Friday, April 11, 2014

June Foray:

This is an old article pending revision.

June Foray has done numerous performances in voice acting. She has been doing this for decades, but was not recognized until the 1960s beginning with cartoons such as MGM/UA Theatrical Cartoons, because Mel Blanc was with a sole voice acting credit with his WB Theatrical Cartoon contract. (However, it doesn't seem to matter on how recent the cartoons are; other voice actors such as the voice for Road Runner were never credited appropriately, because of Mel Blanc being involved as a very active voice actor beginning earlier with WB Theatrical cartoons).


Who She Is:


Granny:

At first, Emma Webster "Granny" (owner of Hector, Sylvester, and Tweety) was voiced by Bea Benaderet. Towards the end of Looney Tune's active theatrical run, June Foray was Granny. She was not credited for a very long time whenever she was associated with Looney Tunes. June Foray would also provide the voice for Granny when she appeared in television series, such as "Sylveter And Tweety Mysteries" and "Baby Looney Tunes".


Witch Hazel:

June Foray once again took over the position of Bea Benaderet many years later. This time the character is Witch Hazel. The witch is known for "cooking" and running so fast her hair pins couldn't keep up. Both people guest starred in "Green Acres".


Jerry:

When Chuck Jones left Warner Brothers because of contract problems and one thing leading to two more things, he worked full time for MGM theatrical animation. One of the cartoons that he took over was Tom & Jerry. This is because Hanna-Barbera quit doing things with Tom & Jerry to produce their own cartoon shorts, including "Yakkee Doodle" which is similar to the duckling on Tom & Jerry. Chuck Jones produced additional Tom & Jerry cartoons after a few cartoons produced by William L. Snyder and directed by Gene Deitch. Chuck Jones started with a few cartoons and each one improved from the previous one. He was also responsible for bringing every theatrical Tom And Jerry theatrical cartoon to television with editing and adding animated bridge segments. As part of the edits, she would voice over Mammy Two-Shoes's replacement character. The new cartoons were modeled after artist and animation director Lewis Marshall of Hanna-Barbera's Cinema-Scope cartoons with a few customizations from Chuck Jones. Tom has very thick fur and thick eyebrows. Jerry has big ears. Both characters have the "crows feet" eye style and large pupils to add the look of innocence. Tom was voiced by Mel Blanc and Jerry was voiced by June Foray. In previous cartoons, Tom could sing (country for example) and also speak from the "One Custard Pie?? Let Me Have It!!" to the eerie "Doooon't You Believe It!!". Later he says "Aha!!", "OW!!", sneezes, yells, shouts, snores, yawns, hiccups, coughs, cries, gasps, burps, laughs, sighs, grumbles, and sings. June Foray does similar things for Jerry, which includes maniacal laughter. (the singing was usually done by somebody else) June Foray eventually quits doing vocal effects for Jerry. Others have been fellow vocal effects/voice actor Frank Welker, for all characters on Filmation's "The Tom & Jerry Comedy Show".


Rocket J. Squirrel:

She is the voice for Rocket J. Squirrel in "Rocky And Bullwinkle" and related series. Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons were created by Alex Anderson & Jay Ward and produced by Jay Ward & Bill Scott. (and Producers Associates of Television Production & Gamma Productions) being the first of many series to expand humor. One example is adding "Ponsonby Britt" as executive producer which is a fake name which is based on either Arthur Ponsonby or Britt Ponsett. Another example of this is the credits lit up and surrounded by fancy graphics, which would short out at the end.


June Foray also voiced Nell Fenwick.


...And Natasha Fatale. Both of these types of voices are easily recognized in other cartoons featuring June Foray.


Boris Batanov:

She accidentally voiced Boris Batanov. This is one example of glitches that they experienced while producing. Boris originally said "Oh Boy..." and Rocky finishes saying "...Are my legs stiff!!" in Boris's voice. Boris says in Rocky's voice "Here's your fifty dollars" and then finishes his own lines in his own voice "and here is key to safety deposit box containing weather lady." The animation also matched this perfectly, since Rocky is the one acting like his legs are stiff, not Boris. Once again, the show's errors were balanced with expanded humor such as instead of usually whispering what sounds like gibberish into somebody's ear, they would actually be saying gibberish. She co-starred with Hans Conreid, the voice of Snidey Wiplash. Dudley Do-Right and Bullwinkle was voiced by Bill Scott.


Dr. Seuss Cartoons:

She is many characters on Dr. Seuss cartoons. Of the ones that completed production, she is Cindy Lou Who, The (Very) Sour Kangaroo Jane, various birds, part of The MGM chorus, and the mother in "The Cat In The Hat".


George Selden Cartoons:

She is Mama Bellini in "The Cricket In Times Square" and a bee in "Yankee Doodle Cricket". Chuck Jones produced these cartoons, and did not design the characters to match Garth Williams illustrations, which Tucker looked identical to Templeton in "Charlotte's Web" illustrations.


Rudyard Kipling Cartoons:

She is several characters on Chuck Jones's Rudyard Kipling cartoons, such as Matkah, Kotec's mother.


Rankin-Bass Production:

She was part of the cast of "The Little Drummer Boy".


Later, she would be part of "The Smurfs", "The Jetsons", "Unico", "Garfield And Friends", "Family Guy", and Miss Switch Cartoons (produced by Ruby-Spears, one of several production companies producing Afterschool Specials and other related series).


Who She Is NOT:


Surprisingly, June Foray is not Mariah Who on "Halloween Is Grinch Night", a Dr. Seuss cartoon presentation. This is one of the latter ones, since most of the original staff of Dr. Seuss cartoons had quit working on those projects. This kept happening gradually after a mix-up between two studio resulting in delayed, an even cancelled, production. Apparently this is also true for June Foray. Mariah Who was voiced by Irene Tedrow, who sounds very much like Matkah.


Singing Jerry:

She is not the singing voice of Jerry. Intead, that is performed by Dale McKennon.


Giant Jerry: In "Is There A Doctor In The Mouse?", Jerry ingests something to make him huge. His maniacal laughter at that time was voiced by Mel Blanc.



June Foray seems to enjoy what she does, as she has began in 1943, and didn't stop after that. Her birthday is September 18, 1917..

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.