A biography revealed that Mel Blanc after a long hard day of work, voluntarily went to entertain children with burn injuries. The laughter made a big difference in their lives.
I find myself NEVER LOOKING at Mel in TV appearances, from Benny here up to the Letterman show (really lousy interview, as the audience howls and screams with sheer joy and appreciation, Letterman acts really insensitive and bored). We have decades of his art to roll back in our imagination. In his book, THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS you can read about his horrific auto accident, his months in a coma, and how a new intern at the hospital and BUGS and the gang worked to bring Mel back to consciousness (true story)!
Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices. It always intrigued me that he did all of the voices on the Looney Tunes show. My favorite Saturday morning cartoons.
Years later, Jack & Mel were both on the Tonight Show talking about that joke. Jack had his writers put the line in, thinking he would stump Mel with it, thinking Mel would say "What does an English horse sound like?" Mel ad-libbed the joke in rehersal and it stayed in the skit. Mel was an amazing talent.
I was a commercial producer at Benton and Bowles when Mel had the automobile accident in 1959 and recorded him in his home in his bed. I had an identical accident in July 1957.His talent and sense of humor was undiminished!!!
Most of the people did dirty jokes and acts but the FCC did not allow it on TV. Looney Toons made photographic cartoons in the 1940s. They were stag films and funny as hell. Look them up.
Yes, and that goes for Mel Blanc, too. I have a DVD set of 39 episodes of the Jack Benny show and I play them over and over and over. I'd like to meet both men in Heaven!
Alan Douglas: my late friend Leonie Kinskey of Casablanca fame, told me the jack Benny show he did was his favorite experience in show business. Benny included you in writing sessions. Asked u to contribute.
Benny was almost always the straight man. He set up so many people for a promising career, and his cast remained almost the same since the early days with only minor changes. My favorite jokes were the cheap shots he received from his cast members (Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Don Wilson) who had 2 shows and took every chance to point that out.
The beauty of Jack Benny is that he could turn the simplest things into comedy gold.."See...SI...SEW"...."Train leaving on track 5...Anaheim...Azuza..and.............................................................Cucamonga"..
13 years after this aired I got to meet Mel Blanc when I was 14 years old. It was a private meeting in his office on Sunset Blvd. and even though it's been 46 years I still remember a lot of it. In the corner of his office - behind his desk - he had an eight foot replica of his most famous character, Bugs Bunny. I asked him why such a big character. He responded: "Because I always want to remind myself that he (Bugs) is the one paying the bills." Of course, he did a lot of our well known cartoon characters. It was fun (for a 14 year old kid) because just sitting there with him talking to me "normally" I could (in certain words) a little bit of Bugs and then there would be a little bit of Barney Rubble (from the Flintstones) and then a little bit of Yosemite Sam. It's a fun memory from my youth. (How did it come about? Blanc had spent part of his youth growing up in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. His mother had been friends with my grandmother and, consequently, had known my mother 20 years before I was born.)
Thank you for sharing an interesting experience for 14 year old boy... I was also about 14 when my brother and me... we bicycled over to CBS got to see Jack Benny live since Chucko the Birthday Clown was not airing at that time..
Realizing after all these years how fortunate we were able to see Jack Benny live, in fact twice, since the the nice lady who was giving out the tickets told us that Chucko Crown should be return for taping next week.. If only Jack Benny would have handed out toy presents it would have been perfect, all we had to do is listening to his screeching violin..lol P.S. I was also screeching the violin in the school orchestra....
I remember that story. This past week I met someone who played viola with Jack when he was on tour. He said Jack's problem was his fingering. Jack was humble about it. He knew his limitation. May both Mr. Blanc and Mr. Kubulsky RIP. Thanks for the laughs yesterday, today and tomorrow.
God in Heaven probably saying, "Come on, Mel, do it again, please, do it for ME, please." And Mel says, "Okay, here goes..." "Ehhh... What's up, God??"
It's been said about Jack Benny, that in real life he was very generous. The only selfish thing he ever did was die. Can't remember who said that. My Dad use to love to watch his old reruns. From a by gone era by a son who still misses his Dad.
That bewildered 'look' as Jack Benny scans the audience! So classic. I still remember where I was when I was told he had passed away...I was in a Thrifty Drugstore at Santa Monica and La Brea in LA. The clerk had just heard it on the radio. For a kid who grew up with TV in the 50'-60's it was truly the end of an era.
Jack Benny played a mizer in his show. In real life he was very generous and kind. I met Mel Blanc and what you see is what you get. He is a very kind and humble man. U bet God never gets tired of seeing them. Love them both. I grew up on these guys and Red Skelton
Chris&forrest funvideos It’s something to think that Tweety and Yosemite Sam, or the Tasmanian Devil were all voiced by one man. One of the voice actors who does a few characters on the Simpsons related a story which really told what great talent Mel Blanc had. In one of the WB cartoons, Bugs and Daffy were dealing with Elmer Fudd, each trying to get the hapless hunter to shoot the other. Daffy always lost, of course. At one point, Bugs and Daffy each come out disguised as the other. Since Mel did both characters, he did Bugs imitating Daffy, and Daffy imitating Bugs. The voice actor said that they were amazed at this ability, because he said they tried to do this with some of the Simpson characters, and couldn’t pull it off. The voice would just land in the middle. He was in awe that Mel Blanc could pull that off, and make it believable. The English horse you see here was first thought of as a joke that Jack and his writers tried to pull on Mel Blanc. As they were writing the script, someone suggested writing “Mel does English horse.” They wondered how Mel would react when he saw this in the script, and would be asking them what they meant, and what was he supposed to do. But he never said a word, and when they were rehearsing, he did the English horse just like you saw him do it here, leaving Benny and the others laughing. That’s how the “English horse” started.
For someone who was in show business as long as Jack Benny Im sure it wasnt easy to make him laugh. He must have heard it all. This was the highest compliment to Mel.
Jack found Mel genuinely funny and Mel sometimes would make a funny face or gesture that would set Jack off. You can see him loosing it in this bit. Occasionally he'd go off the page and break him up with something not planned as well.
shooter4287 Actually, it wasn’t as hard as you might think to get Jack laughing. His close friend George Burns could do it easily (which is why George was dubbed, “the comedian’s comedian.) I remember reading a story where the two were at some big Hollywood mogul’s house for a big dinner, and entertainment. The two were sitting next to each other, right in front of the stage. Just before the performance, George leaned over and said to Jack, “Now Jack, don’t start laughing and ruin this girl’s song.” Well, that was it. Jack started laughing and just could not stop. The two felt so bad about it that they went over after, and apologized to the singer, and Jack promised he would have her as a guest on his show (that kind of exposure was enough to launch a career). And he did keep that promise.
I heard it was the tiniest things that set Jack off in a laughing fit. He was of gentle humor that is sorely missed today. I also heard, no comedian has been able to match his sense of timing. Those long pauses brought the audience to their knees. Oh, Mr. Benny, how you are missed.
One of Jack Benny’s favorite comics was Donald Red Blanchard who was a comic on the WLS National Barndance. Not as well known as Benny himself but very funny.
selene miller Actually, every dog he did was in Looney Tunes, but especially happy dog. Almost every sound he did here I remember from cartoons. What a genius!
SulliMike241 Well, Jack was aware of how good Mel was, and was trying desperately not to break up and ruin the performance. Mel, however, would just stay in character, and keep right on going. The two together played well off of each other.
Mel Blanc didn’t really do all the voices on the Looney Tunes. There were some other people who did some of the voices (Stan Freberg, Bea Benedaret. ) although Mr Blanc got the credit for the voices.
One of the great comedy scenes in TV history, There were many like this one on this truly great show. Benny was one of the half dozen or so true comic geniuses. He allowed his supporting players like here the incomparable Mel Blanc (and others like Rochester, Frank Nelson & Don Wilson) to become legendary performers in there own right.
There will never be another Mel Blanc!! Growing up I had to get up at 7:00 am every Saturday so I would not miss the Looney Tunes show because in the early 70's we didn't have a VCR yet. Giving up my day to sleep in from School was well worth it and I loved every minute of it. I still do!
Mel Blanc was more than just a creator of funny voices, he created characters. That's what made him stand out. He would also visit children in hospitals and do their favorite cartoon voices. Someone in the comments here had the good fortune as a child, to meet him in person. I'm jealous. He was quite a man.
It's like music and many other art forms. It's one thing to be able to physically pull off the voices or even imitate a bunch of them. But he created them too. That makes him really special among voice actors.
Brings back so many memories. I used to listen to Jack Benny on the Radio before TV. He was great either way as was Mel Blanc. If you were to see Mel's gravestone, you would see a small picture of Bugs Bunny and written on the stone it says, "That's All Folks!".
Such A Simpler time ! Always , enjoyed watching these old shows with my folks growing up. Of course not the first runs . I caught the reruns but they held up.
in my opinion, there have been several good actors/comedians that teamed together that brought laughter to untold number of people. Such teams as Andy Griffith/Don Knotts, Harvey Korman/Tim Conway to name a couple. But nobody could match Jack Benny/Mel Blanc for Mr. Benny's deadpan look and delivery and Mr. Blanc's different voices. This clean family humor is still funny in 2021; more so than the "comedy" made for today's TV. Other comments on this page indicates that I'm not the only person with this opinion. Thank you for posting this video. May these two gentlemen RIP.
More than 30 years ago, on the way to work each morning in Melbourne, Australia, I would go past the Cricketers' Arms Hotel in Richmond, an inner suburb of Melbourne. There was a blackboard on a stand on the pavement outside the main entrance, on which the publican would write in chalk, a daily comment about a topical subject or news story. The day after Mel's death was reported, the comment on the board was, naturally, 'That's all, folks!'
Jack Benny and Mel Blanc. Legends of all time. Of any era. But Mel will be known as long as there are childrens cartoons for eternity. They may not know his name but everyone knows, "Ehhh, What's Up Doc".
Mel Blanc also did the train station announcer on JB's radio show. "Train leaving on Track Five for Anaheim, Azuza and Cucamonga." The inside joke was that these three towns were not on the same line. To get to all them would have been a very long trip. Mel did have that mechanical sound of the train announcer,
Sad dog was great. In 1957, I was 11. Grew up on these folks. BUGS BUNNY! Love the ad libs, which lead to the actors laughing, which make the audience laugh more, which makes the TV audience hoot, too long.
Mel Blanc was a wonder man! He made the voices (and the character) of dozen of cartoon creations: Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, Elmer Fudd, Tweety and all you can watch in Warner Bros.Looney Tunes. Even Speedy Gonzalez, with a realistic mexican accent. And remember than in those days there were no special effects in sound: every voice was came from the genius throat of Mr. Blanc
Actually, the character of Elmer Fudd was originally done by an actor named Arthur Q. Bryan. Mel took over after Bryan's death, but felt uncomfortable doing the voice.
+Enrique virdo kolbe I agree. Mel Blanc was a genius! He did a brilliant job doing the Looney Tunes voices and so many others including Barney Rubble from The Flintstones. Thank you for your post!
Mel Blanc's title was "The man of a thousand voices" and he was a genuine comedy legend. If you go to Google images and search "Mel Blanc's tombstone," you will see that on his headstone it says, "That's all Folks." RIP Mel.
Mel Blanc was one of the best voices ever. And Jack had maybe the best paused look ever. His look would get a laugh without even saying a word. I have the Jack Benny show on DVD.
No swearing, nothing to do with sex, this is perfect comedy. So very, very sad what TV has come to be in the last 20 years. I'd let my kids watch this stuff any day.
From the days of Vaudeville up to today, it's the artist that appeals to the widest swath of the public that gets the recognition! Now, think of the past artistic greats great of old. See them attempting to, no... see ED SULLIVAN parading everyone in front of today's TV viewing audience, hmm?
still fresh and brilliantly funny without a doubt. and i guess it will always be. true humour ( is ) timed/timing , to perfection by master comedians Jack Benny and Mel Blanc.
TV was SO much fun to watch when it was just getting started with comedians and "talent" like that! Thank goodness for these clips and reruns so the younger people have a chance to make up their minds about what is worth watching and what is just plain JUNK!
Of course , I knew Mel Blanc did virtually ALL those voices , the key characters and the "Supporting casts"(There could have been like , THREE, he could'nt master , but , I doubt it. ) in the Warner Bros. cartoon , as well as Barney Rubble. But , when I saw him "Live"on Spike Jones and Jack Benny's programs , I realized how much he looks like one of the characters he voiced !
