That's Not All Folks: My Life in the Golden Age of Cartoons and Radio

Like millions of Americans I owe Mel Blanc a debt of gratitude. For decades, whether voicing Bugs Bunny in a classic Warner Brothers cartoon, performing on the Burns & Allan radio show or announcing the train for 'Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc-amonga' on the Jack Benny TV show, Mel Blanc brought laughter and joy into my life. Mel tells his story in this charming, straightforward and FUNNY autobiography. While Blanc was primarily known for voicing so many cartoon characters, he was featured on many classic radio shows of the 30s and 40s and was a member of Jack Benny's TV family. He takes us through his life in a breezy, informative fashion, sharing anecdotes about the many talented people he worked with. Wonderful reminiscences and laughs a-plenty throughout the book! Highly recommended!

Beside an indepth view of "the film industry's cartoon genre(entertainment and the financial side of it)", Mel Blanc also gives an indepth look at his private life(incl a serious auto accident in 1961 in which he was in a semi-coma for 3 weeks) and the great rapport that he had with so many in the film industry and also Presidents*..(*Pg 261 :Re his long time friendship with President Ronald Regan),who along with First Lady Nancy Regan had been onetime acting colleagues).Due to Blanc's experience with Warner Bros. often having "historical references" in their films, Blanc's major complaint with the animated film industry which he had such a "deep affection for"(Pg 266) was that at the time of the books printing(1988) too little in his opinion were creative; too many animations (e.g. Bugs Bunny & Woody Woodpecker)were being plagarized.

the one thing that has always amazed me about voice actors is how easy they make what they do look. i've been a fan of Mel's forever. the first time i saw him was on a rerun of "The Jack Benny Program" playing Jack's violin instructor, Professor LeBlanc. i then learned that he was the voice of Warner Brothers cartoons. i HAD to see it for myself (i didn't believe my uncle's claims) and so one day i caught a Joan Lunden show on Lifetime called "Mother's Day" and out walked Mel in a Bugs Bunny shirt...and he was doing Bugs, Daffy, Speedy, Porky, Tweety, Sylvester...and i was knocked backwards! from that point forward i started to become a fan of voice actors, primarily the ones that didn't use their natural voice (like Mel, Daws Butler, Don Messick, Paul Winchell, June Foray, Paul Frees, Bill Scott, Stan Freberg, etc.)...but i don't mind the ones who use their own voices because they're so distinct (Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, Alan Reed, Lorenzo Music, etc.)with this book, "That's NOT All Folks!", we read the Mel Blanc story from his birth to 1988 (he passed away in 1989). we're informed of how he was raised in a melting pot and he started to mimick different dialects. he indirectly states that he's not a dialectition (one who specializes in dialects) because most of his dialects have his natural voice sprinkled through them...and so you might call his dialects "exaggerations". another chapter worth discussing is his in depth story involving his near-fatal car wreck in 1961. all the events that took place after impact have been recounted to him by doctors, friends, and family because Mel was in a coma for nearly a year and that's how this information was gathered! he spends some time talking about his dislikes and the book also sheds some light on some behind-the-scenes gossip and it explains why Mel's name got to be listed under "voice characterizations by" on the opening credits of many Warner Brothers theatrical shorts when his frequent co-stars (most notably Arthur Q. Bryan, Stan Freberg, and June Foray) names were not. Mel also tells the crisis that erupted after the death of Arthur Q. Bryan and how nobody wanted to voice Elmer Fudd and so Mel and Hal Smith took turns. there's also some trivia thrown in: did you know that Mel was the original voice for Woody Woodpecker in six cartoons and that the Walter Lantz studio continued to use Mel's woodpecker laugh long after Grace Stafford took over the role? so, if you ever see any Woody Woodpecker cartoons and you hear that laugh, no matter who the credits say is talking Woody, it's Mel's laugh everytime. Mel devotes a chapter to his long-running role as Jack Benny's comedic stooge from 1939-1965 and he also talks about his years spent on other radio shows ("The Judy Canova Show"; "Burns and Allen"; "Point Sublime"; as Goo-Goo the duck on "The Joe Penner Show"; on up to his own short-lived radio show entitled "The Mel Blanc Fix-It Shop". Mel gives reasons as to why he thinks his radio show was short-li

The one thing that has always amazed me about voice actors is how easy they make what they do look. i've been a fan of Mel's forever. the first time i saw him was on a rerun of "The Jack Benny Program" playing Jack's violin instructor, Professor LeBlanc. i then learned that he was the voice of Warner Brothers cartoons. I HAD to see it for myself (i didn't believe my uncle's claims) and so one day i caught a Joan Lunden show on Lifetime called "Mother's Day" and out walked Mel in a Bugs Bunny shirt...and he was doing Bugs, Daffy, Foghorn, Porky, Tweety, Sylvester...and i was knocked backwards! From that point forward i started to become a fan of voice actors, primarily the ones that didn't use their natural voice too much, such as Mel, Daws Butler, Don Messick, Paul Winchell, June Foray, Paul Frees, Bill Scott, Stan Freberg, etc.)...but i don't mind the ones who use their own voices, most of the time, because they're so distinct (John Stephenson, Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, Lorenzo Music, etc.) With this book, "That's NOT All Folks!", we read the Mel Blanc story from his birth to 1988 (he passed away in 1989). we're informed of how he was raised in a melting pot and he started to mimic different dialects. he indirectly states that he's not a dialectition (one who specializes in dialects) because most of his dialects have his natural voice sprinkled through them...and so you might call his dialects "Americanized dialects". another chapter worth discussing is his in depth story involving his near-fatal car wreck in 1961. all the events that took place after impact have been recounted to him by doctors, friends, and family because Mel was in a coma for nearly a year and that's how this information was gathered! he spends some time talking about his dislikes and the book also sheds some light on some behind-the-scenes gossip and it explains why Mel's name got to be listed under "voice characterizations by" on the opening credits of many Warner Brothers theatrical shorts when his frequent co-stars (most notably Arthur Q. Bryan, Stan Freberg, and June Foray) names were not. Mel also tells the crisis that erupted after the death of Arthur Q. Bryan and how nobody wanted to voice Elmer Fudd and so Mel and Hal Smith took turns. there's also some trivia thrown in: did you know that Mel was the original voice for Woody Woodpecker in six cartoons and that the Walter Lantz studio continued to use Mel's woodpecker laugh long after Grace Stafford took over the role? so, if you ever see any Woody Woodpecker cartoons up through the early '80s and you hear that laugh, no matter who the credits say is talking Woody, it's Mel's laugh every time. Mel devotes a chapter to his long-running role as Jack Benny's comedic stooge from 1939-1965 and he also talks about his years spent on other radio shows: "The Judy Canova Show"; "Burns and Allen"; "Point Sublime"; as Goo-Goo the duck on "The Joe Penner Show"; on up to his own short-lived radio show entitled "The Mel B

Though the man left us in 1989, Mel Blanc will forever live on in the characters he voiced. This book provides biographical information as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the activities of the Warner Brothers studio. Readers will learn how the individual voices were created and will even see photos of Mel "portraying" the character as he talks. One of the biggest secrets of all was that he disliked carrots. He'd chew on them while recording Bug's lines, but the recording would have to stop while Mel spit out the remains into a wastebasket.If you're a true fan of Bugs, Elmer, Porky, Daffy, Sylvester, Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, and all the rest, pick up a copy of _Chuck Amuck_ when you're finished here. You'll discover more about Warner Brothers from cartoonist Chuck Jones in that volume. And if you can, scarf around and find _Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: a complete illustrated guide to the Warner Brothers cartoons_ by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald. It's a fully-indexed episode-by-episode encyclopedia with cast notes and plot summaries. Keep it next to your TV.