This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected.
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Here's Greg Hengler. Ah! If you added up all the hours from your childhood, chances are, the voice of Mel Blank made up the majority of dialogue spoken to you. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepe Le Pue. Speedy Gonzalez, Wiley Coyote, Roadrunner, Elmer Fudd, Barney Rubble, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and the Tasmanian Devil to name just a few of Blank's voice contributions.
This man embodied a sense of innocence and good nature and was so adored and respected that all who knew him had something to say about him. For the sake of time, I won't be introducing all those who contributed to this story. They are fellow animators, inkers, and painters from Warner Bros., Disney, and Hanna-Barbera. Animation and film historians, directors, voice artists like Hank Azaria from The Simpsons. Mel's former agents, film critics, his son Noel and friends such as Kirk Douglas.
Without any further ado, Let's jump right into the story of Mel Blank. The man of a thousand voices. And allow me to introduce myself. Mel Blake. What an amazing guy.
What's up, guys? Oh goody! You can't look at the Warner Brothers characters without Hearing his sound, his voice. There's such a delight to the sound of his voice in every character he did. What'd I say?
What'd I say? Think about it today that everybody imitates these characters, he created them. Uh gosh, what a crazy uh screwy duck. That, my little cherub, is strictly a matter of opinion. Yeah.
Mel was so unique at what he did. point there Mel had the range that everyone wishes for. Yee-hoo! Great horny toads, I'm up north. Oh.
Gotta burn my boots. They touched Yankee soil. I think it was a shock when I got older to discover all those voices were one man. His voice was like more powerful than a human body could contain. Open that bridge, Farman!
Open it, I say! Close it! Close it! Close it up again!
So it seemed to be coming out of every part of him. Melblank had this phenomenal voice box. That's the only way I can explain it. He just did all kinds of things that were just amazing. Brow.
He didn't just do voices. He played characters, and there's a difference. I've got it! He was just able to do that, to just totally like, you know, animate with his voice, to create a complete three-dimensional character just with his voice alone. I'm a chicken.
Rooster ladders. How can you beat a pair of vocal cords that had an eight octave range? Perfect pitch. Great singer, and an incredible actor. There's Mel, and there's like everybody else.
There was nobody better than Mel Blank.
Well, that's not just. You know what Rosetta cat? Howdy Duty. About that age. How wee how we?
Melvin Jerome Blank was born the youngest of two children on May 30th, 1908, in San Francisco. to Russian Jewish parents, Frederick and Eva. After leaving New York to seek his fortune prospecting for gold in the Klondike region of the Alaskan Yukon, his father eventually settled the family down in Portland, Oregon. As a young boy growing up in the melting pot of the American West, Mel Blank would forever be affected by the medley of foreign accents and the way voices define personalities. My dad was always interested in voices and in music and in singing and in entertaining.
He started to entertain in grammar school. From around about the age of 10, Melblanc was very interested in dialects, Yiddish dialects, and Chinese and Japanese dialects, Russian. The school would have an assembly at grammar school. I would entertain the kids with a dialect story or one of the different a different dialect each time. And uh the kids loved it and they got such a big kick out of it.
They laughed and the teachers laughed and then gave me lousy marks. Here's what Mel wrote in his autobiography: That's not all, folks. Except for music class, I loathed school. To be truthful, report card C's and D's had little to no effect on me. But that applause.
What an impression it made on a 12-year-old.
Now, where'd that boy go? You gotta be a magician to keep a kid's attention more than two minutes nowadays. My talents weren't appreciated by all. In particular, a crotchety old teacher by the name of Washburn. When I broke up a classroom discussion by giving an answer in four different voices, she reprimanded me sternly.
Too sternly, if you ask me. You'll never amount to anything. she said scornfully. You're just like your last name. Blank.
Her stinging insult so shamed me that when I was 16, I started spelling my surname With a C. B-L-A-N-C. Instead of a K. Later as an adult, I changed it legally. I often wondered if Mrs.
Washburn associated Mel Blank. with the young student she had ridiculed so many years before. Mm-hmm. He dropped out of high school in about the ninth grade. I used to say, I got lousy grades, but I developed some great voices because of the echo in the school, in the hallways.
He started leading orchestras. He was an orchestra conductor, and the orchestras moved all around the Oregon area and the Washington area, Northern California area. In between, when he was conducting the music, he would do shtick. He'd do different voices and different comedy routines. Mel was the youngest orchestra leader in the country at that time at 17.
And you've been listening to the story of Mel Blank, and it all starts in radio. Mel was persistent, by the way, all those turn downs, all those times, people telling him no, and he kept pushing and pushing, and finally gets paired up with the legendary. Chuck Jones. It starts with porky pig. And then a bunny named Bugs.
When we come back, more of the story of Mel Blank. Here on Our American Stories. Uh Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again, Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts.
It helps us keep these great American stories coming. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter.
Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com. This is Ashley Aikenetti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Famous podcast. Ben, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us. Yeah, it's pretty wild.
They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions. The milestones are the fun part. But the planning. Is where things get real.
That's why Klarna stands out. Klarna gives people smarter tools to help manage everyday money with flexible ways to pay, cash back that builds automatically, everything in one place, and support that makes everyday decisions feel less overwhelming. Since life moves so fast, the right tools can help you feel more confident. Download the Klarna app today or visit Klarna.com to learn more. California resident loans made or arranged pursuant to a California finance law license, NMLS number 1353190.
Clarna balance account required to be eligible for cashback points. Limitations, terms, and conditions apply. This is Tony A.O. from the Real Report with Tony A.O. and Uncle Murder.
You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent's going up, streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks Salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the Will It's Go Up Soon game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text, and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life, meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan.
While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement.
Some things never change. Switch now. For unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up, only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
For a limited time, get 20% off in NFL Plus Annual Plan. With NFL Plus, stream live out-of-market preseason games, live local and prime time regular season games on mobile and NFL Network, including seven exclusive live games this season. With NFL Plus Premium, watch every touchdown every Sunday afternoon during the regular season with NFL Red Zone. Catch game replays and access NFL Pro. Limited time offer ends September 21st.
Sign up today at plus.nfl.com slash radio. Terms and conditions apply. And we continue with our American stories and the story of Mel Blank, the man behind 3,000 cartoon voices, the man behind Looney Tunes, and so much else. Let's pick up where we last left off. I think my dad never thought of Hollywood when he was young.
He thought of going on the radio when radio was quite new at that time. And of course radio is ideal for a schooling for someone who was going to do cartoon voices. In 1932 with the blessing of his parents, he jumped into his 1920 Ford Model A convertible and drove south to Los Angeles. hoping to find a break. Instead, he met a young woman named Estelle Rosenbaum.
a bright and attractive girl with a radiant smile who would become his biggest supporter for the rest of his life. She also shared Mel's deep interest in radio. Mel, 24, and Estelle, 22, married that spring and then proceeded up Route 101 back to Portland to write, produce, and perform their own sketch radio show called Cobwebs and Nuts. To maintain audience interest six hours a week, Mel had to come up with countless voices and lots of material. which was then presented to Mel's one woman audience for approval.
My dad played 100 different male characters. My mother played all the different female characters. And they had a great time, although they were only paid $15 a week, to write it, produce it, and voice it. The show failed to provide a livable wage for the blanks.
So Mel seriously considered quitting in order to become an insurance salesman at a whopping $50 a week. Thanks to Estelle's encouragement, He rejected the offer and followed his dreams and talents back to Los Angeles in 1935. Here are Estelle's exact words. Mel? If we're going to be broke, At least let's be broke someplace where it's warm.
I had seen some of the Warner Brothers voices, so heard some of the voices in the cartoons. And I thought, geez, they're missing out on an awful lot. Their voices are pretty bad. Usually Norman Spencer was there to greet him. I said, I'd like to audition for you and show you what I can do.
He says, Sorry, we've got all the voices we need. I said, but Mr. Schlesinger said that you were the one. He says, no, I'm sorry.
Well, I was as stubborn as he was, and I went back. In two weeks, and I said, Look, won't you just listen to me? He says, I told you we have all the voices we need.
So I was still as stubborn as him, and I went to him every two weeks asking him to please listen to me. And he says, I told you a hundred times I've got all the voices we need. She kept knocking on the doors. for two years. Finally, in March of 1937, Mel's perseverance paid off.
Yeah. It was probably the week before Christmas. He came looking for a job and that day Traig Brown was sitting there. Traig Brown, brilliant sound effects man for the Warners cartoons. He happened to take over when this fellow passed away that wouldn't let my dad in the door.
And I said, Mr. Brown, I've been trying to get in here to audition, just have him hear me. But the guy kept saying, no, I've got all the voices we need. He says, well, let me hear what you do.
So I auditioned for him and he got a big kick out of it. He said, would you do it again for the directors? I said Gradly. Warner Brothers decided to give Mel a shot in a supporting role for Picador Porky. A new cartoon animated by a 25-year-old lanky kid named Chuck Jones.
Featuring the studio's latest character, Porky Pig. He said, I've got a cartoon coming up with a drunken bull. Do you think you can do the voice of a drunken bull?
So I said, yeah, I think I could. He says, how would he talk? Mm. I hear him talking like he was a little and we were looking for the sour looking look up for for the sour max. He says, Great, great.
He says, What are you doing next Tuesday? I wasn't doing a damn thing. I said, I think I can make it. La Cocaracha, La Cocaracha, play it on the Ogatar, La Cogaracha, Player Police Yar, La Cogaracha, Yippee, Planet of the Ogatar, La Cocaracha, Planet Raria, Coopie. Warner Brothers quickly recognized Mel's talent and offered him the prized role of Porky Pig.
They say he's a timid little character. I told him, well, I want to be real authentic about it.
So I went out to a pig farm and walled around with the pigs for a couple of weeks. I come back and they kicked me out and said, go home and take a bath. When I did, I came back, I said, if a pig could talk, he'd talk with a grunt. You know, that's when a grunt. There's an old great great Okay.
Mm. Don't worry. It's the inner knock, little bit in the motor. Go to watch. In that same cartoon he introduced a kind of embryonic version of Daffy Duck.
Don't let it worry you skipper. I'm just a crazy, darn fool doctor.
Now here's a guy suddenly doing the craziest, most energetic voices they've ever had in one cartoon, and I think that that's when they suddenly thought, I think we're gonna hang on to this guy. It was Porky Pig and Daffy Duck that put Leon Schlesinger's Warner Bros. cartoon company and Mel on the map. But it was another character. A cool, sly, and wise-cracking rabbit with a flair for survival named Bugs Bunny, who would become his most famous and unforgettable creation.
Bugs made his cartoon debut on July 27th, 1940, in an eight minute and 15 seconds short titled A Wild Hare. They showed me a picture of this little rabbit, and he's gonna say, Hey, what's crooking? I said instead of him saying, hey, what's cooking? Why don't you have him say, Yeah, yeah, watch up, Gonk? That's the the new uh expression that was uh being so popular.
And I said to Mr. Selesinger, I said, Why don't you name him after the guy who drew the first picture of him? His name was Bugs Hardaway. What'd you call him, Bugs Bunny? What's up, Doc?
It's a wabbit down here. And I'm trying to catch him.
Well, they told me that Bugs was a tough little stinker, and I thought, what kind of a voice can I give him? The tough character, maybe Brooklyn or the Bronx.
So I put the two of them together, Doc, and that's how Bugs' money came out. Pardon me, but you know, you look just like a wabbit. And Come here. Listen, Doc.
Now don't spread this around. But uh Confidentially I am a wabbit! The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. Cartoons. Over the next twenty years, Mel would give life to nearly the entire cast of Looney Tunes characters.
Mayhap perchance, hobbish that I am, I might be the sky. Daffy is not a list. People say Daffy Lisp. No, he is spraying the water out of the list. It's not a list, by the way.
I thought I told you. A tiny, baby puddy cat Tweety was a little baby bird, so I gave him a little tiny baby voice. Oh, I thought I saw a pussy cat And Sylvester was a big sloppy cat.
So I gave him a big sloppy voice.
Furthermore. Speedy Gonzalez was a little tiny mouse. And he had to talk fast because his name was Speedy.
So I came in a very fast little voice and he said, My name is Speedy Gonzalez. I said this is what we came to give you to the mask. I think she talks so fast, you can understand what he says, I think. Just to think, Radiant Flower, you do not have to come with me to the Casbah. We are already here.
He chased the pussycat and catched them and kissed them. I gave him more or less of a French voice, like so, a voila. And uh, I said only French was wrong, you know.
Now all of you skunks, clear out of here! Yosemite Sam, they showed me he was a little cowboy, and he was only two feet tall with long red hair, and had to be recognized, so I had to give him a recognizable voice.
So I gave a real loud voice like so. My name's Yosemite Sam. This is one that almost gets me every time I use it. And you've been listening to the story of Mel Blank, and we learn that he wasn't just a great voice man. He didn't just create great characters, he didn't just have great timing, nearly perfect.
comic timing and comic pitch. What he really was was one of the great actors. ever come out of Hollywood. And by the way, he got this compliment about being a great actor from none other than Jack Benny and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. And anyone who's ever acted knows comedy is the hardest because you've got to play it straight.
You don't play it for laughs. When we come back, More of Mel Blank, his story, the man behind 3,000 cartoon voices. Here on Our American Stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S.
and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com. This is Ashley Aikeneti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Samus podcast.
Ben, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us. Yeah, it's pretty wild. They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions. But the planning.
Is where things get real. That's why Klarna stands out. Klarna gives people smarter tools to help manage everyday money with flexible ways to pay, cash back that builds automatically, everything in one place, and support that makes everyday decisions feel less overwhelming. Since life moves so fast, the right tools can help you feel more confident. Download the Klarna app today or visit klarna.com to learn more.
California resident loans made or arranged pursuant to a California finance law license, NMLS number 1353190. Klarna balance account required to be eligible for cashback points. Limitations, terms, and conditions apply. This is Tony A.O. from the River Report with Tony A.O.
and Uncle Murder. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rents going up, streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks Salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the Will This Go Up Soon game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text, and data plan at a price that'll never go up.
It's the same price you'll pay for life, meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan. While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement.
Some things never change. Switch now. For unlimited wireless at a price that will never go up, only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
For a limited time, get 20% off in NFL Plus Annual Plan. With NFL Plus, stream live out-of-market preseason games, live local and primetime regular season games on mobile and NFL Network, including seven exclusive live games this season. With NFL Plus Premium, watch every touchdown every Sunday afternoon during the regular season with NFL Red Zone. Catch game replays and access NFL Pro. Limited time offer in September 21st.
Sign up today at plus.nfl.com slash radio. Terms and conditions apply. And we continue with our American stories and the story of Mel Blank. Let's pick up where we last left off. Arriving on the screen shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Bugs became a symbol of American strength in the face of the enemy.
The tall man with the high hat will become one down your way. Get your savings out when you hear him shout any bones today. Come on and jump, folks. Come on, skip right up and jump. Because of what was happening in Europe and the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, audiences just found his sassy control of the situation just so heroic.
Coolness in the face of danger. What's up, Doc? What's up, Doc? Listen, stranger. This town ain't big enough for the two of us.
It ain't? The Blanks gave birth to their only child on October 19, 1938, a son named Noel. This stretched the blank household budget to the breaking point. At his wife's urging, Mel decided to ask for a salary increase from the tight-fisted, savvy head of Warner Bros. Cartoons.
Leon Schlesinger. Hello, Parky. Come on in. Uh hello, Mr. S yes slash slash yes yes slash hello Leon.
Well, Parky, what's on your mind? What can I do for you? What Schlesinger offered Mel was unprecedented for any voice actor to date.
sole screen credit on every cartoon produced by the studio. Get easier in packs. Mel was modest about his fame, and he enjoyed his private life. He made friends with everyone he worked with. But it was his friendship with Jack Benny that Mel cherished most.
Wednesday night used to be ping pong night.
So, ping pong night used to get all the people that were on the radio show: Lucille Ball, and George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Jack Benny and Jack Carson, they'd all come out and play ping pong. My dad would make them soda fountain drinks and then they'd go home. Mel is thought of as just a voice man. But he was so much more. His timing was outstanding.
You know, you can be a comic and if you can't, if you don't have the timing down, you have the best material in the world, it's meaningless. Mm-hmm. For the fingers in Clumsy, the world's foremost jugglers. Fearless Freep and his sensational high-diving action. Fearless Freep!
That's my boy Here. They besides. Time you bother me. It's the acting. People say, Oh, Mel Blank, the man of a thousand voices, greatest voice man that ever lived, one of the best actors to ever come out of Hollywood.
People don't take the voice person as seriously as they would like the the Oliviers or Dustin Hoffman De Niro, but you know, to say you know, Olivier De Niro, blank, it sounds weird because of what genre he worked in. But no, he was a brilliant actor. There!
Now I won't be able to get the bird. Or Mr. Puddy Cat? Don't you like me anymore? I think you're delicious.
I'll tell you what I think Mel Blank's most genius achievement was, and only if you're a voice actor do you realize how incredible this is. When Bugs and Daffy are fighting over whether it's rabbit season or duck season, and Daffy Duck comes out dressed up as Bugs Bunny doing a Bugs Bunny imitation, then Bugs Bunny comes out dressed as Daffy doing a Daffy impression. AMP. What's up, Doc? Having any luck on those ducks?
It's duck season, you know. Just a darn minute. Where do you get that duck season stuff? You know how hard that is to do to take your own character, have it imitate another one of your own characters? It's almost impossible.
Because if you try to like combine two voices that you're doing, you kind of just land in the middle. Like if I try to do Apu imitating Mo, it'll sound just like... Mo imitating Apu. There's no we tried it one day at the Simpsons. We were talking about how we were marveling at Mo Blank's ability to do this, and we all tried to do one of our characters imitating another one and have them sound different, and we couldn't do it.
You know what to do with that gun, Doc? Yeah. I'd say, you know, Dad, you're an incredible actor. Here's a picture signed by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello says to the greatest actor I know, Mel Blank. I said, Jack Benny used to call you a great actor.
Did you know you were a great actor? He says, no, no. I'm not really, I'm a voice person. But he didn't realize that was acting. He never took an acting lesson.
In all of his cartoons, when Mel wasn't performing all the voices, his chemistry with his fellow actors was apparent. none more so than with Arthur Q. Bryan. The voice behind Bugs's adversary. Helmer Fudd.
Here's Brian and Blank. Rehearsing in the studio for the six-minute and 49-second cartoon classic released in theaters on July 6, 1957. What's Opera Doc? The short is informally referred to as Kill the Wabbit. After the lines sung by Fudd to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.
I will do it with my spear and magic helmet. Your spear and magic helmet? Spear and magic helmet. Magic helmet. Helmet!
Magic, humor. Magic, yes. What's going on? That was going well. I don't think I'm right yet on I'm gonna kill the rabbit, am I?
That's a violent. That's fun.
Okay, come on. Mel and Arthur acted out the combative relationship between Bugs and the tiptoeing shotgun-wielding Elmer in over thirty cartoons over the span of twenty years. Until Arthur's passing at the age of sixty, In 1959, Yeah. Be very, very quiet. I'm hunting wabbits.
The classic voice of Elmer Fudd needed a replacement. Frizz Freeling, one of the directors said to me, Mel, will you do a couple of lines for uh for Elmer Flood? He says, I've tried others and they can't come close. He said, just can you do a couple of lines? I said.
Oh, I'll try, but I don't know if I could do it or not. He says, that's it.
So I also became overfitted. Whereas audiences felt sorry for the witless Elmer Fudd, the pint-sized, pea-brained, ornery ombre named Yosemite Sam evoked no sympathy at all. He was conceived as a more challenging adversary for Bug's bunny. That's who I am! You don't Well come here shorty, come here.
Uh don't say I told you, but uh there's a guy in the next card that says he's the meanest, toughest, etc., etc., and he's got a seven shooter to prove it. How's about that? There is one blast of all the- Wide open. Yosemite Sand! It's Yosemite Sam!
Yosemite! Yeah, Yosemite Sand! The roughest, toughest, he-man, stuffest ombre has ever crossed a Rio Grande. Uh I'm the fastest gun north, south, east, and west of the Pecos. I'm the shut up.
Did I hear someone say shut up? Yep. Why you fool? By the late 1950s, Mel was on top of the world. And when we come back, the final installment of this hour-long celebration of the life of Mel Blanc.
His story continues here on our American stories. What have I done? I've killed a rabbit. Poor little Barney Poor little wife. Welcome to my shop.
Let me cut your mop. Let me shave your crop. BAE Yeah. Hey. Yeah.
Don't look so perplexed. Why must you be vexed? Can't you see you're next? Yes. Your next.
Yeah, so next. How about a nice clotheshave? Teacher whiskers to behave Lots of lather, lots of soap Kiss hoes still don't be a dope Now we're ready for the scraping There's no use to try escaping Yell and screaming rant and rave It's no use you need a shave Ooh, ouch, ouch, ooh, ouch, ooh ooh, ouch! You're nice and clean. Although your face looks like it might have gone through a machine.
Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S. and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs.
Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at Let's Get RealaboutskinCancer.com. This is Ashley Aikenetti from the Ben and Ashley Eye Almost Famous podcast. Ben, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how many big life moments our listeners have experienced with us. Yeah, it's pretty wild. They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes.
Every stage comes with new decisions. The milestones are the fun part. But the planning. Is where things get real. That's why Klarna stands out.
Klarna gives people smarter tools to help manage everyday money with flexible ways to pay, cash back that builds automatically, everything in one place, and support that makes everyday decisions feel less overwhelming. Since life moves so fast, the right tools can help you feel more confident. Download the Klarna app today or visit klarna.com to learn more. California resident loans made or arranged pursuant to a California finance law license, NMLS number 1353190. Klarna balance account required to be eligible for cashback points.
Limitations, terms, and conditions apply. This is Tony A.O. from the Real Report with Tony A.O. and Uncle Murder. You ever notice how everything keeps going up?
Rent's going up, streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks Salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the Will This Go Up Soon game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text, and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life, meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan. While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life.
Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement.
Some things never change. Switch now. For unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up, only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
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Sign up today at plus.nfl.com slash radio. Terms and conditions apply. And we continue with our American stories and the story of Mel Blank. Let's pick up where we last left off. Although he never personally won an Academy Award, His voice earned Warner Bros.
five Oscars. Then I On the night of January 24th, 1961, This happened. My mom called me, I was with friends, and she says, dad didn't show up at the recording session. She says, wait a minute, the other phone is ringing. We had two lines.
It was UCLA Hospital saying that he had been involved in a head-on collision on Dead Man's Curve. right above UCLA and they had taken him to UCLA after they had cut to they had to use a cutting torch to get him out of the Aston Martin. It happened that a kid driving a ninety eight Oldsmobile, a great big car, ran into a small Aston Martin sports car. and it just folded up. They didn't expect him to live for the first 12, 13 days.
I went to see him and it was really, I was shocked because he was wired up with all kinds of gadgets to keep him together. Noel told me that almost every bone in his body was broken. He was unconscious for a long time. Finally, a doctor got an idea because my dad had a television in his room. And it was playing Bugs Bunny cartoons.
So the doctor went over to the bed and clapped his hands and said, Bugs, can you hear me? Bugs, can you hear me? My dad goes What's up, Todd? The first words that he uttered were of bugs. Then he says, Porky, can you hear me?
And he would answer me, I can hear you.
So he brought him around. doing the characters' voices. before my dad was fully awake as as himself. Blink continued working for Warner Bros., but also began providing voices for television cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera. His most famous role during this time was Barney Rubble from the Flintstones.
Oh boy, wait till Fred sees my new bowling ball. It'll bring my score up to at least 100. And of course, he was Mr. Spacely in the Jetsons. Send up Jetson, Miss Carlo.
Yes, sir. Ready, Mr. Jetson? Right.
Well, good luck. You know that. Oh no! But I don't think any of the characters he did in the later years of his life had the staying power of anywhere near the staying power of the immortal Looneytune characters. Everywhere you go, everybody knows the bugs funnies.
They don't know Mel Blank. But they know Bug's funny, and everybody knows that. I cannot tell you. the quantity of fan mail he received and something really, really phenomenal about him. That man answered every piece of correspondence.
personally. He would call people. He'd get a letter. Oh, it's my daughter's birthday. She's turning 12.
Her favorite character is Tweety Bird. It would be so terrific, sir. You know, if you ever have time, could you call my daughter? And now it call. These people from all over the world.
And literally wish them happy birthday or happy anniversary or whatever the celebration was. When he lived in Playo del Rey or Pacific Palisades, kids would come over every day. And say, Mel, can we have your autograph? Do some voices. And we'd have kids at the door, I mean, literally every day.
Halloween we'd have 1,500 to 2,000 kids and he'd give out signed little autographs and candy. The kids would always go to Melanestelle's house because they never knew who was going to answer the door. Yeah. Bugs or porky or peppy or daffy or Wiley or Roadrunner, you never know.
So it was great to watch that. It was really, really wonderful. Here's legend of Hollywood's Golden Age, Kirk Douglas. The longer I'm in this business The more I feel that we We really are very lucky people. Because in a strange way we attained Immortality.
And if you judge immortality By the pleasure. that you've given to others I would certainly say that Mel Blank is one of the greatest of the immortals. He devoted a lot of time in burn units. for alien children. And I think he really had a great effect.
and doing so. Even if it made him feel better for just a minute, he did. Yeah. You had to try to get him to leave, first of all. I mean, he would spend all day doing it.
I mean, there would be times I would say, you know, Mel, we've got to go. It's getting dark. You know, we've got to get back on the road. And when there were children and children. you know, in that situation here.
You could have getting to mug away. Four If I saw a person smile, that to me was payment in itself. And then uh uh if I could make them laugh and w w when they had been very sad It was great payment to me. On May 30, 1988, Mel Blank turned 80. Who Framed Roger Rabbit premiered that year and Blank contributed many voices to the summer blockbuster.
A huge party was thrown by Warner Brothers on its Burbank lot. And again, Mel was asked the same question he had been asked every birthday since he turned 65. Mel. When are you going to retire? Mill's answer?
The day I drop That's when... Who'd want to quit making people laugh? On July 1989, when he agreed to star in a new commercial for Oldmobile. Neither he nor his son Noel. would know that this would be his final performance.
Here's Noel and Mel bantering inside the cutlass Sierra in between takes. You'll hear Noel doing his father's character's voices too. Growing up, Mel trained Noel on the voices so that when the time came, he could take over for his father. Is that any good? We are the new generation of olds?
Yes. Yes, man. We're the new generation of olds. The director there is out pulling his hair, but we're gonna do this commercial anyhow. What hair?
Oh, he's got. It's that one, it's not the art director.
Well, how would you somebody, Sam, say this? We are the new generation of olds. Look at the dealer right there and talk to him. We are the new generation of old.
Now you heard that, you better believe it. We are, and we're gonna try to do this commercial, but it's tough. Anyway, we got this direction. Still, he says, ha ha ha! Very simple.
We've only been on it in like 27 hours. We had shot the Osmobile commercial all day. It's not your father's Osmobile. And I said, Dad, you're coughing a little bit. Why don't you go to the doctor and get your lungs cleared out?
The doctor called me and said, yeah, Mel's over here. And the doctor says, well, I can keep him in the hospital overnight or just give him an inhaler to get the cough out of it. My dad said, no, let's stay in the hospital overnight. It was a mistake, of course. He fell out of bed.
They forgot to put the bedrails up. He broke his femur. Got fed M boli into the brain. and was basically gone in 48 hours. He was still at the height of his career.
He could still do all the voices that he could before, and he was still really terrible. terrific. Mel Blank lays to rest in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Under a star of David, the epitaph on Blank's tombstone reads, That's all, folks. Mel Blank has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6385 Hollywood Boulevard.
He is the only person to have himself and two of his characters on the walk of fame. with both Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker receiving a star. The only others to have received this honor are Walt Disney as both himself and Mickey Mouse. Jim Hansen as both himself and Kermit the Frog. and Mike Myers as both himself and Shrek.
Mel Blank is one of the pillars of entertainment. an actor whose talents can still be marveled at, Today. My dad's legacy is laughter. He wanted to make people feel good. and laugh out loud.
The thing I miss most about my dad. Yeah. Is my dad and his personality, being the great father, listening to me, never doubting me? Asking good questions. being great to my mom.
The fact that he was such a marvelous human being, not only to the world, but to his family, that's what I remember most. I can turn his voice on any time. and see one of the cartoons.
so I can really bring him back to life. at any time I want to. I hear his voice every day. In of the inn and the in of the inn of the inn that's all folks. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
and what stories you heard. That story about what happened to him on January 24th, 1961. Accident in his Aston Martin. on Dead Man's Curve over UCLA Hospital. And he's out for a while.
And then the doctor gets this idea. to talk to him and address him as Bugs Bunny. Bugs can you hear me? And Mel Blank's first words were, What's up, Doc? Amazing.
They don't know Mel Blank. his a relative said, but they know bugs. And my goodness, the stories about him with the fans and with the sick children, with the hurting children, how he just couldn't leave them. What a heart. The man had.
And ultimately Howie dies in an accident falling out of a hospital bed. What the son said was so true. His legacy was laughter. I love the line from Mel Blanc. He said, when I see a person smile, That's my payment.
itself. The story of Mel Blank, the man behind 3,000 cartoon voices. Here are now American stories. Spending time outdoors, then let's talk about skin cancer. Non-melanoma skin cancers, or NMSCs, including basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, are the most common cancers in the U.S.
and can become harder to treat if left undetected. That's why sun protection and timely detection matter. Our sponsor, Regeneron, is raising awareness about advanced NMSCs. Learn more and take the pledge to see a dermatologist annually at let's get real about skincancer.com. I'm U.
S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Mm-hmm. We all seem to be in a rush these days. from work to driving our kids around.
But when you're behind the wheel, please. Do not speed. A few minutes saved by going faster. is never worth a risk.
So follow the speed limit. Enjoy the drive. Maybe bring some snacks for the kids. and know that along the way, you're getting quality time with your family. Paid for by Nitza.
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