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Mel Imitates Actors (Aired November 12, 1946)

In 1936, Mel Blanc joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, which made animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Blanc liked to tell the story about how he got turned down at the Schlesinger studio by music director Norman Spencer, who was in charge of cartoon voices, saying that they had all the voices they needed. Then Spencer died, and sound man Treg Brown took charge of cartoon voices, while Carl Stalling took over as music director. Brown introduced Blanc to animation directors Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and Frank Tashlin, who loved his voices. The first cartoon Blanc worked on was Picador Porky as the voice of a drunken bull. He took over as Porky Pig\'s voice in Porky\'s Duck Hunt, which marked the debut of Daffy Duck, also voiced by Blanc. Blanc soon became noted for voicing a wide variety of cartoon characters from Looney Tunes, adding Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Pep\\xe9 Le Pew and many others. His natural voice was that of Sylvester the Cat, but without the lispy spray. (Blanc\'s voice can be heard in an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies that also featured frequent Blanc vocal foil Bea Benaderet; in his small appearance, Blanc plays a vexed cab-driver.

THIS EPISODE:

November 12, 1946. "Mel Imitates Actors" - CBS network. Sponsored by: Colgate Toothpowder, Halo Shampoo. A fraternal initiation takes place while Mel minds the baby. Earle Ross, Hans Conried, Joseph Kearns, Mary Jane Croft, Mel Blanc, The Sportsmen, Victor Miller and His Orchestra. 24:40. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.