Several folks have recently written to ask me about a report on the Internet Movie Database listing for actor-comedian Dave Coulier. It says…well, here. I'll let you read it for yourself…

Was a substitute voice-over for the character Garfield on the cartoon "Garfield and Friends" (1988) when Lorenzo Music was ill.

This is not true. I was the voice director of Garfield and Friends and Dave Coulier, though a fine and talented man, never did anything on that series. For one thing, Lorenzo never needed anyone else to do his voice. The one time he was ill and unable to record, we had Frank Welker come in and play Garfield on a temporary basis. Frank imitated Lorenzo but it was always with the understanding that once Mr. Music was well enough, he would come in and re-record those lines and Frank's track would be discarded.

This was done…though it turned out to be more difficult than we'd imagined. The sound editors got confused at one point and I had to go in and help them decide if a certain reading of one line was Lorenzo or Frank. I finally said, "I think that's Lorenzo but you know, it really doesn't matter." Frank is the voice of Garfield these days, especially on The Garfield Show, which is seen every eleven seconds on Cartoon Network. He is not doing the close impersonation of Lorenzo that he did back when he provided that temp track but it's an awfully good voice in the same ballpark.

So there you have it: Dave Coulier did not fill in for Lorenzo on Garfield and Friends and since I was the show's voice director, you'd think I'd know such a thing. For some reason, a self-proclaimed "authority on cartoon voices" has been writing me for several months now telling me I'm either wrong or lying. He is quite certain that Coulier did several episodes. He says he can recognize Coulier and also that he has it from "another source" that yes, Dave Coulier was called in to play the role when Lorenzo was hospitalized.

Perhaps, I suggested to him, the confusion flows from the fact that Mr. Coulier once replaced Lorenzo on another show, The Real Ghostbusters, not as a fill-in imitator but as a successor performing a different voice for a character Lorenzo had previously handled. The fellow wrote back to me and said…well, here. Might as well let you read this, too…

No, I know Coulier replaced Music as [sic] voice Peter Venkman but I hear the timbre of Coulier's voice in several Garfield & Friends episodes, mostly 4th season. I don't know if you were unaware of this or if there is some reason to conceal the fact but as far as I am concerned it is fact. I cannot tell you my other source on this as I have to protect my sources.

So apparently, I was unaware that was Dave Coulier I was directing in those sessions. Maybe he was wearing one of those great Lorenzo Music masks they sell. Or maybe it's a closely guarded secret on which the safety of America depends. We must stop the Taliban from learning that Dave Coulier filled in for Lorenzo on that series. I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out who could possibly be as authoritative a "source" on this stuff as the guy who cast and directed the voice actors. Maybe it's Glenn Beck.

This doesn't anger or frustrate me. I do get annoyed at times with folks who make up their minds about something and go to insane lengths to deny facts that prove them wrong. You may disagree just who's doing that in politics these days but I bet you think a lot of people are doing it. Some of them seem to have gone so far out on the limb with erroneous information that they can't see any way to crawl back and it's a shame. It sure makes discussions difficult in this world…and everyone agrees with me, even Dave Coulier. He told me so when we had him in to substitute for Lorenzo on Garfield and Friends.

Larry Marder is a fine gentleman and cartoonist, as well as the current prez of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Read what he has to say about a legal matter that will soon go before the Supreme Court of these here United States. I agree with Larry so much that I can't even think of anything to write here that would expand on what he says.

Never mind the protests about the alleged mosque near Ground Zero. Here's the real important protest.

Speaking of terrific folks who do voices for cartoons, here are six of the best. The guys in the back row are, left to right, Gregg Berger, Gary Owens and Will Ryan. Up front, we have Bob Bergen, June Foray and Janet Waldo. (The pink things you see on some of them are little "heart" stickers.) This picture was taken last night at a Red Lobster restaurant and you may be wondering what the occasion was. Well, lemme tell you…

As you may recall, Saturday was the birthday of June, who is only my favorite actress in the world…the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha and Tweety's owner, Granny and so many others. June celebrated that evening with her family in a small gathering.

Sunday, my pal Stu Shostak arranged to take June to dinner. It was just going to be Stu, Stu's lady Jeanine Kasun and June…just the three of them going to a restaurant June likes for a quiet meal. That's what June thought. So they get to the restaurant and, lo and behold, June happens to run into me and my friend, Carolyn Kelly. June is surprised at the "coincidence" and suggests we all eat together. I tell her, "No, we're meeting some friends here…but come say hello to them." So I lead her to a private room where two dozen of her friends have gathered for a Surprise Party. And boy, was she surprised.

She was surprised to see some fellow voice actors (named above). She was surprised to see some great animators like Carl Bell and Art Leonardi. She was surprised to see Earl Kress and Jerry Beck and various dates and spouses of all these folks. She was surprised by the cake and Will playing his guitar and a lovely poem that Janet and her daughter wrote and performed and…well, she was really surprised.

I need to apologize to many of June's friends who weren't included. We could easily have filled a room ten times the size but could only get one that seated 24. I wish you could all have been there because it was an evening none of us will ever forget. June certainly won't.