- published: 10 Apr 2012
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Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. during the "Golden Age of American animation" as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, the Tasmanian Devil, and many of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoons. He later worked for Hanna-Barbera's television cartoons, most notably as the voice of Barney Rubble in The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely in The Jetsons. Having earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice-acting industry.
At the time of his death, it was estimated that 20 million people heard his voice every day.
Blanc was born Melvin Jerome Blank in San Francisco, California, to Jewish parents Frederick and Eva Blank. The youngest of two children, he grew up in the neighborhood of Western Addition in San Francisco, and later in Portland, Oregon, attending Lincoln High School. Growing up, he had a fondness for voices and dialect, which he started to do as early as the age of 10. He claimed that when he was 16, he changed the spelling from "Blank" to "Blanc" because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be, like his name, a "blank". Blanc joined The Order of DeMolay as a young man, and was eventually inducted into its Hall of Fame. He dropped out of high school in the ninth grade and split his time between leading an orchestra, becoming the youngest conductor in the country at the time at 17, and performing shtick in vaudeville shows around Washington, Oregon, and northern California.
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.
The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.
The earliest recorded use[citation needed] of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." [dubious – discuss] In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.
Robert William "Bob" Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.
Born in Washington to modest circumstances, Barker enlisted in the United States Navy on the outbreak of World War II. Barker worked part-time in radio while he attended college. In 1950, Barker moved to California in order to pursue a career in broadcasting. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years out of Burbank. Barker began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. From there, he hosted various game shows as well as the Miss Universe pageants. Eventually, he hosted The Price Is Right, beginning in 1972. When his wife Dorothy Jo died, Barker became an advocate for animal rights. Since then, Barker has been a long-time supporter of animal rights, and of animal-rights activism, including groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television.
TWEETY:
I am a little, tiny, bird. My name is Tweety Pie
I live inside my bird cage, a-hanging way up high
I like to swing upon my perch and sing my little song
But there's a tat that's after me and won't let me
alone
I taut I taw a puddy tat a creepin' up on me
I did! I taw a puddy tat as plain as he could be!
SYLVESTER:
I am that great big bad old cat, Sylvester is my name
I only have one aim in life and that is very plain
I want to catch that little bird and eat him right away
But just as I get close to him, this is what he'll say
I taut I taw a puddy tat a creepin' up on me
You bet he taw a puddy tat, that puddy tat is me!
TWEETY:
That puddy tat is very bad, he sneaks up from behind
I don't think I would like it if I knew what's on his
mind
I have a strong suspicion that his plans for me aren't
good
I am inclined to think that he would eat me if he could
SYLVESTER:
I'd like to eat that sweetie pie when he leaves his
cage
But I can never catch him, It throws me in a rage
You bet I'd eat that little bird if I could just get
near
But every time that I approach, this is all I hear
TWEETY:
I taut I taw a puddy tat a creepin' up on me
I did! I taw a puddy tat as plain as he could be!
And when I sing that little song, my mistress knows
he's back
She grabs her broom and brings it down upon Sylvester's
back
So listen you bad puddy tat, let's both be friends and
see
My mistress will not chase you if you sing this song
with me
TWEETY (Spoken): Come on now, like a good cat
SYLVESTER (Spoken): Oh, all right. Sufferin' Succotash!
TWEETY & SYLVESTER:
I taut I taw a puddy tat a creepin' up on me
I did! I taw a puddy tat as plain as he could be!