We've lost another great cartoon voice actor. Dallas McKennon has died at the age of 89. He would have hit ninety this Sunday.
Dallas did so much that it's hard to list it all. He worked a lot for Disney in movies including Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians and Mary Poppins. He's heard all over Disneyland. When you get on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride, a recorded voice calls out, "Hold on to your hats and glasses! This here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!" That's Dallas McKennon. He also recorded voices for the Haunted Mansion and the Country Bear Jamboree and many other attractions. Or if you go to Epcot and you hear the animatronic figure of Benjamin Franklin...well, that's Dallas McKennon, too.
He was in a lot of Walter Lantz cartoons, usually playing villains like Buzz Buzzard or Wally Walrus. He was in a lot of George Pal productions, like The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao and Tom Thumb.
He was the voice of Archie Andrews (and several other characters) on Filmation's long-running Archie cartoon shows. He was the voice of Gumby.
Dallas also had a good career as an on-camera actor, usually playing an old prospector or cowboy. His most notable credit was in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. He was the cook who yells, "Don't throw that match!" in the gas station scene. He had a recurring role as Cinncinatus, the old storekeeper on the Daniel Boone TV series. He had a bit part in the Elvis Presley movie, Clambake, which explains the above photo.
For years, he also worked with studio audio departments developing sound effects, some of which were wholly or partially created in his throat. He did, without any audio trickery, an uncanny rooster crow that became a part of many studios' sound effects libraries and which has probably been used in thousands of TV shows and movies. He did it for years in commercials as the rooster on the Kellogg's Corn Flakes box and Dallas claimed, probably rightly, that it was his crowing that opened up the original Huckleberry Hound cartoon show each week.
He was a nice man...very generous with his talents and willing to lend them gratis to student films and to mentor others. A bunch of us spent a lovely, lively evening with him a few years ago when he was visiting from his home in Oregon. We were all very happy to meet him and I'm sure we think of that event whenever we hear his voice.
Three Congressional committees working together have formulated a proposal called America’s Affordable Health Choices Act. They always name these things so that if, for example, someone finds anything wrong with the proposal, they can say, "What? You're against Americans having choices of affordable health care?" But on first glance, this one looks like it might live up to its name.
Here's a website that will tell you all about it. There may or may not be problems with the plan but if this thing goes like the Hillary Clinton plan of '93, there'll be opponents who'll go on news shows and say, "This bill would allow doctors to punch your grandmother in the stomach," because they figure neither you nor those who interview them will actually look at the bill to check if that's so. There was an awful lot said about "Hillarycare" that was just flat-out lying.
They just removed another screaming protester from the Sotomayor hearings. Since the advent of television and other mass media, has anyone ever advanced their cause one millimeter by disrupting things like that? I mean, it's a great way to make your position look like the mission of rude, crazy people but does it ever lead to meaningful change? I suppose there may be examples but they're probably not too plentiful.
In the meantime, I'm not sure which kind of questioner seems phonier to me: Democrats lobbing softballs that they know Judge Sotomayor can answer...or Republicans trying to show constituents that they can be tough and maybe cause some discomfort to this nominee they ain't gonna block. I did kinda enjoy the exchange where Senator Sessions was trying to draw a contrast between Judge Sotomayor's philosophy and that of a Judge Cedarbaum...and Sotomayor responded by noting that her friend Judge Cedarbaum had come to the hearing to be with her today.
Hey, you'll want to check out Fancy Fast Food. They take your basic fast food items and give them a makeover into meals that look like they might be served in a very swanky restaurant.
The 1938 movie Bringing Up Baby featured Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and a leopard named Baby. In some scenes, the stars interacted with a live leopard on the set but for most of the film, special effects were employed to keep the actors and the animal apart. Mr. Grant was said to be especially nervous around the large cat.
This video runs close to seven and a half minutes and it isolates many of the tricks that were employed. If you don't want to know how it was done, don't click.
July 15, 2009
