JANUARY 1961
We start 1961 with a nice year-end note from David DePatie that acknowledges the entry of the studio to television production. Meanwhile, John Burton teams with Mel Blanc to start Mel Blanc Productions; Bob Gribbbroek returns to work after a big automobile accident; and Hoppy Daze and Zip N’ Snort are screened and ready for release.
FEBRUARY 1961
MARCH 1961
Here is the acknowledgment of the serious auto accident involving Mel Blanc. Jones, Freleng, McKimsom, Depatie and Orcutt were among his first visitors.
APRIL 1961
Acknowledgment of two Oscar nominees – Mouse and Garden and High Note; Robert McKimson Jr. (a reader of this website) gets married; and the cartoon division’s parking lot was turned into a set for the TV series Surfside 6 – the episode entitled Invitation To A Party. (If anyone has a video of this episode, I’d love to see it).
MAY 1961
Mel Blanc leaves the hospital and has returned to record (It’s noted that he entered the hospital on January 24th). A barrage of fan mail is received by the studio in regards to The Bugs Bunny Show on TV… yep, the handwriting is on the wall (or on the tube).
JUNE 1961
Longtime employee Sandy Walker had a fire in his home; My friend (and grandson of Chuck Jones) Todd Kausen is born; and the Cartoon division’s parking lot now has a Bugs Bunny figure at the entrance/guard house (photo).
NEXT WEEK: More 1961
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Would like to read more about how the studio accommodated Blanc’s long absence, including which films were started when they didn’t know when he’d be back. It seems there were a lot of ’62-’64 shorts that relied on little or no sync dialogue.
I don’t think it was a long absence. Blanc related in his autobiography that a recording system was set up in his home and he did his lines flat on his back while he convalesced.
He missed only five recording sessions of The Flintstones because of the accident.
And in those Flintstones episodes, Daws Butler voiced Barney in those episodes (he also voiced Barney in “The Flagstones” pilot).
“Ehhh, ya mind poppin’ the trunk, Doc?”
Britt Tjarno would later have a long career at Disney(mainly TV but she did work on Pochantas)
And Daws Butler voiced Barney for those episodes (Daws also voiced the character in “The Flagstones” pilot).