1.
Daws Butler
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Charles Dawson Daws Butler was an American voice actor who specialized in voicing animated films and television series. Daws Butler was born on November 16,1916, in Toledo, Ohio, the family later moved from Ohio to Oak Park, Illinois, where Butler got interested in impersonating people. In 1935, the future voice master started as an impressionist, entering multiple amateur contests and he had entered them, not with the intention of showing his talent, but as a personal challenge to overcome his shyness, with success. Nonetheless, Butler won professional engagements at vaudeville theaters, later, he teamed up with fellow performers Jack Lavin and Willard Ovitz to form the comedy trio The Three Short Waves. The team played in theaters, on radio, and in nightclubs, generating positive reviews from regional critics and they dissolved their act in 1941, when Daws Butler joined the U. S. Navy as America entered World War Two. Some time after, he met his wife Myrtis during a function in North Carolina. His first voice work for an animated character came in 1948 in the animated short Short Snorts on Sports and that same year at MGM, Tex Avery hired Butler to provide the voice of a British wolf on Little Rural Riding Hood and also to narrate several of his cartoons. Starting with The Three Little Pups, Butler provided the voice for a wolf that spoke in a Southern accent. This character also appeared in Sheep Wrecked, Billy Boy and many more cartoons, while at MGM, Avery wanted Butler to try to do the voice of Droopy, at a time when Bill Thompson had been unavailable due to radio engagements. Instead, Butler recommended Don Messick, another actor and Butlers lifelong friend, thus, Messick voiced Droopy in several shorts. In 1949, Butler landed a role in a puppet show created by former Warner Bros. cartoon director Bob Clampett called Time for Beany. Butler was teamed with Stan Freberg, and together they did all the voices of the puppets, Butler voiced Beany Boy and Captain Huffenpuff. Freberg voiced Cecil and Dishonest John, an entire stable of recurring characters were seen. The shows writers were Charles Shows and Lloyd Turner, whose dependably funny dialog was still always at the mercy of Butlers, Time for Beany ran from 1949 to 1954 and won several Emmy Awards. Butler briefly turned his attention to writing and voicing several TV commercials, in the 1950s, Stan Freberg asked him to help him write comedy skits for his Capitol Records albums. Their first collaboration, St. George and the Dragon-Net, was the first comedy record to sell one million copies. Freberg was more of a satirist who did song parodies, but the bulk of his routines were co-written by. He teamed again with Freberg and actress June Foray in a CBS radio series, The Stan Freberg Show, Frebergs box-set, Tip of the Freberg chronicles every aspect of Frebergs career except the cartoon voice-over work, and it showcases his career with Daws Butler
2.
Don Messick
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Donald Earl Don Messick was an American voice actor, best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Pig in Tiny Toon Adventures and Dr. Benton Quest in Jonny Quest, Messick was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Binford Earl Messick, a house painter, and Lena Birch. At first, Messick wanted to be a ventriloquist and even supported himself as one for a time and his big break came in the mid-1940s. His first major voice over role was as Raggedy Andy on the radio series The Raggedy Ann Show, at MGM, Tex Avery was producing the Droopy cartoons. The regular voice actor Bill Thompson was not available, Avery hired Messick after Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM, suggested him. When Hanna and Barbera formed their own animation studio Hanna-Barbera in 1957, Messick, Messicks and Butlers first collaboration was Ruff and Reddy. Don was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo, while Daws Butler played the dog Reddy, Messick also narrated the show, which had a serialized storyline. From 1958-1959, Messick played Tadpole in the television series produced by Beverly Hills Productions, Spunky. From 1957-1965, Butler and Messick gave voice to a number of characters. Always the sidekick, Messick’s characters were not headliners and his notable roles in this era were Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Major Minor, Pixie Mouse, Astro and Dr. Benton Quest. He was used primarily for his skills, which were heard on many of those cartoons in which Daws Butler starred. In narrating The Huckleberry Hound Shows Yogi Bear cartoons, he played Ranger Smith in something close to his natural voice, Messick would eventually star as Ricochet Rabbit in Ricochet Rabbit, while Deputy Droop-a-Long was voiced by Mel Blanc. He did the voices of the character in Precious Pupp. Both segments from The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, in 1966, Messick took over the roles of Atom Ant and Mr. Peebles of The Magilla Gorilla Show from Howard Morris who had left Hanna-Barbera. In outer space cartoons, Don Messick created noises and sounds for weird space creatures and his Ranger Smith voice was often heard as various space villains. His narrator voice was given to Vapor Man, Dr. Benton Quest, The Perilous Paper Doll Man, in 1969, he was cast as the cowardly canine Scooby-Doo on Scooby-Doo, Where Are You. He voiced him through all of the versions of Scooby-Doo, on television in numerous formats from 1969 to 1985, four television films. In Hong Kong Phooey, he was the voice of Spot the cat, in 1977, Don Messick lent his vocal talents to several characters in the first animated adaptation of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
3.
Janet Waldo
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Janet Marie Waldo was an American radio and voice actress. She is best known in animation for voicing Judy Jetson, Nancy in Shazzan, Penelope Pitstop, and Josie in Josie and the Pussycats, Waldo was born in Yakima, Washington. Her mother, Jane Althea Blodgett, was a trained at the Boston Conservatory of Music. Her sister, Elisabeth Waldo, is an authority on pre-Columbian music, Waldo attended the University of Washington, where her performance in a student theatrical garnered her an award and brought her to the attention of Bing Crosby. A Paramount Pictures talent scout, who was with Crosby at the time, signed Waldo for a screen test, Waldo appeared in several films in uncredited bit parts and small roles, although she was the leading lady in three Westerns, two of them starring Tim Holt. Her big break came in radio with a part on Cecil B and she co-starred with Jimmy Lydon in the CBS situation comedy Young Love, and she had recurring roles on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Red Skelton Show and People Are Funny. She also recorded with jazz vocalist Mel Torme and his group the Mel-Tones. The radio program was the CBS answer to NBCs popular A Date with Judy, despite the long run of Meet Corliss Archer, fewer than 24 episodes are known to exist. Waldo later turned down the offer to portray Corliss in a television adaptation, in 1948, the Meet Corliss Archer comic book, using Waldos likeness, published by Fox Feature Syndicate, appeared for a run of three issues from March to July 1948, using the original scripts. The same year, Waldo married playwright Robert Edwin Lee, the partner of Jerome Lawrence. The couple had two children, and remained married until his death in 1994, Waldo made a rare on-screen television appearance when she appeared as Peggy, a teen smitten with Ricky Ricardo on a 1952 episode of I Love Lucy titled The Young Fans with Richard Crenna. Ten years later, Waldo again worked with Lucille Ball, this time playing Lucy Carmichaels sister, Marge and that episode was titled Lucys Sister Pays A Visit. She also appeared on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show as Amanda, Waldo also reprised the role of Emmy Lou for some early TV episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Later, she was the lead opposite Anthony Franciosa in the short-lived sitcom Valentines Day. In television animation, she played Judy Jetson in all versions of the Hanna-Barbera television series The Jetsons, Waldo was the last surviving main cast member of the original The Jetsons series. In 1964–66, she took over the role of Pearl Slaghoople on The Flintstones, Waldo reprised Mrs. Slaghoople on the Flintstones TV films I Yabba-Dabba Do. and Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby in the 1990s. She later guest starred in Thundarr the Barbarian as Circe in the episode Island of the Body Snatchers. The following year she voiced both Arlene Wilcox, twin sister of the Witch of Salem and the witch in the episode To Switch a Witch from the season of Scooby Doo
4.
William Hanna
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After working odd jobs in the first months of the Depression, Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930. During the 1930s, Hanna steadily gained skill and prominence while working on such as Captain. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Hanna met Joseph Barbera, the two men began a collaboration that was at first best known for producing Tom and Jerry and live action/animated hybrid films. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, at that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996, Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors. Hanna and Barbera won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy Awards and their cartoons have become cultural icons, and their cartoon characters have appeared in other media such as films, books, and toys. Hanna-Barberas shows had an audience of over 300 million people in their 1960s heyday. William Hanna was born to William John and Avice Joyce Hanna on July 14,1910 in Melrose and he was the third of seven children and the only son. Hanna claimed there was no war between the sexes nor sibling rivalry in their home, Hanna described his family as a red-blooded, Irish-American family. His father was a superintendent for railroads as well as water and sewer systems throughout the western regions of America. When Hanna was three years old, the moved to Baker City, Oregon, where his father worked on the Balm Creek Dam. It was here that Hanna developed his love of the outdoors, the family moved to Logan, Utah, before moving to San Pedro, California, in 1917. During the next two years they moved several times before settling in Watts, California, in 1919. In 1922, while living in Watts, he joined Scouting and he attended Compton High School from 1925 through 1928, where he played the saxophone in a dance band. His passion for music carried over into his career, he helped write songs for his cartoons, Hanna became an Eagle Scout as a youth and remained active in Scouting throughout his life. As an adult, he served as a Scoutmaster and was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America with their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1985, despite his numerous career-related awards, Hanna was most proud of this Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. His interests also included sailing and singing in a barbershop quartet, Hanna studied both journalism and structural engineering at Compton City College, but had to drop out of college with the onset of the Great Depression. On August 7,1936, Hanna married Violet Blanch Wogatzke, in 1996, Hanna, with assistance from Los Angeles writer Tom Ito, published his autobiography—Joe Barbera had published his two years earlier. After dropping out of college, Hanna worked briefly as a construction engineer and he lost that job during the Great Depression and found another at a car wash
5.
Joseph Barbera
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Through his young adult years, Barbera lived, attended college, and began his career in New York City. After working odd jobs and as a banker, Barbera joined Van Beuren Studios in 1932, in 1937, he moved to California and while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Barbera met William Hanna. The two men began a collaboration that was at first best known for producing Tom and Jerry, in 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, Hanna and Barbera won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy Awards. Their cartoon shows have become icons, and their cartoon characters have appeared in other media such as films, books. Hanna-Barberas shows had an audience of over 300 million people in the 1960s and have been translated into more than 20 languages. His family moved to Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York when he was four months old and he had two younger brothers, Larry and Ted, both of whom served in World War II. As a member of the United States Army, Larry participated in the invasion of Sicily, Ted was a fighter pilot with the United States Army Air Forces and served in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. Barberas father, Vincent, was the owner of three barbershops who squandered the family fortunes on gambling. By the time Barbera was 15, his father had abandoned the family, Barbera displayed a talent for drawing as early as the first grade. He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1928, while in high school, Barbera won several boxing titles. He was briefly managed by World Lightweight Boxing Champion Al Singers manager, in 1935, Barbera married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Earl. In school, they had known as Romeo and Juliet. Barbera and his wife briefly separated when he went to California and they reunited but were on the verge of another separation when they discovered that Dorothy was pregnant with their first child. They had 4 children, two sons and two daughters, the marriage officially ended in 1963. Shortly after his divorce, Barbera met his wife, Sheila Holden, at Musso & Franks restaurant. Unlike Dorothy, who had preferred to stay at home with the children, during high school, Barbera worked as a tailors delivery boy. During the Great Depression, he tried unsuccessfully to become a cartoonist for a magazine called The NY Hits Magazine and he supported himself with a job at a bank, and continued to pursue publication for his cartoons
6.
Hanna-Barbera
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Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated American television animation for over three decades in the mid 20th century. In late 1966, it was sold to Taft Broadcasting and spent two decades as its subsidiary and it is officially considered the very first major animation studio to successfully produce cartoons exclusively for television. For their achievements, Hanna and Barbera together won seven Academy Awards, eight Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the pair was also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1993. Hanna-Barberas fortunes declined in the mid-1980s when the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication, in late 1991, the animation studio was purchased from Taft by Turner Broadcasting System, who used much of its back catalog to program its new channel, Cartoon Network. After Turner purchased the company, Hanna and Barbera continued to serve as creative consultants, Turner merged with Time Warner in 1996 and the studio became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Animation, into which Hanna-Barbera was absorbed after Hanna died in 2001, Cartoon Network Studios continued the projects for the channels output. Barbera went on to work for Warner Bros, Animation until his death in 2006. As of 2017, the studio exists as a unit used to market properties and productions associated with the Hanna-Barbera library. Melrose, New Mexico native William Hanna and New York City-born of Italian heritage Joseph Barbera first met while working at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1939. Their first directorial production and collaboration was the Academy Award-nominated Puss Gets the Boot, Hanna and Barbera served as directors of the shorts for over 20 years, with Barbera in charge of the stories and pre-production and Hanna in charge of supervising the animation. Hanna also provided the screams, yelps and yells for Tom Cat, in addition to the series being nominated for twelve more Oscars, seven of the cartoons won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject between 1943 and 1953. The trophies were awarded to their producer Fred Quimby, who was not involved in the development of the shorts. In addition to their work on the cartoons, the two men moonlighted on outside projects, including the title sequences and commercials for the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided in early 1957 to close its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release, Hanna and Barbera, contemplating their future while completing the final Tom and Jerry cartoons, began producing animated TV commercials. During their last year at MGM, they developed a concept for an animated TV program about a dog, a coin toss determined that Hanna would have precedence in the naming the new studio. Harry Cohn, president and head of Columbia Pictures, took an 18 percent ownership in Hanna and Barberas new company, H-B Enterprises, Screen Gems became the new studios distributor and its licensing agent, handling merchandizing of the characters from the animated programs. Sidney and several Screen Gems alumni became members of the board of directors. H-B Enterprises was one of the first American cartoon studios to produce cartoons specifically for TV broadcast
