Thursday, January 22, 2004

Ann

So far, none of the obits I've seen for Ann Miller have mentioned what was to me her most impressive credit. She was a wonderful star of musical comedy on stage and screen, but she also starred in what was, at the time of its filming, the most expensive TV commercial ever made. In 1970, Stan Freberg wrote, produced and directed a spot for Great American Soups that proved more memorable than the product. Ann played a housewife who broke into a Busby Berkeley style production number when her husband (played by Dave Willock) asked her what was for dinner. One of the costliest parts of the spot came when a giant Great American Soup can came up from below the floor and Ms. Miller tap-danced on top of it.

To accomplish this, they had to cut a hole in the floor of a soundstage at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio and install an elevator...but to Stan, no expense was too great, especially when someone else was paying for it. The sponsor may not have been too happy but Ann later credited the commercial with revitalizing her career in the seventies. She remained a star 'til the end, playing on Broadway and in regional productions. Many of the latter were productions of the musical, Follies, where she often sang Stephen Sondheim's defiant "I'm Still Here," a song which could have been sub-titled "The Ann Miller Story." Sad to say, she's not still here...but what a life that woman had.

• Posted at 10:22 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Michael Kinsley on the current definition of "compassionate conservatism."

One of my right-wing friends has an interesting take on all this proposed spending, deficits and enlargement of government. He thinks it's all a smokescreen; that Bush is saying what Bush has to say to get re-elected and to have long enough coat-tails to keep Democrats from recapturing either the House or the Senate. Then, once he's got his four more years, Bush and Congress will simply kill all the expensive programs and enact everything on the Conserative Wish List. In other words, "Let's vote for Bush because in our hearts, we know he won't do what he's currently promising." It's an interesting argument...one we'll probably hear from his most fervent supporters as a reason to vote for him, and from his more fervent detractors as a reason not to.

• Posted at 4:37 PM · LINK

New York Voice Guys

Andrew Leal, who is the Webmaster for Toonjunkies.com sends the following to continue our discussion of New York cartoon voice actors. And isn't this a lot more important than discussing who's going to be the Democratic nominee for president?

Very much intrigued by the present discussions on your site regarding New York voice actors on records and in cartoons. Since Frank Milano has come up, I've sometimes wondered which sources are correct regarding Mr. Lizard myself, especially since most of the other times that I've heard Mr. Milano, they haven't been dialogue roles. From the 30's through the 50's, Frank Milano appears to have worked semi-frequently in radio as an animal imitator, and much less frequently in speaking dialect roles (usually Greek or Italian). He played Flush the Dog in an early New York broadcast of The Barretts of Wimpole Street on Lux Radio Theater and according to radio historian John Dunning and others, was the resident animal specialist on the kids western Bobby Benson and the B-Bar Riders, as various cattle, panthers, dogs, and Bobby's horse Amigo. Also played cats in episodes of Suspense and CBS Radio Workshop. In television, UCLA's film and TV archive identifies him as providing "special vocal effects" on the Wally Cox sitcom Mr. Peepers along with Donald Bain, another (and judging from most radio memoirs, far more active and better known) radio animal imitator. All sources seem to agree on his having worked on the early puppet show Rootie Kazootie as well, puppeteering and voicing Little Nipper and the villainous Poison Zoomack.

It strikes me as just possible that Mr. Milano may have performed a similar capacity on the Total TV production(s), since I do seem to recall an occasional animal sound being needed, but not certain. I don't know if anyone could or has contacted Allen Swift or Jackson Beck (who appear to be the only survivors from the Total TV troupe) to see if either might be able to shed some light on this.

As for Gilbert Mack, he was part of the New York dubbing group that handled so many 60's Japanese imports. Fred Patten has identified him as the voice of Bob Brilliant in Gigantor, and most sources identify him as Pauley Cracker in Kimba the White Lion (last time I saw the latter series, it was in Spanish, so I can't judge for myself). Some sources suggest that he was also amongst the several actors to impersonate FDR on March of Time (a roster which also the late Art Carney and Bill Johnstone, one of the post Welles portrayors of The Shadow). Not certain about this myself, since those particular texts were rife with errors, but fairly likely that he might have played it once or twice, in as much as most New York actors worked the show at some point and often a supporting cast member would have to "understudy" if FDR or another world leader happened to figure in a sudden news bulletin before air time, and the regular performers were unavailable for the broadcast, or whatnot.

I haven't gotten around to contacting Allen Swift or Jackson Beck, but I probably should. (At least one other regular cast member from the Total Television troupe is still with us. George S. Irving is still performing. Here's a link to an interview from a couple years back.)

I seriously doubt Total Television hired Frank Milano just to make a few animal sounds. One of the things you learn in researching cartoon voice work is that studios are always...well, I was going to say "cheap" but it's not always cheap to hire as few actors as you can get away with. Until the late sixties when a change in union rules altered the pay structure, you did a cartoon with a tiny stock company. Most of the non-primetime Hanna-Barbera cartoons were performed by two guys — Daws Butler and Don Messick, Daws Butler and Doug Young, etc. There were a few that were just Daws Butler. They minimized female roles (or had men do them) because that would have meant spending a whopping $25-$50 to hire a third person. H-B never hired anyone to make an occasional animal sound. They'd have one of the actors doing a regular character also do it, like Mel Blanc doing the barks for Dino along with playing Barney Rubble.

I'm going to research this a little more and get back to you all. Milano may have been one of the Narrators on the King Leonardo show. But thanks for the info, Andrew. Nice to know so many folks besides me care about these things.

• Posted at 10:36 AM · LINK

Still More on George

Here's the Associated Press obit on George Woodbridge. And I forgot to mention that George had been invited as a Guest of Honor at the last two Comic-Con Internationals and had to cancel both times due to health problems. So obviously he had not been well for some time.

By the by: My favorite comics news site, ¡Journalista!, this morning mentioned my report on George's passing but said, "I haven't been able to find anyone else to confirm the news or provide further information." I'm guessing Dirk Deppey, who is usually a very good reporter, missed that I also linked to the New York Times obit several hours before he posted. But that can happen to anyone, and I was pleased by his caution, feeling he needed another source besides me (even me with a Sergio quote) before he took the report as firm. So no, to answer an e-mail this morn, I was not insulted that my word alone was not good enough for him. I really think Internet reporting needs more to be more prudent about passing along info like this. Just because one source said it doesn't mean it's true.

• Posted at 9:50 AM · LINK

More on George

Here's a link to the New York Times obit for George Woodbridge.

• Posted at 2:13 AM · LINK

Peek-a-Boo!

Why is this handsome but trembling possum hiding under a table? You can find out if you consult this new page I've just posted to the My Backyard section. It's where I post photos of the many animals I'm feeding out there...which reminds me: We still happily accept donations of money to feed the raccoons, possums, pussycats, hummingbirds and other critters. Click here to donate via PayPal and rest assured you're feeding them, not me. You can't afford to feed me.

• Posted at 1:34 AM · LINK