Yearly Archives: 2021

When I was a kid, I bought every record album I could find that featured characters from my favorite cartoons. Often, I'd get burned because I'd buy a Huckleberry Hound record, get it home, put it on my record player and discover to my youthful horror that Daws Butler, who did Huck's voice on the cartoons, wasn't on it. Some hapless mimic was doing his best to replicate Daws as Huck…and doing a very poor job of it. (Actually, I'm not sure if there was or has ever been any Daws Impersonator who could have satisfied me at that age.)

To me, it was like if you bought a Frank Sinatra record, took it home and found out it was some guy imitating Ol' Blue Eyes. That was the kind of unhappiness I experienced when I ordered a set of two Movie-Wheels, which as far as I know were the only ones produced.

A Movie-Wheel had a cardboard sleeve the size of an LP record but the actual record in it was a smaller flexi-disc made out of bendable plastic or rubber or some amalgam. In the cardboard sleeve, there was a little window with a dial as as you played the record, you would advance the dial when you heard a certain sound effect. Each time you advanced it, you'd see a different image in the little window, illustrating what was happening in the record at that moment. Since records and record sleeves have two sides, there would be two short stories on each wheel. You'll understand all this better if/when you watch the video below.

The two Movie-Wheels were sold as a set on local kids' TV shows. I think I saw the commercial on Skipper Frank's show on KTLA Channel 5. This was 1960 and I think it was something like $4.00 for the pair. One was Felix the Cat and it was faithful to the Felix cartoons that were then running on local TV. The voices were all done by Jack Mercer, who did almost all the voices in the cartoons, including Felix. The drawings were credited to Joe Oriolo, who was the main designer of those cartoons as well as the owner of the studio that did them.

The other record was Huckleberry Hound on one side, Yogi Bear on the other. As mentioned above, Daws Butler was not on the record. The voices were done by — amazingly — Jack Mercer along with an announcer-type gent named Jim Sparks. I know nothing about Mr. Sparks. The drawings were done by Frank Little and I don't know anything about him either except that he obviously never worked on the cartoons. I was disappointed in the art as I was by the absence of Daws.

And both records were written, produced and directed by Paul White and Ruth Roche. Mr. White is unknown to me but Ruth Roche was active in the comic book field as a writer and editor. Starting around 1940, she worked for the Eisner-Iger Studio, mainly on comics published by Fiction House like Phantom Lady and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

I still have my Movie-Wheels…somewhere. But thanks to my friend Greg Ehrbar, who assembled video versions of one side of each. Here's the Huckleberry Hound one. Jack Mercer was great as the voice of Felix and the voice of Popeye but I don't think Huck and Yogi were in his wheelhouse. I'll post the Felix one tomorrow and you'll hear him being more properly cast…

There's a line that I've quoted before on this blog and often in talking to friends.  It's from Alan Jay Lerner and he said, "There are some people in this world who are absolutely brilliant at playing the clarinet and nothing else." Mr. Lerner, by the way, showed his own brilliance with some (not all) of the musicals he wrote like My Fair Lady and Camelot. He demonstrated a notable lack of brilliance at matrimony and probably some other things as well.

A lot of people ask me for advice and when I comply, I usually use the joke/disclaimer that "Free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it." In other words, "Follow this at your own risk." In Blackjack, if you're dealt two eights, it is always wise to split them but that doesn't mean it will always work. Most good advice is advice that is right a majority of the time, not all the time.

I understand why folks ask me for advice about writing or creating comic books. I have some expertise in that area, maybe not as much as some other people but I have some. (I should add here: I have zero expertise in what some old comic book should sell for or the best way to sell it. You might just as well ask me the best way to perform a triple Coronary Artery Bypass Graft.)

But I know a little in a few areas. A few. It's a number that's way smaller than the number of topics on which I am asked for advice.

One topic which for some reason I am asked about lately is apartment rentals — how to locate them, what to look for, rent vs. lease, what to look for in a contract, etc. This is an area in which I have delved exactly once in my life and that was in 1975. There is no earthly reason to assume that I knew what I was doing back then, no reason to assume the process has not changed in 45 years, no reason to assume I even remember much about it.

You could get as much learned knowledge about apartment rentals by interrogating a mynah bird. What you get from me is "I don't know" and if I ask, "Why are you asking me?," they usually say something like, "Well, you seem like a smart guy." If you ever said that to me, thanks for the compliment but my rejoinder was probably "Yeah, maybe about cartoon voices or Laurel and Hardy movies or Jack Kirby." And then I probably laid the Alan Lerner quote on you along with a reminder that I don't play the clarinet, brilliantly or otherwise.

I'm a big believer in seeking out expertise…recognizing what you don't know much about and seeking out folks who have more experience and knowledge than you do. When I read biographies — auto or otherwise — of successful people, I am often struck by how often they got good results by doing that…

…and I don't mean that they asked someone for advice. I mean that they asked the right someone. If you're going to ask the wrong someone, you might just as well ask me how to perform that triple Coronary Artery Bypass Graft. Or play the clarinet. And for God's sake, don't ask me how to perform a triple Coronary Artery Bypass Graft while playing the clarinet.

I am fine. Please do not write or call to ask if I'm all right. I'm all right and I may not be too responsive to e-mails. I just have to deal with a matter that is more important than blogging because, you know, some matters are. Your toleration is appreciated.

P.S. Happy (Better) New Year!