Any Mel Blanc Fans?

[Was Once Ernie]

I bought Mel Blanc's autobiography way back in 1988 (just before he died), and in it he confirmed that he is, indeed, allergic to carrots. Talk about irony (and carrots are a good source of iron)!

Don't believe everything you read in books. As I said, it makes a more colorful story that way.

Of course, you have no reason to believe me, either. I'll just say that I've known many, many people that worked with Mel and there is quite a bit of "exaggeration" in his autobiography.

This, however, in no way, takes away from my admiration for the man and his achievements.

 

[Ziffel]

Yes I too highly appreciated Mel Blanc's work, being a Flintstone's fan (loved his Barney Rubble voice and laugh). Also liked many great Looney tunes voices he did, esp. Foghorn Leghorn. A real amazing, talented, gifted man.

By the way, remember that game show hosted by Gene Rayburn, "The Match Game" where everything was "something *blank*" or "*blank* something"? I never saw the actual word blank be used to fill in the blank. Would have been neat if they ever did "Mel *blank* " and the contestant or a panelist said, "Blanc".

 

[Xerus]

Here's a story I once read in an cartoon magazine.

One time, Mel Blanc and Henry Corden (2nd voice of Fred Flintstone) were doing a Fruity Pebbles commercial. Mel decided to play a little prank on Henry. They both had to eat some Fruity Pebbles to make the crunching sounds for the commercial. When no one was looking, Mel replaced the Fruity Pebbles in Henry's bowl with colored rocks from his aquarium. When Henry crunched onto the real pebbles, he broke his teeth. Mel called his personal dentist who had Henry's teeth fixed, but Mel arranged for the new teeth to look like the heads of the main cast of the Flintstones. So when Henry smiled, you can see Fred and Barney shaped teeth.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

You don't seriously believe that story, do you? You just put it up here as a joke. Right?

 

[Xerus]

You don't seriously believe that story, do you? You just put it up here as a joke. Right?

I don't know if it's true or not. I read the story in an animation fans magazine called, BEA AND EFF.

 

[Tim Kelly]

I believe Mel Blanc and George O'Hanlon did die during production of "The Jetsons Movie". That's why they had to be replaced at some point during the recording of the voices. If they were still alive, they must have been too ill to finish recording.

And Mel was allergic to carrots. Bob Clampett explains this in an interview, and it's on one of the Looney Tunes DVD bonus features.

 

[MrsPepper]

Well, Was Once Ernie is pretty much the local expert on the subject, you guys. So I, for one, think he knows what he's talking about.

 

[Tim Kelly]

Well, Was Once Ernie is pretty much the local expert on the subject, you guys. So I, for one, think he knows what he's talking about.

With all due respect, I have a feeling that Mel Blanc and Bob Clampett were the experts on Mel Blanc.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

With all due respect, I have a feeling that Mel Blanc and Bob Clampett were the experts on Mel Blanc.

I'll just comment on this once more and then I'm dropping ths subject. You are free to believe what you want. And I'll add one more thing... Friends of mine knew both men very well and will corroborate what I am saying.

I met both Bob Clampett and Mel Blanc (several times) and they were generous, wonderful fellows, BUT...

Both of them "exaggerted" when telling stories to make them more interesting. Bob especially, but Mel, too. For instance, the story Mel tells about creating Bugs Bunny's voice doesn't make sense because it developed over the course of a few years. It didn't pop out of his mouth fully formed the way he tells the story.

And there you have it. As Ripley says... "Believe it or not!"

 

[Was Once Ernie]

Here's another quick story to further prove my point...

Mel says when he "created" the voice of Porky Pig that he went and observed real pigs and the "stammer" is supposed to approximate the squealing sound the pigs make.

But this story doesn't make sense because Mel wasn't the first voice of Porky Pig. A fellow named Joe Dougherty was the original voice and he was a gentleman who actually stuttered! If you see any of the early black & white Porky cartoons, you'll see.

But Mel's story is certainly more interesting than just saying, "Oh, I took over the voice from this other guy."