Son of Blanc Speaks

DVDFile.com recently did a 2-part interview with Noel Blanc, who offered lots of interesting details on Mel Blanc's life, and what it was like to be the son of "The Man of 1,000 Voices". Follow the links below to read the interviews:

Part 1

Part 2


Rob Paulsen to appear on DVD

It may sound bizarre, but the eyes and mouth of the Emmy-award winning voice actor, Rob Paulsen, will make their first appearance on DVD in early 2001. That's right, the actual eyes and mouth of the voice of Pinky on "Pinky & The Brain" and Yakko Warner on "Animaniacs" (as well as dozens of voices on "Histeria!" and other WB cartoons) will themselves be appearing on DVD.

If you missed seeing comedian Steve Oedekerk's hilarious Star Wars spoof, "Thumb Wars", when it aired on UPN last year, you missed one of Rob Paulsen's most unique performances to date. Rob voices a lead character, Oobedoob Benubi, and provides several other voices in the cast as well. But what makes the performance unique is that the actual eyes and mouth of the actors were filmed in live action, and then digitally altered to achieve maximum comedic effect. Rob's own eyes and mouth make up the actual faces of the characters. Rob says that "Thumb Wars" has been one of the "most fun projects" he's ever worked on, and he's extremely pleased with how it turned out.

ZENtertainment reported via Daily Variety that "Image Entertainment has signed a deal with Steve Oedekerk's O Entertainment for exclusive worldwide home video and broadcast rights to the filmmaker's thumb parodies". Available in early 2001, the first DVD release will feature "Thumb Wars" and "Thumbtanic" (Titanic parody), with additional releases following every month. (To my knowledge, Rob appears only on "Thumb Wars".)

Visit the official Thumb.com site for a preview video clip, images, and production details. There, you can also order official Thumb merchandise - dishwasher-safe ceramic coffee mugs featuring Rob Paulsen's digitally altered face! (Is that cool, or what?)

While I'm on the subject of Rob Paulsen, I wanted to mention my latest "big find" for The V.A.U.L.T. In developing the directory, I run a new search on some 2 dozen specific voice actors' names about every 3 months. And every time, I discover something really cool that I hadn't seen before. It's what makes the searching worthwhile. And I enjoy passing along these "finds" to you, like the 34-minute phone interview with Rob at epradio.com that I came across just last week.

Though it's several months old, it's very much worth listening to now if you haven't heard it yet because it's 34 minutes long. You'll need the Windows Media Player plug-in to listen, which if you don't have, it would be worth your time to download it if you're any kind of fan of Rob Paulsen's work. (Did I mention this interview is THIRTY-FOUR MINUTES LONG?)

The epradio.com interview with Rob Paulsen, along with 10 others, can be found in Rob's category at The V.A.U.L.T.

I've been told that Rob provides the voice of Prince Eric in "The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea", even singing a bit in it too. Rob also does a little singing in "Tweety's High-Flying Adventure", and provides a few incidental voices in that movie as well.

Rob's also on the web as the voice of Plutony (Fat Tony) on the Entertaindom.com pulse-animated series, Li'l Green Men (with Keith Ferguson as Ray, and David Sobolov as Orcus).

Additionally, Voice Chasers reports that Rob will again be hosting ASIFA-Hollywood's Annie Awards on November 11th, alongside Maurice LaMarche (voice of The Brain), who has himself been nominated for an Annie Award from his performance in "Wakko's Wish". Details on this event can be found at the ASIFA-Hollywood's official site.


Phil LaMarr Talks Static

ComicsContinuum reports that "the first issue of the 'Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool' mini-series from Milestone Comics (reaching stores on 11.01.2000) will feature an interview with Static Shock star Phil LaMarr".

In addition to being a regular performer on FOX's "MadTV", Phil LaMarr can also be heard every Saturday on KidsWB at 10:30am as the voice of Static/ Virgil Hawkins on "Static Shock", and every Sunday at 7pm as the voice of Hermes on FOX's "Futurama".


Nancy Cartwright's Book-Signing Tour

Recognized internationally as the voice of Bart Simpson, Nelson, and Ralph Wiggum on "The Simpsons", Nancy Cartwright is also the voice of Mindy on "Animaniacs!" and Rudy Mookich on "Pinky, Elmyra & The Brain".

And back in August, we reported that Nancy Cartwright's autobiography, "My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy" would be published on October 31st. The book's release date has since been changed to November 2nd, and on that same day, Nancy will kick-off a promotional tour, covering 8 cities in 3 different states, beginning in her home town of Kettering, Ohio.

Though the official release date is set for November 2nd, one of our own Toon Zone staffers, Craig Marinaro, has reported that Nancy's book may already be available in some areas. He found a copy of the book just "sitting on the shelf, plain as day" at a local Borders store on October 14th.

He says that the book is "pretty interesting, with some cute anecdotes about various guest stars, and some insight into the show's writing, animation, and of course, [voice acting]".

So if you don't want to wait until November 2nd to get your copy, check around in your area to see if it's already available.

As for her book-signing tour, we'd like to offer a very special thanks to Rick Schwarz for providing this list of the locations for her appearances.

November 2nd 7:00pm
Kettering, Ohio (Nancy's Home Town)
Books and Company
360 E. Stroop Road

November 4th 1:00pm
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Book Ends
232 E. Ridgeway Avenue

November 6th 7:30pm
New York City, New York
Barnes and Noble
289 Broadway

November 7th 7:30pm
Huntington, New York
Book Revue
313 New York Avenue

November 20th 7:00pm
Borthridge, California
Border's Books and Music
9301 Tampa Avenue

November 21st 7:30pm
West Hollywood, California
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard

November 24th 2:00pm
Costa Mesa, California
Border's Books and Music
South Coast Plaza

November 29th 7:30pm
Sherman Oaks, California
Border's Books and Music
14651 Ventura Boulevard

For details and ordering information on her book, please click here.


Meet the voice of Guitierrez in person!

Ask any "Freakazoid" fan to list their favorite episodes, and those featuring Ricardo Montalban as the voice of Guitierrez will mostly likely appear in the top 3. Though more widely recognized for his film roles (such as Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan") or as Mr. Roarke on the 1977 television series, "Fantasy Island", there are undoubtedly plenty of "Freakazoid!" fans who would love to have the opportunity to meet the man behind the voice.

Thanks to Creation Entertainment, some of them could get that opportunity. Somehow, they managed to convince Ricardo Montalban to appear at the "Star Trek Grand Slam" for the 35th Anniversary of Star Trek on March 30-April 1, 2001, in Pasadena, California.

Creation Entertainment has pulled out all the stops, hosting the single-largest assemblage of Star Trek actors and production crew in convention history. If you're a Trek fan, and you haven't yet heard about this event, they're planning to have 100 guest celebrities in attendance. Among those already confirmed to attend: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei (voice of Mr. Fixx on "Batman Beyond"), James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, John de Lancie, Marina Sirtis, and Michael Dorn.

Over 1,000 tickets for this event have already been sold, but I understand that there are plenty left. Several of the actors slated to appear have done voiceovers for animation, so if you're a Trek fan, or just an autograph hound, this event's the one to attend.


Hear Gilbert "Mxy" Gottfried Perform Live

Go ahead - try to deny it: Gilbert Gottfried was the
perfect choice for the voice of Superman's most
outlandish foe, Mr. Mxyzptlk. And while he's used that
same voice so effectively in other animated cartoons,
TV shows and movies, his performance as the Mxy is one
of his best in animation to date.

Those living in the Olympia area of Washington State
will have the opportunity to see Gilbert perform live
on November 2, where he will appear the Go Sports Club
in Olympia, WA; and on November 3-4 at Giggles, a
comedy club also in Olympia.

However, he will not be appearing as Mr. Mxyzptlk.
Sorry to disappoint you.

For other voice actor appearances, visit The Voice Actors Ultimate Links Treasury at Netscape's Open Directory (dmoz.org).

Exclusive Interview with Pat Fraley
(By Craig "Gookie" Crumpton)

Since 1979, Patrick Fraley has had an extremely successful career as a voice actor, having performed well in excess of 2,000 animated programs and commercials. His most recognizable roles include Krang on "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", Ace and Barbecue on "G.I. Joe", Wildcat on "TaleSpin", and Bob the Twin and two of the Worm Guys on "Men in Black: The Series". His recent work includes "MiB: The Series", "Toy Story 2", and the English dub version of the highly acclaimed anime film, "Princess Mononoke". And at least 3 of his books-on-tape performances have won or been nominated for an Audie Award (the equivalent of an Emmy Award in the audiobook industry).

He is also the author of several works--most notably, the audio instructional, Creating Character Voices For Fun & Profit, one of the most highly recommended learning tools for aspiring actors. Today, he's become one of the most consistent talents in the business. While he doesn't frequently land the lead roles, you can usually count on him to be called in to fill in those "additional voices" whenever and wherever they're needed.

When Pat isn't doing voiceovers, he teaches acting classes and offers private voice instruction. Pat's also an extremely gracious, friendly, and giving individual who has always made himself available to answer questions from fans and to offer advice to aspiring voice actors. And he's just the kinda guy to accept a request for a mini-interview like this one, which was conducted via e-mail.

CC: What projects are you working on these days?

PF: I just finished my 3rd year in MEN IN BLACK doing two of the four WORM GUYS and Bob the Twin. Pat Pinney does the other twin and the other two Worm Guys. Great Fun.

I start a new show for SABAN next week as Hercules in "Hercules and the Heroes of Mt. Olympus". Also, rehearsing to perform a book on audio-Winesburg, Ohio. I recently did Adventures of Huck Finn-100 voices, 50 hours [in] the studio.

I [did] the voice of Buzz Lightyear for all toys and commercials as well as all exertion sounds in Toy Story II. Don't ask me why Tim [Allen] didn't want to, but it meets my needs. Praise God. Aside from [this], I'm teaching a great deal and doing the usual spot here and there. I'm [also currently] working on a series of Audio CD's entitled CARTOON VOICE!--they're like "Creating Character Voices", but looser and more fun with interviews, clips and audio from sessions and stuff.

[Pat has promised to provide more details on this project as it progresses.]

CC: I read that you produced an Internet comic called "Reman" for Microsoft. What was it about?

PF: It was about 5 years ago. It's off the Internet now. Three "comic books" with about 500 panels apiece. I produced it and Kath Soucie and I did all the voices for budget purposes. Interesting job. Ronald Feinberg directed it. He directs all my books on audio projects as well.

CC: Many voice actors in animation come from a background doing stand-up comedy, such as Will Ryan, Frank Welker, and Maurice LaMarche. Did you ever see any of their performances, or perhaps even did some yourself?

PF: Frank was the "funny one" in a folk group right out of high school in Colorado. This is good [considering] his singing ability--which is second only to me for killing dogs.

Moe (Maurice) was an impressionist, and Hal [Smith] did this weird singing deal. Personally, I wrote and performed my one-man show--An Opportunity to be Loud--that's as close to stand up as I came and it was later in my career. I came into Voice work via Theatre and teaching Vocal Dynamics early on in Australia. I believe all of us wrote our own material.

CC: Do you have a favorite anecdote from working with other voice actors?

PF: David Hall, a Christian, dear friend, and a voice over talent and I were doing a session years ago on "The Littles" for DIC. Stu Rosen was directing and there were [problems]. We were well into our 12th hour working and waiting. David had recently recovered from a car crash that left him with half of one leg and many skin grafts from burns. He was starting to get sore and took a portion of a pain pill. As he popped his pill, he leaned toward me and whispered, "When I started this show, I had legs."

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Legal Stuff: All text is the exclusive property of Craig Crumpton, except where noted, and is copyright 2000, C-Plus Productions. No portions of this document may be reprinted or distributed in any way without the express written consent of the author.