"I am nothing without my elderberry wine."

-

As you probably know,  the voice characterization of many cartoon characters were based on imitations of real-life actors or comedians. 

This is a separate phenomenon from characters whose SHTICK (sometimes including voice but not necessarily) was based on existing comic actors or their roles such as how the characters in the Flintstones are translations of the ones in the live-action early sitcom The Honeymooners or George Jetson is Dagwood Bumstead or Archie Andrews is Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy.

Instead I am referring to instances where the voice characterization is simply lifted from an existing comedian's stage voice. 

Yogi Bear was based on Art Carney (as Ed Norton on The Honeymooners). Snagglepuss on Bert Lahur (the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz").  Deputy Dawg on Crazy Guggenheim. Secret Squirrel's Morocco Mole on Peter Lorre. Milton The Monster on Jim Neighbors' Gomer Pyle.  Huckleberry Hound on Andy Griffith in "No Time For Sergeants".  Cool McCool on Jack Benny.  Sidney the Elephant on Ed Wynn.  Glum of Gulliver's Travels on Ned Sparks.

Many of these I knew or had noticed. But today was the day I figured out that 

Clyde Crashcup

Got his own comic book, he did. Five issues.

 from The Alvin Show


inventor of the bathtub (etc.)


was modeled on

Richard Haydn



There are a number of ways you might recognize Richard Haydn.

He played the executor who brings Frederick the news of his grandfather's estate in "Young Frankenstein".

That's him in the background; Herr Falkstein, by name.


He played former radio comedian Edwin Carp on The Dick Van Show episode, "The Return of Edwin Carp".

That's him in the foreground.


You are MOST likely to know him from "The Sound of Music"

wherein he played Max "We Must Keep All That Lovely Money In The Family" Detweiler,

and in which he did not use his usual character-affectations, such as speaking with adenoidal middle-British accent.  

In case you haven't seen it, he also played Rogers The Butler in the 1945 film version of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None".



It was watching THAT (which you can watch for free because it's in the public domain) that allowed me to make the connection, because his measured adenoidal tones matched Clyde Crashcup's more than in any of the more recent roles I had seen him in.





Comments

  1. Solomon J. BehalaJuly 11, 2024 at 12:21 PM

    I know Jane was voiced by Blondie herself, but what has George Harrison's George Jetson voice have to do with Arthur Lake's falsetto? Okay, you mean schtick, but I don't really see the Jetsons as a take-off of anything in particular.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friendly Cows

-
Image
The Circle of Fifths is central to composing, or even understanding, any music complicated enough to include a key change. Not that anyone understands car gearshifts anymore, but they are a useful metaphor.  Just as you can't slam from first gear to fourth gear without it being pretty jarring, you can't jump from one key to another in music randomly without it being jarring.  In a car, you have to transition via neutral or other gears in between.  That's kind of how music works and the circle of fifths is like a gearshift that let's you do so. With three times the number of gears, and different ones for leaded and unleaded. Metaphors aren't perfect. Most songs, even ones that have nothing but melody, have chords (a group of notes played simultaneously).  Those chords are based on the notes of the melody of the song (the melody is the "tune"; the part of a song you would whistle).  Sometimes the chords are performed, sometimes not; but even when they are no...
Read more

How To Be Fabulous: Soap

-
Image
Like many skills and attributes, Being Fabulous seems mysterious and inaccessible from the outside or like some sort of magical inborn ability.  But, although such abilities are certainly aided by natural aptitude, Being Fabulous (like most of them) is much more a learned skill than people realize.   Because, in case you have never met one, babies are not fabulous. Amazing, perhaps, but not fabulous.  Some people say they SUCK, but I won't believe such a calumny until I see it in person. The world is not made of "wizards/gay people" and "muggles/straight people". It is made of people.  It's made of people who make choices designed to improve the aesthetics (and therefore the quality) of their immediate environment and experiences and those who do not. Your romantic and sexual preferences do not matter. So, this is the first of future posts that will simply EXPLAIN how to be fabulous.  And, mostly, it's a matter of how you approach things; it's about...
Read more

Throw This Letter Away

-
I already have a blog for discussing comic books .  This blog is for everything else that remains. First up, a mystery: If Billy hadn't yet married that girl, then why did she get an official letter when he died? Billy, Don't Be a Hero by Mitch Murray & Peter Callander The marching band came down along Main Street The soldier blues fell in behind I looked across and there I saw Billy Waiting to go and join the line And with her head upon his shoulder His young and lovely fiancee From where I stood I saw she was crying And through her tears I heard her say Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life Billy, don't be a hero, come back and make me your wife And as he started to go she said, Billy, keep your head low Billy, don't be a hero, come back to me The soldier blues were trapped on a hillside The battle raging all around The sergeant cried, "We've got to hang on, boys! We've got to hold this piece of ground" I need a voluntee...
Read more