Barney Rubble, Daffy Duck, and Mr. Spacely Walk Into a Bar

Mel Blanc was known as the “Man of 1000 voices”. While that was somewhat of an exaggeration what else would you call someone who was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and Foghorn Leghorn. Oh, and as the years went on, Blanc added Barney Rubble on The Flintstones. Mr. Spacely on “The Jetsons” and Secret Squirrel on “The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show”.

Melvin Jerome Blanc was born May 30, 1908, in San Francisco and was raised in Portland Oregon. After graduating from high school in 1927 he performed in vaudeville shows throughout the Pacific Northwest. After a stint as a radio announcer, he landed a regular job on Jack Benny’s radio show voicing a variety of characters.

In 1942 Radio Daily Magazine reported that Blanc “specializes in over fifty-seven voices, dialects, and intricate sound effects”. By 1946, he was appearing on over fifteen different radio programs. Blanc’s fame from “The Jack Benny Program” led to his own radio show beginning in 1946.

During World War II, Mel provided the voice of Private Snafu in Army training films. Some of the films were written by Theodor S. Geisel who would later gain fame as Dr. Seuss. BTW, if you didn’t know already “Snafu” is military slang for ‘Situation Normal All F—-D Up.

Mel holds the record for the longest voicing of an animated character, having voiced Daffy Duck from 1937 to 1989. He created the voice of Walter Lance’s Woody Woodpecker but only performed the voice in the first four Woody cartoons. A renegotiated contract with Warner Brothers excluded Mel from working with other studios.

Despite being a voice specialist, Mel embraced method acting. It was claimed that when he was voicing a character in a sound booth, observers could tell exactly which character he was doing without hearing the sound.

In January,1961 a near-fatal car accident left Blanc in a coma. He was totally non-responsive for two weeks. Then, one of the doctors decided to address one of his characters instead of Blanc himself. The doctor asked, “How are you feeling today, Bugs Bunny?” After a slight pause, Blanc answered, in a weak voice, “Eh … just fine, Doc. How are you?” The doctor then asked Tweety if he was there, and Blanc replied “I tawt I taw a puddy tat”. Soon, Blanc was performing his Flintstone voices wearing a full body cast in his hospital room with the rest of The Flintstones actors.

Blanc filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. His accident was one of twenty-six in a two-year period on what was known as “Dead Man’s Curve”. His lawsuit resulted in the city restructuring the road’s curves.

In 1962, Mel and his son Noel formed Blanc Communications Corporation, a media company which produced an astounding 5,000 commercials and public service announcements. Mel and Noel appeared with many stars including Lucille Ball, Kirk Douglas, Vincent Price, and The Who.

Blanc began smoking at least one pack of cigarettes per day at the age of nine. He finally quit in 1985 after being diagnosed with emphysema. He died of heart disease in 1989 at the age of 81.

The epitaph on his headstone in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles reads “That’s all, folks!”.

Have a great weekend.

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