Mel Blanc.

When Walt Disney's Pinocchio opened in 1940 audiences were treated to the talents of one Cliff Edwards. The former "Ukulele Ike" did not voice many films, but his turn as the happy-go-lucky everycricket known as Jiminy was one of the finest ever in an animated film. From his snappy tones to his sweet tenor, Edwards proved that an inconsistent conscience can still be a thorough delight to the ear. As the Warners stable added new characters Mel Blanc mixed up a tangy combo of accents (Brooklyn and Bronx) and turned Bugs Bunny into a sassy sensation starting in 1940. Bugs was only one of many voices that Blanc developed at Warners during this decade, all of them outstanding. Blanc and Bugs were fortunate enough to be teamed with Arthur Q. Bryan, who was vewwy instrumental in bringing Elmer Fudd to stardom as Bugs’ chief antagonist.

At MGM, Bill Thompson modified a voice he had used on a popular radio program and lent it to Tex Avery's Droopy Dog in 1943. Thompson's fuss-budget drawl provided a hilarious contrast to Avery's frenetic action and is one of the quintessential pieces of cartoon voice work. Paul Terry never had many hits but one exception was Heckle and Jeckle. The boisterous magpies were doubly fortunate that Dayton Allen was on hand; by giving one magpie a streetwise "Noo Yawk" brogue and the other a fruity British dialect, Allen helped give Terry his strongest cartoons. Walter Lantz always thought that Woody Woodpecker's voice could stand improvement; his wife, Grace Stafford Lantz won the job following a blind audition! Grace managed to give Woody playfulness and stridency in equal amounts, no easy task. Finally, no discussion of the decade can be complete without mentioning Jim Backus. UPA managed to produce only two cartoon stars...and one didn't speak. The other, Mr. Magoo, became a major star on the strength of Backus' exuberant vocal work. No other cartoon star in history was as contrary, contentious, or loveable, as Magoo, and Jim Backus saw to it that this myopic misanthrope charmed us for decades, beginning in 1949.

The 1950s
Mel Blanc continued to hit his stride, redefining some characters while developing new ones. Blanc added a harder edge to Daffy Duck that suited the character's newly found egotism, and balanced this by giving said duck a more comical, sibilant lisp. Blanc's funniest creation of the Fifties was a Gallic accent à merveille, and it issued from the lips of one Pepe Le Pew. 1957 could have been the saddest year in the lives of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera but the two directors turned disaster into triumph by establishing their own studio after MGM handed them a permanent layoff notice. Hanna-Barbera was bolstered by two veteran voice artists, Daws Butler and Don Messick. Butler took the voice of a laconic Southern wolf he once did for Tex Avery and recycled it to fit a friendly blue hound named Huckleberry. He also turned a peppy imitation of a popular TV actor into Yogi Bear, and Hanna-Barbera's first great stars were born. Also, a favorite among many is Mr. Jinks, a sly, orange cat who "hates meeces to pieces!" Messick voiced Yogi's sidekick Boo Boo, as well as a host of other new stars and supporting players.

June Foray. Courtesy of June Foray.

June Foray at a 2000 Warner recording session. Courtesy of June Foray.

At the same time, a small independent studio was preparing to unleash one of the best cartoon series -- and voice ensembles -- in the history of modern animation. Rocky and His Friends (1959) was a scaled-down version of the series that producers Jay Ward and Bill Scott originally had in mind, but what matter? With June Foray, Paul Frees and the aforementioned Bill Scott handling the voice work, success was guaranteed. Foray was already a veteran when she was hired. Her naive, boyish portrayal of Rocket J. Squirrel played perfectly against Scott's cheerfully twee Bullwinkle J. Moose. Frees' borscht-red Russian accent enlivened villain Boris Badenov, and Foray provided a deliciously distaff version of the same accent for his partner-in-crime Natasha Fatale. If that was all the trio had done, it would have been monumental, however, they went on to voice every segment of the show including Dudley Do-Right, Fractured Fairy Tales and Peabody's Improbable History. As Bullwinkle said, "Don't know my own strength!