recorded the funny Popeye-esque voice for the Queen (“Magic Mirror on the wall, send me a Prince about six feet tall !!!….”).
Following below is how I corrected and updated the section originally praising Danny Webb for a voice he did not in fact do – the next six paragraphs (appearing here in italics) are the way it will read in the updated version of the book.
With the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the versatile thirties voice-man Danny Webb, formerly Dave Weber, was drafted in the spring of 1941. He spent time in the European theatre in a USO troupe attached to a Red Cross unit (“he was dubbed the Atomic Comic by General Eisenhower”). Following the conflict, he relocated to New York in 1944 and a career in radio and early TV.*
(* Webb even resumed his cartoon career in 1945, with voice work for several “Gandy Goose” and “Heckle & Jeckle” entries for Terry-Toons.)
While he never returned to Hollywood, Danny Webb’s place in animation history is assured, both for his dead-on Joe “Egghead” Penner voice, as well as his endless variety of dialect characters and impressions for cartoons released by Warner Bros., Columbia and Walter Lantz between 1937-1940. Had the war not intervened, Webb may well have ended up with some latter-day recognition like his studio colleague Mel Blanc. And Webb wasn’t the only one. Kent Rogers, the young impersonator-actor from Avery’s HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT (1941) would soon be grabbed by Uncle Sam, with other actors to follow. Although Blanc now dominated the scene, Webb and Rogers had both enjoyed a lot of cartoon employment over a short period. The animation industry loved latching on to uniquely gifted talents who were quick studies and therefore cost-efficiently reliable at recording sessions, where studio time was expensive. Of course, once those talents were no longer available, fresh voices were immediately sought, checked out and auditioned by cartoon directors.
One young stage artist, Darrell Payne, was a veteran club comedian (“the man with the jumping eyes”), and a voice impersonator of screen and radio notables. He was known in the trade as “Don” Payne. Like many of his ilk, although he made a good living working in the endless theatres and nightclubs dotted across America, he remained mostly unknown as a name performer by the public. In one sense anonymity helped these “no-namers”: once they gained a reputation for being a “total pro” in, say, the role of a comic master of ceremonies with a solid reputation for getting big laughs, they were assured of constant employment, which enabled them to hone and fine-tune a tight, bulletproof act. Payne, who hailed from Wichita Falls in Texas, could dance, act in skits and had a solid standup act with “screwball antics and a winsome manner.” He also had that useful skill of being a multi-voiced imitator.
According to one report, he was doing a seasonal stint at Hollywood’s popular Florentine Gardens nightclub in a variety revue with Alvino Rey’s Orchestra, “doing his voice impressions of various famous persons. A producer from Warner Bros.’ cartoon department heard him change his voice and contacted Payne.” One of his featured voices was an excellent Popeye, a voice that really stood out in his act.
As someone who always made sure he mentioned doing “voice imitations for Leon Schlesinger’s Merrie Melodies,” Payne dined out for years with one particular story which had a Bugs Bunny connection: “The [Warner cartoons] man was looking for a burp for Bugs Bunny. All he needed was a man who could give a burp polite enough to get by the then-strict Hays office, and vigorous enough to get over the point. ‘I burped continuously for almost eight hours before they got just the one they liked,’ Payne remembers with a smile. ‘It was not too high and not too low – just a medium burp.’” PR puffery, or a smattering of truth? If any reader can identify this Bugs cartoon, recorded circa 1941-42, you’ll be entitled to a bottle of carrot-flavored Pepto Bismol.
That aside, in the spring of 1942 Bob Clampett employed Payne to play the frog-voiced Wicked Queen in the previously noted cult-classic COAL BLACK AND DE SEBBEN DWARFS (1942).159 This was a hilarious performance, a tour de force characterization that perfectly matched that cartoon’s frantically palpable energy. (Eventually, like his vocal mimic colleagues before him, Payne, too, was inducted into the armed forces, his turn coming in the spring of 1944.)
And here is Note #159, cited above, from the updated Warner Bros. Notes section of my book:
159. “Atomic Comic” quote by Jack Bundy, Jack Bundy’s Album radio show (guest, Danny Webb), 7 May 1945 (audiotape in author’s collection). Updated: Also Don Payne clippings: Wichita Falls Times (Texas), 25 April 1944, San Angelo Standard Times (Texas), 23 July 1944, undated clipping from Hollywood Citizen News: “In Varieties of 1944,” other unsigned squibs from 1949 and 1956. Also, USC Warner Bros. Collection: Music payroll records from three Coal Black talent requisitions, May & June 1942.
And check out these two screen shots – first the photo of an original talent document from USC (this shot actually appears on page 221 of my CARTOON VOICES book). It is for a session supervised by Carl Stalling’s arranger-associate Milt Franklyn for a singing sequence with Mel Blanc (who voiced the dwarfs), Vivian Dandridge (the voice of So White) and Clampett’s Central Avenue pianist friend Edward Beale, who had contracted the black voice talents, and filled in as one dwarf. This was the section of COAL BLACK where the dwarfs and So White sing “You’re in the Army Now” and “Wacky over Khaki,” plus the “Five O’ Clock Whistle / What’s Cookin’?” sequence. This photocopy was taken on my return to USC in 2005, when I was actually allowed to request just ten (count ‘em, ten) photocopies of original documents.
But next, check the handwritten notes from my initial research visit three years before, in 2002, when I was only permitted to copy notes from the original documents in pencil on to index cards. You can see in my handwritten scribble that another recording session, dated a week later on 6-6-42, was actually for COAL BLACK too, but on the original “REQUISITION FOR EXTRA TALENT” document from which I was making this pencil copy, somehow, they had assigned an incorrect production number – the number 977 was in fact the Chuck Jones cartoon FLOP GOES THE WEASEL. Note too I also hand-copied a third date for COAL BLACK (6-13-42), when drummer Leo Watson, the voice of Prince Chawmin,’ was scheduled. And that one shows the correct production number! Aaaarggh, trying to make sense of occasionally sloppy original documents was challenging too….in fact you can see on the actual May 30 photocopy the secretarial person who typed up the data wrote COLD BLACK! So for that date the production number was right, but the title of the cartoon was wrong. Mercy….
Actually in the 1942 documents a couple more cartoon titles were also given erroneous production numbers. That’s what confused me, otherwise I might have considered Darrell Payne as the Queen voice some twenty years ago. I can’t believe I did all that on site research at USC back in 2002, and there, hiding in plain sight in my reams of handwritten file cards, was the session information for the COAL BLACK song & dialogue recording with Darrell Payne and Vivian (this was the “Five O’ Clock Whistle”-poison apple-“she’s stiff as a board” sequence). I’ve had this info for 23 years and somehow, I missed the Payne connection and just remembered Clampett saying it was Danny Webb as the Queen years before, like a fait accompli. It just goes to show that for every tiny fact we learn in this always arcane subject, a new wrinkle keeps cropping up to confound we researchers even more. But we valiantly soldier on, always willing to correct one tiny fact with another that only a few folks on the planet care about!!
Click on this title card above to see the one and only live action comedy short starring Danny Webb.
After my book was published I came across a VARIETY clipping from May 1941, noting that Danny Webb had been drafted (“he is now making noises for Uncle Sam”). He had in fact disappeared from West Coast cartoons by the time COAL BLACK was underway. For upcoming stories for which Clampett needed voice mimicry, he had already begun using Kent Rogers and Jack Lescoulie. He and Tex Avery were always open to considering new talents who came to the cartoon studio to audition. And finally we should note that Clampett used the obscure Darrell Payne at least once more, voicing Mr. Meek in the zany Daffy Duck entry THE WISE QUACKING DUCK (1943).
That’ll do for now, I get exhausted thinking about corrections. The uncredited cartoon voices of the theatrical era is a topic that is always teetering on the edge of some nugget of new and hitherto unknown intelligence. Until next time, do keep listening to those old soundtracks. You never know who you might hear.
END NOTE: I’d especially like to thank Devon Baxter and E. O. Costello, along with Tom Samuels, all of whom are diligent researchers, and who are maintaining a vigil for any obscure information that might add to our knowledge of early cartoon voices of the pre-TV era. I recently completed a Famous Studios filmography to add to the reference section of the book, and there are still gaps in my knowledge there – so if anyone finds odd clippings mentioning New York radio and Broadway talent doing cartoon voices (1940s and 50s), please let me know and you will be noted in the revised book’s acknowledgments.
Copyright ©2025 by Keith Scott
Keith Scott is a voice actor, impressionist and animation historian. Scott provided the voice for Bullwinkle J. Moose in the 2000 motion picture The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (for which he had been specially flown to the United States several times) and did the voice of the narrator in George of the Jungle and George of the Jungle 2. An expert on the history of Jay Ward Productions, Keith authored the book The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose (St. Martin’s Press, 2000).
For better or worse, much of the information we have about animation history comes from anecdotes recounted decades after the events in question, when even the keenest memory is bound to have the occasional glitch. The late Jim Korkis, who in his lifetime chronicled thousands of such anecdotes, once wrote: “One of my best bosses in the entire world taught me to always have at least three independent sources to verify a piece of information. That is a lot harder than it sounds.” Many thanks to you, Devon Baxter and Eric Costello for identifying the contributions of Jerry Stewart, Gil Turner and Darrell Payne to cartoon history. I will be very interested in any additional discoveries about the voice actors of the Golden Age as they are brought to light.
Thanks also for presenting Danny Webb’s “A Star Is Shorn”. I recognised many of the players from Columbia’s Three Stooges shorts. Too bad Webb didn’t make any more live-action films; he was a very funny guy!
Thanks to Jerry for adding Danny Webb’s starring short.
As you might imagine, I am always interested in this topic! I have one major question for you, and please don’t take this as a criticism. Many have noted that the dog, the devil dog in the Tom and Jerry cartoon “Heavenly Puss“ was played by Billy Bletcher. I have compared and contrasted that voice with a similar type of character played by Billy Bletcher and I come up short. The laugh and the pitch of the voice doesn’t quite sound like Billy Bletcher. Have you noticed any differences yourself?
Also, I’m very glad you note the African-American voices throughout those cartoons where black caricatures occur. I think it’s worthy to notice this. If they were ever to release a compilation of politically incorrect cartoons, with commentary tracks, perhaps talking about these voices might add an interesting point to the collection. There are many voices throughout many MGM and Warner Brothers cartoons that were indeed done by blacks. I would also be curious as to any voice talents, other than white folks were actually doing voices for characters who might have been white or otherwise.
Since that great documentary on Lillian Randolph popped up on the new and wonderful “Tom and Jerry Golden Era” blu ray set, it would be interesting to go further and talk about voices like these. This would especially be wonderful if films or radio performances featuring this talent could be added as special features to future such cartoon collections.
I will look forward to the revised copy of your books.
Thanks for the nice words, Kevin. I will recheck Heavenly Puss later today and listen again to the devil dog’s voice.
Kevin, I just listened to HEAVENLY PUSS – I still think it’s Billy Bletcher as the Devil (the first time we hear him on the heavenly screen), and near the end (laughing menacingly). But you’re right, in the middle it sounds as though someone else is doing the Devil’s dialogue, “Hit him and let’s go…come on!!!” I can’t tell who it is. In my MGM filmography I will amend that.
Your book is something I was waiting for from decades! It’s a Bible for animation fans that love to know more about voice actors. When the updated editions will be available? Thanks for all!
There’s actually a few object lessons in the saga of Jerry Stewart.
Lesson #1: Be curious. I found the material on Stewart because someone in the CR FB page asked a question about the Crosby lawsuit that Keith (and Jerry and Will) referenced, and it prompted me to do some digging.
Lesson #2: Try to expand your pool of resources. In my particular case, I had access to newspapers dot com. It’s not a perfect website, in that it only covers a fraction of the newspapers available (it’s quite poor in terms of Hearst papers, for example), but it has enough that you can come up with surprising material.
Lesson #3: Try many different methods of searching. This is true especially with online newspapers, because even subtle changes in the use of terms and/or quotation marks can give you radically different results. Only a peculiar combination of search terms turned up the Oregon newspaper that had the article on Stewart.
Lesson #4: Riff on other sources. This is brought up by the fact that Keith, once he was presented with an argument that Stewart might be a cartoon voice actor, dug into his own pool of resources (see Lesson #2) and started comparing recordings made by Stewart, with the result that he concluded Stewart’s level of talent made him a plausible candidate.
Lesson #5: Be modest in your claims. When I found the Stewart material, I presented the newspaper clipping and made the argument that this was an interesting claim, in that it was both highly specific and made at that time — both highly defensible statements that didn’t claim too much.
As for Keith’s generous comments: if I have seen, it’s because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. As the man said.
Thanks again, E.O. I already have had one good lead: Cartoon fan Strummer Pats emailed me suggesting that Jerry Stewart’s voice noted for an RKO cartoon may well be the lead singer in CROON CRAZY (1933, Van Beuren). He even does a brief Kate Smith in the cartoon, a personality mentioned in your finds as one of Stewart’s impressions. A good possible lead for sure.
Those are all great and insightful lessons.
Regarding #3, this is particularly good advice. In researching my still-being written-book on Jack Benny’s career in the 1940s, it’s surprising how often that OCR can confuse Jack Benny and Jack Denny. And how searching for the other actors such as Eddie Anderson or Mary Livingstone can bring results mentioning Jack that don’t appear when searching just his name.
Thank you to you and Keith for such tremendous and inspirational work~!
Could Stewart have done Cock Robin’s singing voice in Who Killed Cock Robin? The vocals sound like a dead ringer Bingo in the notorious WB shorts from the following year.
Excellent finds. Id like to one day see a write up here on Bickenbach’s Sinatra impression. (I think Yowp gave some background)
That must have been quite a recording session.
It could be, but Disney Archives listed Bill Roberts as one of the WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN voices. Thanks for your compliment.
Jerry Stewart is the name also of a singer in the big bubbly Lawrence Welk type dance band of the day, Shep Fields..per Joel Whitburn (POP MEMORIES, 1986). CATHEDRAL IN THE PINES
also A HICK, A SLICK, AND A CHICK and a few other “late 1948” WB shorts are from late 1947-48, same mistake others have made, at least since Leonard Matin’s 1980 OF MICE AND MAGIC (which,to be fair DOES list copyright dates for those, so it’;s not like Maltin’s saying that those were released on those dates..HOUSE HUNTING MICE, an actual 1947 short that
‘s often also mistakenly noted as late 1948, being another example.Just like the 1935-36 release issues with 2-C and 3-C.It seems,also,like Jim Backus did the first sentence for 1949’s WIND BLOWN HARE for the wolf and then Mel Blanc just toook over for every line after “I gotta blow your house down..”:
Cheers
‘SC
While vague, I wonder if the article’s mention of Stewart’s impression of Ben Bernie was referring to The Coo Coo Nut Grove or The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos. Likewise for the Martha Raye impression for the latter film. He must have had quite a range to do female celebrities.
It could be , at least for the Bernie voice.
Now I started to wonder how many voice actors in the Golden Age who actually also worked as animators, first there’re Walt Disney, Pinto Clovig and Tex Avery, of course. Bob Clampett would provide vocal effects (Bay-oop) and Jack Mercer was an inbetweener before being chosen as Popeye. Now we had already knew that Dick Bickenbach provided Bing Crosby parodies and now Gil Turner was also confirmed, and according to Disney Archives there’s also Bill Roberts. I started to wonder if there would be more.
(P.S.: I knew Michael Maltese, Tedd Pierce, Ben Hardaway and Cal Howard also provided voices, but they’re storymen, not animators)
It’s a tradition going all the way back to the first sound cartoons made in 1928-29. At first it was expected that the creators and artists from this unique area of film would handle things like early voice effects as simply another link in the whole production chain, because in the first few years there was hardly any real dialogue, but there were a lot of animal sounds, squawks, grunts, etc. The only professional voices brought in were the singers and vocal groups for chorus work or operetta type short cartoons. So Disney and some of his staff members, the directors-storymen at Mintz-Columbia cartoons, Lantz, Bill Nolan, Colvig and Avery at Universal, Hugh Harrnan, Fred MacAlpin and others at Schlesinger, Bill Hanna and MacAlpin at MGM, all filled in with this type of sound track audio-cartoonery. It really wasn’t until the 1936-38 period that real voice talent from radio began to be used on a more and more regular basis, and not really until the 1940s did it become the norm – and even then Pierce, Maltese and others still did occasional voices when it was felt by the directors that the gag-story guys got the “feel” of a certain storyboarded character better than any professional talent, and the pros had to be auditioned and haggled over via agents. It still goes on to this day, I know of writers and directors, even on commercials, doing an occasional voice. And I can even say, unions aside, sometimes they are the best choice for a voice!
I was thinking about how they eventually started casting radio talent on a regular basis. Considering how popular radio sitcoms like Fibber McGee and Molly were, id imagine that audiences would have instantly recognized hearing a familiar voice coming from a character (e.g. Wallace Wimple as Droopy or Richard Updike III as Smokey the Genie).
We still see the allusions to sitcoms decades later in shows like The Simpsons when Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce voice Sideshow Bob and his brother Cecil respectively in one episode alluding to their characters in Fraiser. Clever nods at the respective times that are/will be lost on viewers of later generations. Thankfully we have dedicated historians and fans who document these references to preserve the history so that the humor can be understood how it was intended.
(I always like to think that Avery utilized the Wallace Wimple voice as Droopy in an ironic way; repurposing the voice of a weak willed character for one you wouldn’t dare cross.)
Many thanks for the s/o, Keith. I hope you enjoy the Inkwell set. Despite being silent era films, there is indeed some voice acting present in the contents of the disc. You’ll see what I mean. Wishing you a peaceful and fruitful new year ahead…
Good post Keith. Yknow, I always had a weird suspicion that Danny Webb wasn’t doing the voice of the queen in Coal Black…glad to know that I was correct.
Earlier this month, I actually got your two-volume set, Keith. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to bring up some brief notes and comments on it (I originally posted some of them here (cartoonresearch.com/index.php/keith-scotts-cartoon-voices-book and cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-endlessly-finicky-job-of-revising-cartoon-voices-of-the-golden-age/) but I’m going to post them here as well since I’m worried you didn’t respond to them originally):
– You claim that there’s a narrator played by Dave Barry in Boston Beanie in the filmography section of your book. There’s no narrator in that toon. And the cat and the mouse’s voice change briefly for a moment midway in the toon to a noticeably girlish voice (they both say “ok”).
– You forgot to mention that Tom speaks some lines in The Framed Cat (1950)
– In Volume 1, you state that Berneice Hansell’s last performance in a WB toon is Wacky Wildlife…but you don’t list her in the listing of the short in Volume 2!
– In the filmography section of your book, in certain shorts you oftentimes don’t list who played what on certain shorts in regards for the 1933 – 1935 WB shorts, especially for the 1934 – 1935 Buddy shorts (for instance, in your entries for Buddy of the Apes, Buddy’s Trolley Troubles and Buddy The Woodsman, you list Bernard Brown but you don’t mention that he played Buddy in that short). Maybe it’s an oversight but just wanted to point that out.
– Again, in the filmography section of your book, you claim I Wanna Play House was the first in 3-strip and The Cat Came Back as the last in 2 strip. I though Flowers for Madame and Billboard Frolics were those respectively?
Also some notes I found in some trade publications that may be of interest to you:
– A note in Variety’s July 18th 1933 edition states “Eight-year-old Jane Withers from radio will vocalize for 13 ‘Looney Tune’ cartoons.”
– In the September 2nd 1933 edition of The Hollywood Filmograph: “Last Thursday JANE WITHERS finished the second Looney Tunes short for the series of twelve. Jane is vocalizing for the baby called “Elmer” who is constantly getting into mischief in the Max Schlesinger reels.”
– Some voice credits were occasionally mentioned in film synopsis’s! In the June 8th 1942 edition of The Motion Picture Daily: “”Nutty News” (Looney Tune) (Warners) Elmer (Arthur Q. Bryan), whose voice is heard in many other cartoons, here offers another amusing narration. It is a consistently funny series of incidents done in newsreel fashion, but with emphasis on satire, of course. Running time. 7 mins. Release, Mav 23.”
Hi Mejo, I will reply soon. Thanks for your helpful notes!
Mejo, many thanks for your posts and most helpful observations. I didn’t see the replies you wrote on the previous articles related to my book on Cartoon Research…we have been so busy this year moving I actually haven’t gone back to those articles and re-read them for new comments. Anyway, you are right – Dave Barry did not narrate BOSTON BEANIE (1947), I don’t know why he is listed, probably I was mixing it up with UP ‘N ATOM for which he does do the opening narration. With THE FRAMED CAT (1950) I meant o note that Jerry Mann is the voice of Spike AND Tom in that cartoon. And as for Berneice Hansell I note that her last cartoon before she disappears form Warners is THE BEAR’S TALE, not WACKY WILDLIFE. When my updated book is ready you will see a much more comprehensive set of filmographies, much new information (especially for the Buddy period, as well as the Fleischer cartoons and new Famous Studios filmography of voices), various additions and corrections. Also I have already changed the order of the first 3-strip color and final 2-strip color Merrie Melodies, based on the release order adopted in Steve Schneider’s book That’s All Folks!” (I recall I noted that I wanted to re-do his dates because he noted they came from WB’s actual files.) You will definitely be noted in the revised book’s acknowledgments, and I do thank you for sharing those specific trade paper items for Jane Withers. Cheers and thank you.
Keith, you have an idea when the updates books will be available? Thanks
Very happy to see this post. Delighted you are continuing to do updates.
(note: Internet Movie Database page for “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs” amended (after this article was published) with Darrell Payne credit for its Queen character (displacing its Danny Webb credit for that character))
Hi, Keith –
First, allow me to gush over your Golden Voices books. I am a huge fan of both as well as classic voice work, so it’s a thrill to converse with you. I know I’m a little late to the party, but I had just a couple of notes on corrections, based on nothing concrete except my ears. See what you think:
– In “Baby Butch” for which you have put “Stan Freberg?” I would bet that it’s actually Daws Butler. I can hear Daws especially in the “Ah-goo-goo-goo-GOO!” and the “Ah-WAHHHH.” Some of his sounds here are similar to the dragon in “Sir Huckleberry Hound.”
– Magoo’s nemesis in many cartoons has, I believe, the last name of “Tirebiter”, not “Tirefighter” – like it’s a big rubber teething ring.
I may be completely off base here; just being the voice geek that I am.
All the best,
Eric
Thanks very much, Eric. Nice to say hi back at you!! I have always enjoyed your input on the various “behind the scenes” cartoon DVDs for the last several years, and I also noted ages ago what a fine ear you possess for the niceties of character acting with the voice, as well as a most flexible voice box yourself! I very much appreciate the feedback on the filmographies of voices, as I have made many corrections and additions for the eventual revised volume (for which your good self will now be listed in the acknowledgments). I will amend the points you note – and I suspect my listing of Stan Freberg may have been my mistake….with the large amount of voice listings in Volume 2, several embarrassing gremlins crept in. Feel free to keep me apprised of any odd ones you detect. I will check everything out and amend the revised manuscript and reference sections pretty quickly! Cheers, a most happy 2026 and take care, Eric.
Hi Keith,
Like a few others here, I wan to point out a minor potential mistake I noticed in the book. For the Private Snafu short “The Chow Hound” you have the cook who shouts “COME AND GET IT!” credited as “staff voice?” but to me it clearly sounds like one of Mel Blanc’s iconic screams.
Thanks Dylan, You’re right! Thank you, I don’t know how I missed that yell (unless I was going by some of the late Hames Ware’s notes he jotted down back in the 1970s, but mostly I always had a more recent re-listen to everything I could to take advantage of recently acquired knowledge, and just more decades learning about voices!) – put that one down to a mistake that somehow crept in! Cheers
Hello Keith – I am very impressed by your knowledge of the voices we hear in classic cartoon soundtracks! Darrel Payne is a bit of a new name to me, but I always kind of figured Danny Webb wasn’t “the right name” because Queenie doesn’t really sound like any of his voices. I have never seen that live-action Danny Webb short before.
Payne has a pretty good range – I never would’ve guessed Queenie and Mr. Meek would’ve been voiced by the same person!
As for the elusive “Bugs Burp” …perhaps it’s WHAT’S COOKIN’ DOC? The dialogue was recorded in November 1942 (which fits the 1941/1942 timeframe), and the burp Bugs does when impersonating Bing Crosby reminds me of the “buzz-saw” nature of Queenie’s voice. It also fits the description of a “medium burp.” It could just be Mel Blanc (and I initially thought it was), but it’s worth considering or checking out.
I’m looking forward to buying the updated book when it comes out!
Re: Misidentifying Webb for Payne: I think another factor as to why Clampett mixed them up in testimony is that both did very similar frog like voices (e.g. Biff Stew in Count Me Out). Except Payne’s had more of a buzz to it.
Now I wonder if Payne voiced the frog voiced drill sergeant in Lantz’s Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B. The buzzy vocal quality is very similar to the Wicked Queen.
A deep bow to Mr. Scott for his terrific research, and everybody else for their contributions. I’ve long thought it a shame that Mel Blanc was long the only voice artist to get cartoon credit when so many others were doing marvelous work.