Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode is on the biggest and most influential name in voice-over history Mel Blanc. His sobriquet or nickname was “The Man Of 1,000 Voices” which was probably only a slight hyperbole. He voiced the majority of characters for Looney Tunes, and Merrie Melodies from the Warner Bros. studios, as well as lending his talents to commercials, radio shows, and other television programs.

Some of his most iconic characters included Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, the Road Runner, Yosemite Sam, Barney Rubble, and Porky Pig.

Today’s mnemonic is on his top 6 voices.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mel_Blanc_-_1959.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank /blæŋk/;[2][3] May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989)[4] was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy radio programs, including those of Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova, and his own short-lived sitcom.

However, he became known worldwide for his work in the Golden Age of American Animation as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd (before and after Arthur Q. Bryan voiced Elmer, and even during Bryan's lifetime), Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, and numerous other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoons.[5] He later voiced characters for Hanna-Barbera's television cartoons, including Barney Rubble and Dino on The Flintstones, Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons, Secret Squirrel on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, the title character of Speed Buggy, and Captain Caveman on Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels and The Flintstone Kids.[5]

Referred to as "The Man of a Thousand Voices",[6] he is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice acting industry, and as one of the greatest voice actors of all time.[7]

Blanc was born on May 30, 1908, in San Francisco, California, to Eva (née Katz), a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant,[8] and Frederick Blank (born in New York to German Jewish parents)[citation needed], the younger of two children. He grew up in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood,[9] and later in Portland, Oregon, where he attended Lincoln High School.[10] He had an early fondness for voices and dialect, which he began practicing at the age of 10. He claimed that he changed the spelling of his name when he was 16, from Blank to Blanc, because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be like his name, a "blank". He joined the Order of DeMolay as a young man, and was eventually inducted into its Hall of Fame.[11] After graduating from high school in 1927, he divided his time between leading an orchestra, becoming the youngest conductor in the country at the age of 19; and performing shtick in vaudeville shows around Washington, Oregon and northern California.[12]

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Blanc]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mel_Blanc_headstone.jpg

Mnemonic

Mel Blanc – Top 6 Voices Mnemonic – aDePT BaBY

(Picture Mel Blanc practicing voices at a young age as he did, and becoming highly adept with many of the voices)

1. Daffy Duck

2. Porky Pig

3. Tweety Bird

4. Barney Rubble

5. Bugs Bunny

6. Yosemite Sam

Five Fun Facts

1. Mel Blanc was born in 1908 in San Francisco, California. He studied at Lincoln High School in San Francisco and was married to Estelle Rosenbaum to whom he had a son, Noel Blanc. He died in 1989 from heart disease at the age of 81.

2. Blanc was involved in a serious car crash in 1961 at the age of 52. For several weeks he was in a coma with doctors unable to garner a response by talking to him. That was until they decided to speak to him as Bugs Bunny saying “Bugs, can you hear me?” to which Blanc replied, “Yeah, what’s up doc?”

3. Blanc provided the voice for approximately 90% of all Warner Bros cartoon characters. Even more astonishing is that he provided his voice to all but one of the major characters, which happened to be Elmer Fudd. However, when the voice of Elmer Fudd, Arthur Q. Bryan passed, Blanc stepped up, and did that one as well.

4. Blanc was not only a source of entertainment for cartoon watchers but also for truckers and anyone who had a CB radio. He would often sign on, and then speak in a myriad of his famous cartoon character voices.

Now one of those rants by Blanc was in regards to Daffy Duck and it went something like this. Daffy Duck was in a hotel room when he called room service and asked for a condom. Anyway, the receptionist says “Yes Daffy, no problem, shall we put it on your bill?”

To which Daffy replied. “Are you thucking thupid, I'll thuffocate!”

5. Blanc was the first voice actor to receive a credit. Warner Bros. came up with a credit reading specifically for Mel Blanc.

6. Bonus Fact: Mel Blanc’s surname was actually originally spelled with a K. He changed it at age 16 when he was told by a teacher that he would amount to nothing – a blank, like his name.