But I'm An Actor

Seeing is believing. That’s why TV and movie actors get typecast. After a while, TV and movie actors get tired of a successful role and want to try something else, but the fans won’t accept them as anything but what their eyes have seen. So the typecasting continues.

The cast of the Jack Benny show—the main members who stayed for years—dealt with the same thing. Their characters were so ingrained in American culture. One wonders if Benny himself would have had a more successful movie career if people expected something other as a vain miser whenever they saw him on the screen. Don Wilson saw himself as more than an announcer—he started in show business as a singer—and tried to bust out of his stereotype. He wasn’t really all that successful. The only non-Benny role I saw Wilson in was as a news reporter covering a fight on “Batman.” As Wilson did play-by-play football before being hired on the Benny show, it wasn’t much of a stretch.

Here’s a wire service report that appeared in papers starting August 3, 1959. Interestingly, the same month Dennis Day tried his hand at drama on “Suspense,” playing a hitch-hiking beatnik forced to face reality when a “square” involves him in murder. Can you picture Dennis Day in that part? See what I mean about stereotyping?

Don Wilson Tries His Hand at Western Drama
By VERNON SCOTT
UPI Hollywood Correspondent

HOLLYWOOD (UPI) – Jovial Don Wilson, longtime (25 years) announcer for Jack Benny, is turning his bulky talent to drama this week in a segment of TV’s “Death Valley Days.”
Not that the hefty Wilson hasn’t branched out in the past. He’s appeared in movies without benefactor Benny, but always playing an announcer. This time Don portrays a con man parading through the Old West disguised as a preacher.
“It’s a very fat part,” said fat Don.
“I hope this departure will open new avenues of performing. It’s just possible the character I’m playing will become the lead in a new series. I want people to look on Wilson as something more than an announcer.”
Appears In November
The show, titled “Gates Ajar Morgan,” hits the airlanes next November. Between now and then Wilson will be seen regularly on Benny’s program.
“I began with Jack on radio in 1934,” he recalled. “My work was restricted to announcing and reading commercials. As we moved along Jack made me a regular member of the cast—a character. For 17 years I was voted most popular radio announcer.
“It’s been many years since I’ve done outright commercials on the show. Now I guess I qualify as an ‘actor.’
“All of us with Jack are fortunate to have been associated with such a great guy. He’s always interested when we do other things.”
Portly Don was encouraged by Benny earlier this year when he and his actress wife appeared together in “The Great Sebastians” at the Laguna Beach Playhouse. It started him off on the dramatic kick.
TV Types Announcers
“Television has worked a hardship on announcers,” he said. “We’re typed as commercial pitch artists and that’s it.
“In radio all of us used to work steadily playing hundreds voices of roles. Our voices were such that we weren’t identified with our regular jobs. On TV we’re immediately recognized.
“Harry Von Zell, of the old Burns and Allen show, became a terrific comedian in his own right. He has established himself as a performer who can do anything. The late Bill Goodwin was another announcer who switched to playing comedy, straight roles and drama.
“Frankly, I’d prefer to play comedy roles myself. Thanks to Jack, most of the things I do on his show are humorous—and he invariably gives the funny lines to members of his cast while he plays straight man.”
“Jack used to bawl me out for not consulting him before declining other offers,” he grinned. “He urged me several times to take additional shows. I still don't think it would be fair to Jack.
“I’ve studied voice since I was a kid, and made my professional debut on radio when crystal sets were the rage. But my timing and other tricks of the trade were picked up from Jack Benny. As far as I’m concerned he’s tops, and I’ll go on working for him as long as possible.”

The Appeal of Underdog

Remember how someone got the bright idea to make a live-action version of “Underdog” with a real dog? It came out in 2007, was panned and bombed.

The producers could have avoided all that had they listened to the man who inspired the name of another cartoon character.

Peter Piech was the executive producer of the original Underdog TV cartoons through his part-ownership in Total Television Productions. Prior to that, he was president of Producers Associates of Television, which handled distribution of “Rocky and His Friends,” and had an interest in Gamma Productions, the cartoon studio where “Underdog” and a good percentage of “Rocky” were animated.

Here’s Piech talking about Underdog in this unbylined feature story published in the Rome Daily Sentinel, March 19, 1965. Underdog had debuted the previous October. We can only imagine what the late Alex Anderson would think of Piech getting credit for Rocky being “among his creations.” About the closest he got to creating anything on that show is the character of Peter “Wrong Way” Peachfuzz, whose name—not coincidentally—is close to a certain producer’s. And we’d like to know more about those Farmer Brown cartoons he talked about.

‘Underdog’ Creator Says Children Tough Audience; Not Easily Fooled
"There is no set pattern or guideline for writing humor for children, particularly in cartoons. The only thing we are concerned about is producing a good cartoon sequence.”
The man who made this statement is Peter Piech, executive producer of the color cartoon series, “Underdog” seen Saturdays, at 10 a. m.
One of the most experienced men in cartoon production, Pete has produced approximately 3,000 minutes of cartoons since 1959, more, he claims, than any other animation studio in the world. Among his creations are “Rocky,” “Tennessee Tuxedo,” “Leonardo the Lion,” “The Hunter,” and “Go Go Gophers.”
Pete believes that both children and adults are fascinated by the supernatural and super powers; “Underdog” fits into both of these categories because of his super abilities and the supernatural powers of his enemies.

While he feels that there are no guidelines for writing humor for children, Piech is quick to add that there are definite elements that a cartoon should have to capture their interest and imagination.
“Children are paradoxical in that they are captivated by both the familiar and the unknown,” says Pete. “They know, for instance, that Underdog is always going to catch the bad guy and bring him to justice in the end.
"They also know that he is going to rescue the heroine, Polly, from the teeth of a whirling circular saw or from the beam of villain Simon Barsinister's snow gun. The fact that they know this doesn't make the final rescue any less exciting.”
Kids love repetition, according to Piech, “but a producer can't just come up with one formula and then keep using it indefinitely.”
Pete also maintains that children appreciate the same elements of humor that make adults laugh.
They love Wally Cox as the voice of Underdog because it is very comical to hear such a meek voice coming from such a super-powered hero. They also like the unexpected situation that pops up, and this too is an element in all forms of humor.
Says Piech, “Children today are much more sophisticated than they used to be, and demand more from cartoons than they used to, because they want to use their knowledge more.
It's no longer enough, to give them a ‘Felix the Cat’ or a ‘Farmer Brown’ musical cartoon with singing flowers and cows that kick over milk buckets. “Today's kids are science-oriented and they want to use their knowledge. They can do this while watching Underdog fight the underwater Bobble-Heads and their tidal wave machine, but they can't if all they see is Felix trying to catch a mouse.”
Pete is adamant in his feelings that there are many topics that cannot be animated, and anything that can be done using live actors and live situations should not be done in cartoon form. In cartoons, everything is much bigger than life, very exaggerated.
"Can you imagine Underdog being played by a real dog, like Lassie?” asks Pete. “It would be impossible!
“And it would be just as ridiculous if Mr. Novak was a cartoon instead of a live person.”

Well, Mr. Piech is being a little disingenuous about “Mr. Novak.” It wouldn’t work in animation in 1965 because it was a drama; cartoons were still pretty much comedies then. But he makes valid points elsewhere in the interview.

If you want to learn the whole story behind the “Underdog” show, you can do no better than read Mark Arnold’s book Created and Produced by Total Television Productions. Check out more here.

To Hare Is Human Backgrounds

Phil De Guard painted from Maurice Noble’s layouts in “To Hare Is Human,” a 1956 Warners cartoon from the Chuck Jones unit. I can’t get a clear shot of Bugs Bunny’s bed with the carrot-shaped posts but here are some other backgrounds.



Critics claim Jones starting making Bugs far too self-satisfied and flouncy. You might detect some of that in this cartoon.

A 1938 TV Set

Yes, there was television in the 1930s. In 1938, New York City was the home of NBC’s W2XBS. It had also been the home of the Terrytoons studio a few years earlier. So it’s not a surprise Terry and his story department tossed in a TV gag in the short “Bugs Beetle and His Orchestra” released that year.

The evil spider is awoken by the NBC chimes and tunes in his set.



He spots a luscious female bug. He kisses where she is on his set.



Her boy-friend bug violates the confines of the TV set and slugs him.



The angry beetle cracks his TV screen in response.



Whether this is the first TV gag in a cartoon, I don’t know, but it must be one of the earliest.

Fittingly, when W2XBS began somewhat regular programming in 1939, it featured Terrytoons.

Aunt Harriet Meets Stanislavsky

She was clueless and a little dithery, but who didn’t love Aunt Harriet?

Madge Blake popped up on TV shows other than “Batman,” but it always seemed a little odd, like she didn’t belong anywhere except Stately Wayne Manor. I guess that’s how strongly I associated Aunt Harriet with her. But Mrs. Blake carved out a nice career, with regular turns on “The Real McCoys,” “The Joey Bishop Show” and occasionally on “Leave It To Beaver.” Maybe her most famous movie role was as the Louella Parsons-esque columnist in the cheery “Singing in the Rain.” But perhaps you didn’t know her acting career came comparatively late in life.

Madge was born Madge Elizabeth Cummings on May 31, 1899 in Kinsley City, Kansas to Albert W. and Alice F. (Stone) Cummings. Blake was her married name; she married J. Lincoln Blake, an interior decorating plant manager (they later divorced). Her father was a minister and didn’t approve of those acting folk. So, as her Associated Press obituary revealed, she waited until he was dead and her kids were grown before embarking on a show-biz career in the late ‘40s.

The only newspaper article I’ve been able to find on her is the one below from a newspaper syndicate, published August 13, 1963.

Woman Past 40 Became Actress
By DAVE McINTYRE
Copley News Service
HOLLYWOOD—Her hair was already beginning to be well-streaked with gray. Two sons were grown and were away from home. In years, she was already well past 40. That’s when Madge Blake decided it would be very nice to get into the movies.
Madge is the delightful woman who spent six years in the cast of “The Real McCoys.” Currently she’s appearing in “A More Perfect Union” at the La Jolla, Calif., Playhouse. Her success as an actress, in movies, television and on the stage, despite her late start, has been remarkable. But don’t for a minute think it was easy.
Miss Blake recalls vividly the comment a director had for her when she first began this quest.
“He asked me point-blank why I didn’t just go home,” she said.
“He told me that I would never be able to make myself heard on stage, that my walk was wrong and my gestures were awkward. He suggested that I not only was wasting my time but the theater’s as well.”
The effect on Miss Blake was not discouragement, however. On the contrary. She vowed she was going to make this particular critic swallow his acid phrases one day. And she did.
This determination had been well hones on other projects. There was the time during the depression when she decided she should have a job. She bombarded the president of a Los Angeles department store with letters until she was hired. And during the war, when her sons were in the service, she felt she should be contributing, so she took a job loading nitroglycerin pellets in rockets.
At the time she set her sights on professional acting, Miss Blake was teaching in a Pasadena, Calif., elementary school. Every night she either worked at the Pasadena Playhouse or at the Glendale Center Theater.
“I knew I had to absorb everything I could,” she said, “because I knew so very little about the theater. I took any role that was offered to me or I worked backstage, just so I could be part of the theater. I read all through Stanislavsky, though I didn’t understand a work of it.”
Once, for example, Madge was given the role of an eccentric English woman in a Noel Coward play at Glendale. She knew nothing about accents, she said, but she found a woman in Pasadena who had recently arrived from England.
“I’ve often thought since how puzzled that woman must have been,” she laughed. “For a time I really cultivated her. I was with her every day, listening to the sound of her voice. Then when I began rehearsing I didn’t see her again and haven’t since.”

The neat revelation in the story is Madge Blake was not a somewhat-addled little old lady like many of her characters on TV. She provides a good example for us all, that ability and determination can help you achieve your goals. In a way, that lesson is as good as anything that we can learn from the Caped Crusader.

Jumbo Gro Works!

‘Jumbo Gro’ does its job in Tex Avery’s fan-favourite “King-Size Canary” (1947). The hobo cat pours it in the little bird (Sara Berner). These are consecutive drawings. Note the squash and stretch on the bird.



The bird grows some more.



And a typical Avery extreme in reaction.



Bob Bentley, Ray Abrams and Walt Clinton are the credited animators.

Cartoon Stuff Around the Internet

There are plenty of great places on the internet to learn about old cartoons. Other than the blog roll on the side, I don’t link to very many, especially videos because the addresses become dead links more often than I’d like. But there are a few things that have popped up on line during the last week or so that I’ll link to, as you really should check them out.

There are a number of cartoon series I’m not crazy about. One of them is the Tom and Jerry series made by Gene Deitch. There’s no point in making a list of the things I dislike about those shorts. A far better thing, instead, is to read what Mr. Deitch has to say about them. He’s posted about his experiences making them exclusively to Jerry Beck’s aptly-named Cartoon Research site. Read his first-hand insights HERE.

Incidently, there are Deitch T&J fans who have said to me “Well, they’re better than those Chuck Jones ones,” as if I’m supposed to pick between the two. I’m not a fan of the Jones cartoons, either. If I had a choice, I would pick neither of them. And the Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera version of the cat and mouse had run out of gas by the time production was stopped in 1957.

Something I am a fan of is industrial and commercial cartoons. A neat cartoon is “Winky the Watchman,” a 1945 live action/animation short by Hugh Harman Productions. I’ll take a pass on Harman’s faux Uncle Walt cartoons at MGM of the mid to late ‘30s. But this one I like, mostly because of the animation of the bad guys and some creative layouts. And even better than the cartoon is the fact that Mark Kausler has recorded a commentary that explains, in great detail, all kinds of things about the production that only he would know. Frankly, I’ll listen to any cartoon commentary of Mark’s because I always learn something. Go to THIS POST on Jerry’s blog and read about it. The cartoon and commentary are courtesy of Thunderbean Animation, which is painstakingly restoring all kinds of great old cartoons that would have been forgotten otherwise.



Jerry’s got other great features at Cartoon Research (as if I have to tell you that). Recently, Devon Baxter has been posting (from various sources) breakdowns of animators on various cartoons from official studio documents. And I’m looking forward to Mike Kazaleh returning to give some more thoughts about 1950s TV spots made by the era’s top commercial studios.

Jerry’s got other great features on his blog. Recently, Devon Baxter has been posting (from various sources) breakdowns of animators on various cartoons from official studio documents. And I’m looking forward to Mike Kazaleh returning to give some more thoughts about 1950s TV spots made by the era’s top commercial studios.

Mark Evanier’s News From me blog always has something interesting or funny or both. Recently, Mark posted a link to a bunch of interviews on video with people involved in the Golden Age of cartoons. The sound isn’t great on all of them and I’d have asked some different questions, but at least someone made the effort to talk to these animation veterans. Included are Alex Lovy (of the Lantz and Columbia studios), Lloyd Vaughan, Owen Fitzgerald and Pete Alvarado (all of whom worked at Warner Bros. at one point). They’re worth your time to listen. HERE’s where you can find them, along with some thoughts from Mark who always has something worthwhile to say about cartoons and comics.