Paramount/Famous Studios Cartoons

[LKellerIII]

Disney's lawyers were all over Jay Ward within a matter of days with a cease and desist order.

Jay Ward loved to be sued. He enjoyed the publicity. It was the type of guy he was. Remember all the Fractured Fairy Tales that the handsome prince just happene to resemble Walt Disney? And then there was the Kirwood Derby situation!

...and the voice of Captain Peter Peachfuzz bearing more than a passing resemblance to Ed Wynn's, and there was also something or other that Red Skelton was ticked at Ward over...

Celebrity voices and celebrity sound alike voices for cartoon characters were very common. Yes, Jay Ward did it, but so did Hanna Barbera and Disney. I loved the high-brow British accent and voice for the "Ape named Ape" character in the original George of the Jungle TV show. It was supposed to sound like actor Ronald Coleman, and was done by either Daws Butler or Paul Frees.

One of the mid 60s Hanna Barbera characters (Wally Gator, I think) sounded like Phil Silvers - the Sgt Bilko version of Phil Silvers. Fred Flintstone was supposed to sound similar to Jackie Gleason, of course, since the original concept of The Flintstones was as the stone-age Honeymooners. And of course, Mel Blanc's Barney Rubble was supposed to sound like Ed Norton (Art Carney).

As far back as the 50s, Disney was using actual celebrities doing their own voices as cartoon characters, like Phil Harris who essentially did his own voice as Baloo. Perfect for a bear, I think. Not to mention Louis Prima and Sebastian Cabot essentially also as themselves.

There are lots of other examples...none of which I can think of at the moment...

 

[Newname]

Disney's lawyers were all over Jay Ward within a matter of days with a cease and desist order.

Jay Ward loved to be sued. He enjoyed the publicity. It was the type of guy he was. Remember all the Fractured Fairy Tales that the handsome prince just happene to resemble Walt Disney? And then there was the Kirwood Derby situation!

...and the voice of Captain Peter Peachfuzz bearing more than a passing resemblance to Ed Wynn's, and there was also something or other that Red Skelton was ticked at Ward over...

Celebrity voices and celebrity sound alike voices for cartoon characters were very common. Yes, Jay Ward did it, but so did Hanna Barbera and Disney. I loved the high-brow British accent and voice for the "Ape named Ape" character in the original George of the Jungle TV show. It was supposed to sound like actor Ronald Coleman, and was done by either Daws Butler or Paul Frees.

One of the mid 60s Hanna Barbera characters (Wally Gator, I think) sounded like Phil Silvers - the Sgt Bilko version of Phil Silvers.

It was Top Cat who sounded like Bilko (voice by Arnold Stang). Maurice Gosfield, who played Doberman opposite Silvers, was the voice of one of Top Cat's gang....at least one instance where they used the actual actor to do a 'celeb' voice.

 

[Ultimajock]

Fred Flintstone was supposed to sound similar to Jackie Gleason, of course, since the original concept of The Flintstones was as the stone-age Honeymooners.

...the character resemblance was certainly there, but the voice that Alan Reed used for Fred Flintstone was actually one that he used for years on Fred Allen's radio show. Ironically, Allen also employed Kenny Delmar to play Senator Claghorn on the "Allen's Alley" segment, and of course Mel Blanc, who did Barney Rubble, also patterned his voice for Foghorn Leghorn on Delmar's Claghorn voice...

 

[LKellerIII]

Fred Flintstone was supposed to sound similar to Jackie Gleason, of course, since the original concept of The Flintstones was as the stone-age Honeymooners.

...the character resemblance was certainly there, but the voice that Alan Reed used for Fred Flintstone was actually one that he used for years on Fred Allen's radio show. Ironically, Allen also employed Kenny Delmar to play Senator Claghorn on the "Allen's Alley" segment, and of course Mel Blanc, who did Barney Rubble, also patterned his voice for Foghorn Leghorn on Delmar's Claghorn voice...

Ah say, son...I do believe you are correct. Alan Reed's natural voice was very close to Fred's...I don't believe he had to stretch much. In fact, on the rare occasions I'd see Reed guest starring, I'd wonder if they picked him to voice Flintstone first, and then drew Fred based on Reed's physical appearance.

Don Adams was another carton voice actor who just basically played himself - Tennesse Tuxedo and Inspector Gadget sounded primarily like Maxwell Smart, who's voice and mannerisms were based on Don's stand-up comedy act. Not much stretching there, either.

Wally Cox as Underdog is another.

And just to bring this thread full circle, the name of "Captain Peter (Wrong Way) Peachfuzz" was Jay Ward's little inside joke and tribute to friend and collaborator Peter Piech (pronounced "Peach") who produced Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo, among other shows.


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0682096/

 

[rickkelly]

It was said"
>>Sadly, the same thing has happened to Mighty Mouse as those cartoons have fallen into the public domain with only a few cartoons to be seen on either VHS or DVD. I haven't seen a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon in years and I have a feeling that these have fallen into the public domain as well.<<

I actually thought it was the opposite situation. Those Mighty Mouse cartoons from the 50-60's ("Terrytoons") I do believe that they are somehow licensed, and therefore, not seen. There might not be enough interest in them. I thought they were great... each cartoon was technically an operetta, all singing characters.

-Rick Kelly

 

[RicoGregg]

Some other celebrity sound alikes in cartoons:

Huckleberry Hound - Andy Griffith

Gandy Goose - Ed Wynn

Sourpuss (Gandy Goose's partner) - Jimmy Durante

The big, dumb St. Bernard in Bugs Bunny cartoons (Which way did he go, George?)
- Lon Chaney, Jr. in "Of Mice and Men".

Hokey Wolf and Snaggletooth (or Snagglepuss) - Phil Silvers

Farmer Alfalfa (If you remember this one, you're older than a middle-aged tortoise)
- Harry Truman

Buzzy the Crow (Harvey Cartoons) - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

 

[Corky Marlowe]

More soundalikes:

Milton the Monster--Gomer Pyle

The shaggy-looking vultures in "The Jungle Book"--Their speaking voices were, while not actual imitations of the individual Beatles, done with obvious Liverpool accents ("Haircoot"). Their singing, however, was in a barbershop quartet style.

 

[KeithE4]

Huckleberry Hound - Andy Griffith

Maybe, but I've read interviews with Daws Butler where he said that he based the voice (which he had used when he was with MGM in the '50s - he'd done the voice on a couple of Tex Avery cartoons) on a man from his wife's hometown.

Hokey Wolf and Snaggletooth (or Snagglepuss) - Phil Silvers

Hokey Wolf and Top Cat were based on Silvers, but Snagglepuss was based on Bert Lahr.

Farmer Alfalfa (If you remember this one, you're older than a middle-aged tortoise) - Harry Truman

Farmer Al Falfa started in the silent era and when his sound cartoons were made in the early '30s, nobody had ever heard of Harry Truman outside Kansas City.

 

[RicoGregg]

Huckleberry Hound - Andy Griffith

Maybe, but I've read interviews with Daws Butler where he said that he based the voice (which he had used when he was with MGM in the '50s - he'd done the voice on a couple of Tex Avery cartoons) on a man from his wife's hometown.

Hokey Wolf and Snaggletooth (or Snagglepuss) - Phil Silvers

Hokey Wolf and Top Cat were based on Silvers, but Snagglepuss was based on Bert Lahr.

Farmer Alfalfa (If you remember this one, you're older than a middle-aged tortoise) - Harry Truman

Farmer Al Falfa started in the silent era and when his sound cartoons were made in the early '30s, nobody had ever heard of Harry Truman outside Kansas City.

On the first point, I'm now slapping myself on the forehead. Of course! How could I not recognize the resemblence of Huckleberry Hound's voice to a man from Daws Butler's wife's hometown?

I ask that sometime in the near future, check out 2 of Andy Griffith's early movies - No Time For Sergeants, and A Face in the Crowd. Same actor, same voice, but two completely different character types. If that isn't Hucklebery Hound's voice, I don't know what is.


On your second point, it is well-taken.

Third point, a case can be made for Harry Truman's voice. Before he became nationally known, he was a senator from Missouri in the 30s. In later Farmer cartoons, especially the ones where for some inexplicable reason they changed his name to Farmer Gray, there does seem to be a resemblance.

 

[Markieo]

It was said"
>>Sadly, the same thing has happened to Mighty Mouse as those cartoons have fallen into the public domain with only a few cartoons to be seen on either VHS or DVD. I haven't seen a Heckle and Jeckle cartoon in years and I have a feeling that these have fallen into the public domain as well.<<

I actually thought it was the opposite situation. Those Mighty Mouse cartoons from the 50-60's ("Terrytoons") I do believe that they are somehow licensed, and therefore, not seen. There might not be enough interest in them. I thought they were great... each cartoon was technically an operetta, all singing characters.

[/quot


Viacom owns the rights to Terrytoons, and knowing their track record, you'll probably never see them on TV again. Sad but true...

 

[kirkiefan]

.......okay okay I know we're all in left field now but what the hey...here's my two cents worth...


Karate (Batfink's sidekick)-chracatured after Don Adams as Maxwell Smart

Bullwinkle-patterned after Clem Kadddlehopper a Red Skelton character

The Ant-Dean Martin
and his nemesis The Arrdvark-Jackie Mason

Super Bwoing(from "Super 6")-James Stewart

Hoot Klute-Joe Higgins "The Dodge Safety Sherriff"

Yogi Bear-inspired by the voice of Ed Norton..(Yogi also wore Norton's hat)

I might add that Daws Butler who voiced Yogi was (I think) also the voice of "Morton" in the Warner Bros. "Honey-Mousers" series of Merrie Melodies.
Daws also voiced an alligator character in some of the Woody Woodpecker cartoons in the 1960s and used his "Augie Doggie" voice for Chilly Willy as well.

Speaking of Lant'z characacter I recently discovered that the speeded-up voice of animator Ben "Bugs" Hardaway was the voice of Woody in the 1940s before Lant'z wife Gracie took over in the 1950s. Beforehand Woody's hyper laugh was used in an animated charactor called Happy Rabbit..the prototype of ...yep 'ya guessed it...Bugs Bunny in cartoon's "Porky's Hare Hunt" and "Hare-Um Scare-Um."

The incomparable Scatman Crothers lent his legendary raspy voice for Hanna-Barbera's characature of Meadowlark Lemon as well as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey.

 

[Ultimajock]

The Ant-Dean Martin
and his nemesis The Arrdvark-Jackie Mason

...actually, when I was a kid I thought The Aardvark sounded more like Joey Bishop...

...and Sugar Bear on Linus the Lionhearted and the Post Sugar Crisp commercials sounded somewhere halfway between Dean Martin and Bing Crosby...

 

[RicoGregg]

The Ant-Dean Martin
and his nemesis The Arrdvark-Jackie Mason

...actually, when I was a kid I thought The Aardvark sounded more like Joey Bishop...

...and Sugar Bear on Linus the Lionhearted and the Post Sugar Crisp commercials sounded somewhere halfway between Dean Martin and Bing Crosby...

Thank you, Ultimajock! I always thought that Sugar Bear sounded like Bing Crosby, but I'd always get disagreed with. Thanks for the reaffirmation!

Now, if I could only figure out who Lovable Truly is supposed to sound like.

 

[KeithE4]

On the first point, I'm now slapping myself on the forehead. Of course! How could I not recognize the resemblence of Huckleberry Hound's voice to a man from Daws Butler's wife's hometown?

I ask that sometime in the near future, check out 2 of Andy Griffith's early movies - No Time For Sergeants, and A Face in the Crowd. Same actor, same voice, but two completely different character types. If that isn't Hucklebery Hound's voice, I don't know what is.

My point was that Butler did the "Huckleberry Hound" voice for other characters at MGM prior to Griffith's movies, which were in 1958 (1955 on Broadway) & 1957, respectively. Butler's MGM tenure began in 1943 and he first did the voice in the early '50s - Tex Avery's "The Three Little Pups" (1953) being one of the cartoons where he did it.

Third point, a case can be made for Harry Truman's voice. Before he became nationally known, he was a senator from Missouri in the 30s. In later Farmer cartoons, especially the ones where for some inexplicable reason they changed his name to Farmer Gray, there does seem to be a resemblance.

Now I remember that the Farmer Al Falfa/Farmer Gray series was resurrected in the late '50s or early '60s. Maybe the voice actor was impersonating Truman for that one.

 

[kirkiefan]

...and Sugar Bear on Linus the Lionhearted and the Post Sugar Crisp commercials sounded somewhere halfway between Dean Martin and Bing Crosby...
[/quote]


My gut feelings told me that Sugar Bear was a characature of Perry Como who (when speaking) had a slight hip "hep cat" phrasing when introducing Carl Perkins and other musicians on his 1950s variety show.

Como had a thing for wearing cardigan sweaters frequently on his show.
(Sugar Bear also wore a sweater.)