Am pondering the outstanding animation voice artists of yesteryear yet again. . .
After all, all-time greats Walter Tetley and Janet Waldo recently received richly deserved and long overdue spotlights on this blog. We'll kick today's cornucopia of cartoons and clips off with Jim Backus!
Another inspired cartoon voice artist many of us animation buffs first encountered (as was the case with Mr. Backus) via starring roles in 1950's and 1960's sitcoms was Bea Benaderet.
Another ubiquitous actress in animation, especially with Walt Disney Productions, was Martha Wentworth.
Martha Wentworth and character address Elvia Allman, later in Tex Avery's stock company of stellar voice artists, play the two witches in the following Hugh Harman MGM cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng. Mel Blanc is also on hand as the gravel-voiced raven in this most Gothic piece.
Frank Graham, due to a brief albeit very prolific career and the tragedy of his untimely passing in 1950, is not as well known as the Daws Butlers, Mel Blancs, June Forays and Bill Scotts of the animation world, but did amazing work for several cartoon studios, as well as on radio (for which he created the Cosmo Jones show).
Have a Captain Obvious hunch that the superlative voice work in the following Fox & Crow cartoon is Frank Graham, whose "Lionel Stander" impersonation as the wiseguy crow fits the diabolical quality of this Screen Gems opus beautifully.
Graham also worked with Tex Avery at MGM and played Tex' signature character The Wolf to a T.
Graham's portrayal of the tough guy mouse in Slap Happy Lion is one for the books!
Thinking of Walter Tetley, June Foray, Bill Scott and the many hilarious cartoons made by Jay Ward Productions inevitably leads to a respectful fedora tip to the brilliant Paul Frees!
We'll finish this binge-watch of cartoons and cartoon voice artist clips with the one, the only, the incomparable Mel Blanc.
With apologies to Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Margie Hines, Kent Rogers, Billy Bletcher, Dayton Allen, Danny Webb, Arthur Q. Bryan, Sterling Holloway, Dallas McKennon, Clarence "Ducky" Nash, Jackson Beck and any other cartoon voice artists we inadvertently left out of today's post, Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog extends big time kudos, bravos and huzzahs to the following: Behind The Voice Actors, Don Yowp, Keith Scott, Devon Baxter, Jerry Beck and the Cartoon Research website for much superlative work chronicling this corner of the cinematic universe. If you haven't done so yet, buy Keith Scott's Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70 books, the last word on these super-talented performers from animation and radio!
We're thinking about baseball, MLB's tribute to the Negro Leagues and the incomparable Willie Mays but also returning to this blog's emphasis on classic cartoons and movies. Kicking this off with a baseball-centric Screen Song cartoon produced by Famous Studios.
Terrytoons had to get their two cents in, and they did just that with this opus, directed by Mannie Davis and starring Gandy Goose and Sourpuss. In the 1940's Terrytoons-Lantz-Screen Gems tradition, this one proves quite a bit funnier than one expects it to be. Love the concept of baseball played by a team of bulls and the Terrytoons crew does a nice job with it.
Any further cartoons about baseball which this blog posted here more than five years ago? Yes. Posted Tex Avery's 1944 MGM cartoon BATTY BASEBALL back in 2016. Having passed the 5 year Statute Of Limitations, we can post it again! It's on the dark side even by Avery standards and acheived a certain immortality for a quite literal interpretation of the phrase "kill the umpire."
In the "Fleischer Studio Does It Right" department, here's a cartoon we posted here back in 2018, Popeye in The Twisker Pitcher. The spinach-swilling sailor remains to this very day in 2024 the only big league hurler to throw pitches like that and not require multiple Tommy John surgeries.
The Cartoon Research website covered, as part of an excellent and comprehensive post on the insanely busy Famous Studios in the early 1960's, the very enjoyable animated adaptation of Eddie "The Old Philosopher" Lawrence's record Abner The Baseball. Here's the original record.
This fan of Famous Studios' Modern Madcaps series finds the Abner The Baseball cartoon to be terrific and one of the frequently clever and inventive director/storyman Irv Spector's best.
We tip our well-worn San Francisco Giants baseball cap to "The Old Philosopher" and Irv Spector, as well all involved in creating and researching the Cartoon Research post including Abner The Baseball (Jerry Beck, assisted by Ken Layton, Mike Kazaleh and Paul Spector).
"He's the best center fielder who ever lived, no question." Monte Irvin "The All-Star Game was invented for Willie Mays." Ted Williams
Once in eight or nine blue moons, this blog, mostly obsessed with classic films, comedy, vintage television and animation (and to a lesser degree music), delves into sports. Today, we must do this, with the news that the incredible Willie Mays has passed at 93.
The passing of Willie Mays happened as this movies and sports aficionado has been, with difficulty, processing the losses of basketball stars Jerry West on June 12, Chet "The Jet" Walker on June 8 and Bill Walton on May 27. While it is no fun being "the R.I.P. blog," that's the reality of today.
Have a soft spot for Willie Mays, a.k.a. the Say Hey Kid, a trailblazer on and off the diamond.
Mays was the best outfielder, the fastest runner, a singularly brilliant baseball strategist, as well as a coach on the field, often trusted by managers to relay the latest and greatest signs to his teammates from his roving outfield post.
There have been great hitters (Ted Williams, Barry Bonds), paragons of consistency in the unparalleled excellence of their all-around game (Henry Aaron, Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio), base-stealing and baserunning daredevils (Jackie Robinson, Maury Wills, Lou Brock, Bobby Bonds, Ricky Henderson, Vince Coleman) who changed the nature of baseball, guys who inspired with clutch hits, amazing throws from the warning track and sheer swagger (Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente). None combined all of the above quite like Willie Howard Mays.
Willie began his career playing with the Birmingham Black Barons at Rickwood Field and was the last living player to have swung the bat in the Negro Leagues. He faced freakin' Satchel Paige, for cryin' out loud!
Willie lived long enough to see the stats from the Negro Leagues officially added to MLB's database.
Willie Mays hit 660 homers (including an inside-the-park grand slam) and would have beat the Babe for the all-time HR record way back when had he not spent 1952-1953 in the U.S. Army, won 12 Gold Gloves, played in 24 All-Star games, stole 339 bases, scored from first base on a bunt, slammed four round-trippers in a game - and was the epitome of cool.
Saw Willie get his 3000th hit at Candlestick Park on July 18, 1970!
The top announcers of MLB were in agreement about Willie.
Willie's 80th birthday at the ol' ballpark in 2011 was a special occasion.
As floored by Willie's passing as we are here, we have also been hit hard by the losses of Jerry West and Bill Walton, two greats of college and pro basketball.
West, with GM Bob Myers and Coach Steve Kerr, would be among the key architects of the Golden State Warriors team that won four championships.
Jerry, a.k.a. The Logo, was an incomparable player who followed his amazing on-court career with a record as an executive and team-builder (for Lakers, Grizzlies, Warriors and Clippers) still unmatched in sports.
Bill Walton? An incredible player for UCLA, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Boston Celtics - and arguably my all-time favorite sportscaster.
Bill Walton could talk both sports and music all day and all of the night, and that was part of his charm.
No doubt it would have been fun to talk music, sports, current events, history, philosophy, the sciences, whatever with Bill! His favorite band did pay tribute to the redhead in a concert the day after his passing.
All of these gentlemen of sport were unbelievably talented and made miracles on the field and the court. Farewell - and thanks for the memories!
Paying tribute to Stan Laurel on his birthday (June 16, 1890)! Here are The Boys on the set of Below Zero, with L&H director James Parrott and Charles Parrott (a.k.a. Charley Chase). Am unsure as to who the two ladies in this shot are; comedy and Hal Roach Studio experts, feel free to comment.
We'll start the Stan & Babe Sunday binge-watching of their excellent comedy short subjects with some silents.
Stan Laurel and Babe Hardy worked in films as solo headliners and/or supporting players for more than a decade before teaming in 1927. Scholars Rob Stone, Moving Image Curator at the Library of Congress and the late David Wyatt of The Cinema Museum in London penned a detailed, witty and informative history of their solo projects, Laurel or Hardy: The Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver "Babe" Hardy. There is now a Laurel Or Hardy Blu-ray available.
Laurel & Hardy, by the rise of talkies a world-famous comedy team, in short subjects enjoyed an extended winning streak. Here are just a few of their incredibly funny starrng vehicles.
74 years after their last film, Atoll K, Laurel & Hardy deliver the laughs!
Repeated laughs are a fabulous way to celebrate Father's Day! Happy Birthday, Stan!
This weekend we celebrate movie comedian Harry Langdon's birthday (June 15), as well as the natal anniversary of fellow silver screen laugh-getter Stan Laurel (June 16).
Shall pay tribute to these iconic comics after noting two excellent classic cartoon and comedy screenings this weekend, including a Saturday matinee at the Metrograph in Manhattan.
The press release elaborates: Down on the Farm is a selection of vintage animated shorts exploring country life among funny barnyard animals. Come enjoy a live action little human girl's adventure among the cows and chickens; a famous cartoon rabbit's follies with a mechanical cow; an unnaturally large and clumsy duckling's unlikely heroism; a beloved wise-cracking sailor visiting his girlfriend's new farm; and more.
Spanning the 1920s through to the ’50s, this assortment showcases classic characters such as Alice in Cartoonland, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Popeye, Baby Huey, Farmer Alfalfa, and others. 60 min. film program plus Q&A.
That Slapstick Show: The Animated Marx Brothers
Q.E.D. Astoria; 27-16 23rd Avenue, Queens
Sunday 6/16/24 at 4:30pm
The next entry in this screening series offers a rare glimpse of classic cartoons featuring New York City's favorite sons, Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo—a.k.a. the Marx Brothers!
Space is very limited at QED—it can only accommodate approx. 40 guests. Guarantee entry by purchasing advance tickets:
https://qedastoria.com/products/that-slapstick-show?event=2024-06-16T16:30:00
We're wild about a few Harrys, past (Harry Ruby, Harry Barris, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, Harry Caray, Harry Nilsson, Harry Dean Stanton, Harry Chapin) and present (Harry Connick, Jr. and favorite legal eagle podcaster and former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman of Talking Feds). Paramount among those Harrys - and he made movies for Paramount at one point - was the brilliant comedian and character actor Harry Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944).
Mr. Langdon, not even the only silent movie comedian named Harry we go for in a big way - there's also director-writer-comic Harry Sweet (1901-1933) - starred in vaudeville, silent films (1923-1928) and talkies (1929-1944). The comedy-crazed crew here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog count him among the funniest, most daring and most original performers to ever make movies. He also remains to this day the most controversial of all the silent and early sound era comedians, right up there with such unabashed grotesques as Larry Semon, Jimmy Aubrey and the Kalem Studio's scuzzy and deliberately excessive "Ham & Bud" (played with truly rancid relish by Lloyd Hamilton and Bud Duncan).
As the words unorthodox & unconventional describe Harry Langdon's modus operandi, and that means his essential characterization, acting and comic timing are unusual, ultra-quirky, idiosyncratic and at times really bizarre, he remains #1 on the list of "love 'em or can't stand 'em" movie comedians. There's no middle ground - classic movie and comedy fans either find Harry irritating and unbearable or fall-down hilarious, unbelievably funny. This silver screen comedy aficionado is emphatically in the latter group.
Rule of thumb #1 for appreciating the Langdon cinematic universe: accept that Harry's mind does not work in anything remotely resembling a conventional way - and just roll with it! Am very much not a fan of the phrases "little elf" and "baby dope fiend" as descriptions of the Langdon character, but do concur with "space cadet."
After starring in vaudeville presenting the famous and very elaborate "Johnny's New Car" sketch, Harry Langdon began his silver screen career, first with Sol Lesser then starring in short subjects for Mack Sennett Productions.
Don't buy the conventional wisdom regarding Harry Langdon's career in both silent and sound films and take the unpopular view that he was both better in talkies than Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton (thanks a lot, MGM), but also generally very good overall, right up to his last appearances in features for Hal Roach Studios, PRC and Monogram. An exception to this would be many of Harry Langdon's later Columbia short subjects, which reflect Jules White's unending attempts to produce Three Stooges comedies with every performer starring in 2-reelers for The Shorts Department.
To suggest that there is much disagreement among comedy geeks and silent film buffs regarding Langdon's silent features remains quite the understatement! Watching the Harry Langdon silent features, this writer finds Long Pants to be the one that (in his opinion) is an utter misfire and just doesn't work on any level. There's confusion over whether his character is a boy or a man and the scene with him attempting to bump off his girlfriend (and failing miserably, as Harry has difficulty completing any action) elicits stunned silence even from the select few among modern audiences who love Langdon, oddball humor and silent screen comedy at its most surreal.
This scene takes that "just roll with it" viewpoint regarding Harry's utter weirdness - and that same "not of this universe" quality seen seven decades later with Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean - a step too far. Thought this might have been a response to a similar plot point in Murnau's SUNRISE, but that film didn't get released theatrically until September 1927. Buster Keaton's take was that this was intended as a sendup of Theodore Drieser's best-selling 1925 novel An American Tragedy. That makes sense but was lost on audiences then and now. Thus, Long Pants was Langdon's first box-office bomb; the "OMG - the little fellow's a psychopath" response sent his box-office appeal plummeting and began his rapid downfall as a feature film star. One imagines this was also the cause of the enduring and acrimonious break between Langdon and director/writer/collaborator Frank Capra.
The feature which was Langdon's directorial debut, Three's A Crowd, offers glimmers of his potential abilities as a unique filmmaker alternating with first-time director mistakes, remains one of those "love 'em or hate 'em" titles.
As is The Chaser, which stars a particularly randy version of Harry.
Most controversial would be the aforementioned series Harry starred in for Hal Roach Studios in 1929-1930.
Here is Harry's first talkie short subject, a promotional piece for the Roach series co-starring Thelma Todd and Eddie Dunn. It attempts to reassure audiences that Harry's on the comeback trail - and also confirms that his characterization is really out there, even more so with sound.
Said Hal Roach Studio series still remains quite the Rorschach Test for classic comedy buffs. Have seen them referred to as "ghastly" and "among the worst two-reelers ever made," but remain among the few who strongly disagree with that assessment. Reviewed the Harry Langdon At Hal Roach: The Talkies 1929-30 at length in a post, New on DVD: Langdon vs. Microphones at The Lot Of Fun, back on April 17, 2020.
The Langdon and Charley Chase talkies produced in 1929 by Hal Roach Studios present an overlooked but essential chapter of silver screen comedy history - and of the transition from silents to talkies. Harry Langdon At Hal Roach: The Talkies 1929-1930 is a followup to previous DVD releases by The Sprocket Vault of Hal Roach studio films featuring director-writer-comedian Charley Chase and the series co-starring Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts.
In these films, the Harry Langdon seen onstage in vaudeville (and his circular dialogues with himself) are actually featured in a talkie. While Harry can be seen babbling onscreen in many of his silent starring vehicles for Mack Sennett Productions, the Hal Roach series presents the rare instance in which Langdon's stream-of-consciousness patter is seen and heard onscreen.
Said loopy patter, which for many in itself is an absolute deal-breaker, would not be seen in Harry Langdon films after The King (1930), his last short subject for Hal Roach.
The Harry Langdon Hal Roach talkies, invariably, elicit two diametrically opposed responses (even from diehard classic comedy buffs): "this is A SCREAM!" or "this is the worst thing I've ever seen!"
We tip our battered top hats associated with Max Linder to all involved at Sprocket Vault in making the Harry Langdon At Hal Roach: The Talkies 1929-30 DVD release a reality: Kit Parker Films, Richard M. Roberts, VCI Entertainment and the late Ron Hutchinson of The Vitaphone Project.
All eight Harry Langdon Hal Roach 2-reelers, including the heretofore lost films Hotter Than Hot and
Sky Boy, which still only exist as silents - the sound discs have yet to be found - are included in the 2-DVD collection.
Especially enjoyed the hilarious The Big Kick, much of which plays essentially as a silent and includes both way-out concepts and several scenes of astonishing pantomime by Harry.
In the famous/infamous THE HEAD GUY, Harry joins the ranks of such funny but polarizing latter-day comedy performers as Pinky Lee, Pee-Wee Herman, Andy Kaufman, Emo Phillips, Martin Short and Kristen Wiig. The short presents the Harry Langdon stream-of-consciousness dialogue at its most extreme. While the "sandwich and apple" sequence is the line of demarcation for many film buffs, count this blogmeister among those who laugh out loud throughout this scene in THE HEAD GUY, even though it is longer than the long version of Light My Fire by The Doors. Harry's m.o. is to build the tension in a scene by extending it - and this elicits quite the cathartic belly laugh when that tension is finally burst.
Harry worked as a supporting player in a couple of features for Warner Brothers in 1930-1931, with "The Oui Oui Song" from A Soldier’s Plaything being his most memorable scene - at least until his part in the 1933 Al Jolson vehicle Hallelujah I'm A Bum.
Beginning in 1932,
Langdon co-starred with his buddy Vernon Dent in a bunch of excellent comedy short subjects for Educational Pictures and Paramount.
This series, produced in 1932-1934 by Arvid E. Gillstrom, successfully recaptures the spirit and tone of the mid-1920's Mack Sennett comedies. The Educational Pictures comedy shorts are much more relaxed than the Hal Roach films or the subsequent Columbias. In The Hitch Hiker and Knight Duty, this works beautifully.
Harry essentially plays his character silent and lets his perennial onscreen foil and offscreen best friend Vernon Dent do the talking in this series.
Unfortunately, the 1934 Paramount short subjects co-starring Harry Langdon and Vernon Dent produced by the same crew as the Educational series at this juncture are lost films.
The Columbia series is much much more hit-or-miss - prefer both the Hal Roach and Educational 2-reelers - but there are occasional good ones. HIS BRIDAL SWEET (1935) teams Harry with Billy Gilbert, who does a terrific job playing a raving lunatic. That's right, no kidding, BILLY is the crazy one in this scenario.
Harry returned to Hal Roach Studios to work as a gagman/scenarist with Laurel & Hardy and occasionally contribute character roles to Lot Of Fun features. Block-heads (1938) is the L&H feature with the most pronounced blending of the unique Harry Langdon and Stan Laurel comedy sensibilities. The links between Block-heads (1938) and Harry's 1926 Sennett film Soldier Man are numerous.
Due to the Columbia Shorts Department's penchant for casting everyone on the lot in Three Stooges style knockabout, this blogger is not a fan of Langdon's films from the 1940's, after his last work for L&H (Saps At Sea), so we will stop here. Must extend big thanks to the splendid Harry Langdon Archive YouTube channel (which, among many films, features the 1933 Lewis Milestone flick Hallelujah I'm A Bum, in which Harry has a prominent character role) curated by Nicole Arciola, as well as Archive.org.
As far as Mr. Laurel goes, back during those not-fun days of lockdown, posted a Happy Birthday tribute here on the blog, including wacky Larry Semon Vitagraph films Stan appeared in as a supporting player, as well as several of the pre-teaming solo comedies he starred in for Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson, Joe Rock Productions and Hal Roach Studios.
In 2024, we'll celebrate Stan's birthday by watching hilarious Laurel & Hardy films!
A good place to start with appreciation of The Boys is by purchasing this Blu-ray of L&H silents from 1927.
This Blu-ray traces their early development as a comedy team and the restorations look fabulous.
