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Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70 Vol. 1
Cartoon voices of the golden age, 1930-70
In today’s world of instant information everyone knows everything about cartoon voices. Animation is a huge business, and Voice Actors are respected. But it wasn’t always so.
For thirty years before the TV age, countless “Classic Era” cartoons from 1928 to 1970 were seen in movie theatres before the main feature. During that Golden Age, virtually every cartoon voice actor (with the notable exception of the great Mel Blanc), was resigned to being totally anonymous. Despite creating immortal voices like Droopy, Popeye, Elmer Fudd or Betty Boop, the actors’ names simply didn’t appear on screen.
This book is the first to explore the development of voice artistry from the birth of sound movies to the dawn of TV cartoons, when “voices” finally got screen credit.
Documented in this exhaustively researched history is the full story of how acting for cartoons slowly changed from squawks and grunts into an art form. From the earliest days when animators themselves were the only voices, through the gradual hiring of professional radio actors, this book finally names the many artists who were unknown for four decades.
Illustrated with rare mugshots of hitherto unknown voices, Volume One is the studio-by-studio saga of how cartoon voice acting took off. Volume Two is the reference section, with insanely detailed voice credits for thousands of cartoons from top animation studios of the Classic Era. Animation fans can finally learn the full story in Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, with never before told insights into one of the most undocumented areas of film history.
Keith Scott has spent over forty years as an internationally recognized cartoon voice actor and impressionist. He narrated two George of the Jungle movies, and was the voice of both Bullwinkle J. Moose and the Narrator in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. He is the author of The Moose That Roared and many articles on animation and Hollywood radio history.
In today’s world of instant information everyone knows everything about cartoon voices. Animation is a huge business, and Voice Actors are respected. But it wasn’t always so.
For thirty years before the TV age, countless “Classic Era” cartoons from 1928 to 1970 were seen in movie theatres before the main feature. During that Golden Age, virtually every cartoon voice actor (with the notable exception of the great Mel Blanc), was resigned to being totally anonymous. Despite creating immortal voices like Droopy, Popeye, Elmer Fudd or Betty Boop, the actors’ names simply didn’t appear on screen.
This book is the first to explore the development of voice artistry from the birth of sound movies to the dawn of TV cartoons, when “voices” finally got screen credit.
Documented in this exhaustively researched history is the full story of how acting for cartoons slowly changed from squawks and grunts into an art form. From the earliest days when animators themselves were the only voices, through the gradual hiring of professional radio actors, this book finally names the many artists who were unknown for four decades.
Illustrated with rare mugshots of hitherto unknown voices, Volume One is the studio-by-studio saga of how cartoon voice acting took off. Volume Two is the reference section, with insanely detailed voice credits for thousands of cartoons from top animation studios of the Classic Era. Animation fans can finally learn the full story in Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, with never before told insights into one of the most undocumented areas of film history.
Keith Scott has spent over forty years as an internationally recognized cartoon voice actor and impressionist. He narrated two George of the Jungle movies, and was the voice of both Bullwinkle J. Moose and the Narrator in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. He is the author of The Moose That Roared and many articles on animation and Hollywood radio history.
661 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 3, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 24, 2023
A relative was visiting from Brazil and noticed me watching a VHS of Betty Boop cartoons. The relative didn’t understand English and she is not a cartoon aficionado. Yet, her one-word assessment was “Popeye.” She could tell enough about the style to realize the cartoon was done by some of the same animators. I’m not a cartoon aficionado, either—though I enjoy animation a lot! But even I could tell, even as a youngster, that the voices of characters in the Max Fleischer and Famous Studios cartoons were often not the same. After reading Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-1970: Volume 1: The Pioneers of Animation Acting, I know that this is not only true, but something of why it is true.
What can I say? I tremendously enjoyed Keith Scott’s The Moose that Roared about the Jay Ward cartoon studios. I was impressed with the level of research he went through to pen that fascinating history of Rocky, Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right and company. Yet, the research involved in The Moose that Roared was a trifle compared to the massive research evidenced in this volume. Often, the material was unavailable because records had been burned (as in the case of much of the Fleischer work) or because studios didn’t think tracking vocal artists was important (or desirable). “Despite years of archival research, identifying various actors remains an unfinished task encompassing a vast field that was chronically under-documented. Surviving information is frustratingly incomplete for each of the studios. I regard this book as comprehensive, yet a work-in-progress.” (Kindle Location 199)
At one point, I chuckled because the issue around credited voice talents in this era seemed eerily similar to the issue of crediting game designers in the years when I covered computer games for Computer Gaming World. Scott responds to one argument in this way: “Roughly translated, ‘If we mention their names, it will spoil the fantasy of our cartoons.’ Of course, cynics might suggest they really meant, ‘If we mention their names, they might hit us up for more money!’ (Kindle Location 152)
Admittedly, Scott observes that sound technicians, musicians, and other staff members of the studios (including Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey until he got older and busier) provided most of the voices in the early years. Then, “The first professional voices hired for cartoons were singers from vocal groups - trios, quartets, soloists - who doubled on character voices.” (Kindle Location 217) This makes good sense in that some early efforts from the Fleischer studios were known as “Koko Cartunes.” Indeed, in the mid-20s, these were some of the first sound cartoons using the “Phonofilm” technique. “The Phonofilm song reels could only be shown in the thirty six Red Seal theatres that had been equipped for De Forest’s system.” (Kindle Location 255) Note that Fleischer’s distribution company at the time was called Red Seal Pictures.
Next, “Engaging professional voice talents from radio was the next logical step as comedy and clever dialogue, even repartee, began to accompany the animated stories. Radio’s bottomless pit of comic stooge voices were suddenly on call, with expert wise-guys, foils and master mimics of funny accents vying for cartoons. Most famously, Mel Blanc took over the Porky Pig role and in the same cartoon he voiced a brand-new character who would develop into Daffy Duck.” (Kindle Locations 229-231) It was also intriguing that Warner Brothers used talent like Johnny Murray from KFWB (the WB radio station) as voice talent for some of their characters such as Foxy (the fox that looked amazingly like Mickey Mouse with a thick tail) and Bosko (Location 473).
Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-1970: Volume 1: The Pioneers of Animation Acting spends much of its time chronicling the work of various studios from sound effects to vocal characterizations. Prior to reading this, I was unaware of the work of Pinto Colvig for Disney (Location xxxx), that Harman-Ising Productions was established based on making musical “talkies,” making their very name a pun on what they did (first noted as a joke by Walt Disney--Location 311, 316), that Fritz Freleng had worked on “Bosko the Talkink Kid” (Location 334), or that Bob Clampett (later of “Beanie and Cecil fame) worked on the Foxy cartoons (Location 467), and that William Hanna (to make television history as part of the duo, Hanna-Barbara, with Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and more) became part of the studio in 1930 (Location 485).
Did you know that, since the Warner Brothers cartoons had access to the Warner Brothers record libraries, early cartoons used a John Barrymore performance played backward at an escalated speed to provide gibberish sounds for animal characters? (Location 541) Did you know that the King’s Men quartet who performed in many of the early WB “Merrie Melodies” cartoons were also featured on the Rudy Vallee and Fibber McGee and Molly radio programs, as well as serving as the background voices of the Lollipop Guild in the Wizard of Oz and as ice-skating parodies of the Marx Brothers in the film, Honolulu? (Location 563—the book only mentioned Fibber McGee, but I found it fascinating enough to do more research) I also didn’t know that WB had to get permission to do the celebrity impressions (Location 589). Did you know that Jane Withers, the child star who would eventually be Josephine the Plumber in the television commercials, did child voice work at Warner Brothers (Location 729) before later performing for Disney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
These are just some of my favorites from the first 10% of an extensive volume. It took my months to read this book because I often chased down videos of various cartoons and stopped reading until I finished. This is an incredibly fascinating book. If I were teaching a “History of Animation Class” (and I’m not, nor wouldn’t expect to be), I would definitely choose this as a textbook. It is more accurate than most Internet searches would provide and I will find myself going back to it over and over (if only to read about the videos I haven’t viewed yet). I found this on-sale at Amazon many months ago and it is definitely the best buy I’ve gotten from the service (including the First Reads I obtained free).
What can I say? I tremendously enjoyed Keith Scott’s The Moose that Roared about the Jay Ward cartoon studios. I was impressed with the level of research he went through to pen that fascinating history of Rocky, Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right and company. Yet, the research involved in The Moose that Roared was a trifle compared to the massive research evidenced in this volume. Often, the material was unavailable because records had been burned (as in the case of much of the Fleischer work) or because studios didn’t think tracking vocal artists was important (or desirable). “Despite years of archival research, identifying various actors remains an unfinished task encompassing a vast field that was chronically under-documented. Surviving information is frustratingly incomplete for each of the studios. I regard this book as comprehensive, yet a work-in-progress.” (Kindle Location 199)
At one point, I chuckled because the issue around credited voice talents in this era seemed eerily similar to the issue of crediting game designers in the years when I covered computer games for Computer Gaming World. Scott responds to one argument in this way: “Roughly translated, ‘If we mention their names, it will spoil the fantasy of our cartoons.’ Of course, cynics might suggest they really meant, ‘If we mention their names, they might hit us up for more money!’ (Kindle Location 152)
Admittedly, Scott observes that sound technicians, musicians, and other staff members of the studios (including Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey until he got older and busier) provided most of the voices in the early years. Then, “The first professional voices hired for cartoons were singers from vocal groups - trios, quartets, soloists - who doubled on character voices.” (Kindle Location 217) This makes good sense in that some early efforts from the Fleischer studios were known as “Koko Cartunes.” Indeed, in the mid-20s, these were some of the first sound cartoons using the “Phonofilm” technique. “The Phonofilm song reels could only be shown in the thirty six Red Seal theatres that had been equipped for De Forest’s system.” (Kindle Location 255) Note that Fleischer’s distribution company at the time was called Red Seal Pictures.
Next, “Engaging professional voice talents from radio was the next logical step as comedy and clever dialogue, even repartee, began to accompany the animated stories. Radio’s bottomless pit of comic stooge voices were suddenly on call, with expert wise-guys, foils and master mimics of funny accents vying for cartoons. Most famously, Mel Blanc took over the Porky Pig role and in the same cartoon he voiced a brand-new character who would develop into Daffy Duck.” (Kindle Locations 229-231) It was also intriguing that Warner Brothers used talent like Johnny Murray from KFWB (the WB radio station) as voice talent for some of their characters such as Foxy (the fox that looked amazingly like Mickey Mouse with a thick tail) and Bosko (Location 473).
Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-1970: Volume 1: The Pioneers of Animation Acting spends much of its time chronicling the work of various studios from sound effects to vocal characterizations. Prior to reading this, I was unaware of the work of Pinto Colvig for Disney (Location xxxx), that Harman-Ising Productions was established based on making musical “talkies,” making their very name a pun on what they did (first noted as a joke by Walt Disney--Location 311, 316), that Fritz Freleng had worked on “Bosko the Talkink Kid” (Location 334), or that Bob Clampett (later of “Beanie and Cecil fame) worked on the Foxy cartoons (Location 467), and that William Hanna (to make television history as part of the duo, Hanna-Barbara, with Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and more) became part of the studio in 1930 (Location 485).
Did you know that, since the Warner Brothers cartoons had access to the Warner Brothers record libraries, early cartoons used a John Barrymore performance played backward at an escalated speed to provide gibberish sounds for animal characters? (Location 541) Did you know that the King’s Men quartet who performed in many of the early WB “Merrie Melodies” cartoons were also featured on the Rudy Vallee and Fibber McGee and Molly radio programs, as well as serving as the background voices of the Lollipop Guild in the Wizard of Oz and as ice-skating parodies of the Marx Brothers in the film, Honolulu? (Location 563—the book only mentioned Fibber McGee, but I found it fascinating enough to do more research) I also didn’t know that WB had to get permission to do the celebrity impressions (Location 589). Did you know that Jane Withers, the child star who would eventually be Josephine the Plumber in the television commercials, did child voice work at Warner Brothers (Location 729) before later performing for Disney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
These are just some of my favorites from the first 10% of an extensive volume. It took my months to read this book because I often chased down videos of various cartoons and stopped reading until I finished. This is an incredibly fascinating book. If I were teaching a “History of Animation Class” (and I’m not, nor wouldn’t expect to be), I would definitely choose this as a textbook. It is more accurate than most Internet searches would provide and I will find myself going back to it over and over (if only to read about the videos I haven’t viewed yet). I found this on-sale at Amazon many months ago and it is definitely the best buy I’ve gotten from the service (including the First Reads I obtained free).
January 22, 2025
I've read over 35 books on animation history, and it blows my mind how much new information is in this book, published in 2022 no less! Keith Scott has apparently been conducting and compiling research for this tome across several decades, and it shows. This book is as meticulous as it is entertaining. A must-read for any classic animation fan, and I'm sure the second volume (filmographies with full voice credits) is just as vital. It's an absolute honor to share a publisher, BearManor Media, with him.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews