Nancy Cartwright seized the opportunity to contact voice actor legend Daws Butler, who became her professional mentor and a close friend.

Probably the most important ingredient to a successful career of any kind is the carpe diem principle: You have to recognize opportunity and grab it with both hands. This message is so often repeated that some people view it as trite or, as I believe, a fundamental truth to success.

The Right Place
Some of my early steps on the path to Bartdom, before I had even left Ohio, took place at WING Radio in Dayton. Most of the folks from the station knew of my passion to become a voice actor and they gave me opportunities to try characters on the radio. I would sneak up — though I realize now that everyone knew and I didn't really have to sneak — to the station at night and work on putting a tape together of all my characterizations. I knew it was a must in the voice over industry to have a "demo" tape but no one had told me how long. So... my first demo was no less than 13 minutes! Hey, I have a lot to say!

Midsummer a producer from Warner Bros. Records came into the station to promote their music. Warner Bros.?! Mel Blanc?! This might be "just the ticket." I shook hands with Anne Schwebel and we chatted, well, I chatted and she listened. I did voices, I told stories and made her laugh. As she was leaving, she handed me her card and told me to write her and that she would get my letter to someone in the animation department. She cautioned me not to hold out much hope as she didn't know much about animation at all.

What the Heck?!
I kind of forgot about it after I sent her a letter but Anne was good to her word. She responded with a letter or her own. (I realize all this would happen in less than 24 hours today, what with e-mail, but these were the snail mail days.) Near the bottom of her polite letter were the names of several contacts in animation. The last name on the list had no address, just a phone number and the name: Daws Butler. What?! This was the voice of most of the characters that I grew up with: Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick-Draw McGraw, Baba-Looey, Elroy, Cogswell, Lambsy, Chilly Willy, Augie Doggie, Henry Orbit, Hokey Wolf, Blabber Mouse, Super Snooper, Lippy the Lion, Wally Gator, Peter Potamus, Capt. Skyhook and Cap'n Crunch. (It was that last one that really locked me in! I love Cap'n Crunch.)

I thought, "What the heck. I'm gonna call him!" So I went down to the basement, that's where we kept the private phone in the Midwest, and gave him a ring. On the other end of the line, an answering machine picked up. This was summer of `77. Answering machines hadn't made it to the heartland yet. I listened to his outgoing message: (with a British dialect) "Hello. My name is Percival Pickles. I'm Mr. Butler's butler. Mr. Butler is not home just now. If you would like to leave a message, wait for the beep. (Long pause...) Beep." And that was it. Uh… I didn't know what to do! I quickly gathered my thoughts as best I could, (in a cockney dialect): "`ello Mr. Butler. This is Nancy Cartwright. I am from Kettering, O'io. I understand that you teach voice acting classes and I am very interested in this. Please write to me at blah, blah, blah… Thank you and pip-pip cheerio!"