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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There Goes a Good Kid, August 2, 2005
This review is from: Daws Butler, Characters Actor (Paperback)
Alright, I have to admit that I thoroughly under-appreciated this guy... but now I've got it right, thanks to the authors of this book. All that I thought of Daws Butler was "great voice guy". Wrong! The title sets you straight right off. Here's a man that defined the term "actor" and delivered not voices but "characters". You can take a look at the pictures of the cartoon characters on the cover to which he gave life but that's only a small sampling. In fact there was more going on between Daws ears than you'd find at a NASA launch
Who would enjoy this book? Any obsessive thinking person into puppetry, early television, imaginative, brilliant and clever writing, satire, cartoon animation, radio drama and comedy and a host of other topics I just can't think of right now.
Rather than try to describe what the authors presented so well, let me just say here was a guy I wish I could have met. Not just for his talent but for his character.
Read the book; it's as close as you'll get to a uniquely facinating and wonderful man.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the voice king of Hanna-Barbera, September 24, 2005
This review is from: Daws Butler, Characters Actor (Paperback)
This book is much in the same pattern and design as Ben Ohmart's other books. I have the Paul Frees book and i have this one...Daws Butler became a part of my psyche somewhere in the 1980's. I was reading voice credits on cartoons on a USA Network series called "Cartoon Express". They aired a series called "Yogi's Treasure Hunt" as well as "Yogi's Space Race". Daws Butler's name was coming up. Later on i was in K-Mart reading voice credits on the back of cartoon home videos. I found a video of "The Jetsons meet the Flintstones". I read Daws Butler's name on there, too!
I also found the names of Don Messick and Mel Blanc, too...all three top voice actor's. While Mel Blanc IS the most famous because of his work in theatrical cartoons and the fact that Mel's voice was on radio {over 30 years associated with the Jack Benny radio and TV shows!}...but while Mel Blanc had the more familiar name, Daws Butler was busy creating a large group of character voices for made-for-TV cartoons and in some cases, TV commercials. This book by Ben Ohmart tells the Daws Butler story...there are even passages and personal letters written by Daws sprinkled throughout the book. There was a PBS documentary about Daws that aired in the 1980's. It was called "Voice Magician". I have that video and it is amazing to watch Daws go from one character to the next.
This book is a more expanded and comprehensive spin on that PBS show. Not many people realize that Daws Butler's voice graced the cartoons from the mid '40s through the mid '80s! They will learn all about Daws and his strong work ethic and his style of voice acting. For Daws, doing a "voice" required practice and training. He believed that voice actor's must play the part physically as well as vocally. This meant, Daws would become bouncy while doing the dialogue for SNAGGLEPUSS. He felt it helped him do a better vocal. YOGI BEAR, for example, Daws would stand with his shoulders rared back and bellow the words into the microphone. For HUCKLEBERRY HOUND, Daws would say that he would just think slow and talk slow and add in a southern accent BUT it must be the correct southern accent. A North Carolina southern sounds different from a Kentucky southern...or a Georgia southern.
Known for his teaching, he opened up a voice actor work-shop and used his acting methods and beliefs to teach people the art of voice acting. The pictures in this book show Daws at various stages of his career. Stan Freberg is also talked about in this book...he and Daws were a team during the late '40s through the late '50s with a string of comedy singles AND a children's TV show "TIME FOR BEANY". Daws also narrated MANY cartoons for Tex Avery on MGM. At MGM, he and Don Messick became friends and both of them would later become the sound of Hanna-Barbera during the early years of made-for-TV cartoons, 1957-1967. On page 112, we see Daws in character as SNAGGLEPUSS. The look on his face almost makes one think he's saying: "Heaven's to Murgatroyd!".
That picture is a good example of Daws physically getting into the character as well as vocally speaking the role. The SNAGGLEPUSS section talks about Bert Lahr...that's the actor whose voice Daws used as an inspiration for SNAGGLEPUSS. On page 93 we see Daws in the recording studio with Captiol Records exectives. Also in the picture are June Foray and Stan Freberg. Daws is standing beside June...Freberg is looking up into the ceiling...Foray is the only female in the picture and so she isn't hard to spot!
On page 102 we see Daws in the studio with Don Messick and Doug Young. Young was the voice of DOGGIE DADDY and DING-A-LING to Daws Butler's AUGIE DOGGIE and HOKEY WOLF respectively. Don Messick was typically playing supporting roles and walk-on's during these two cartoon segments. As with the Paul Frees book, Ohmart lists nearly everything Daws was a part of during his long career. Daws only had ONE recurring theatrical cartoon character...the French speaking wolf LOOPY De LOOP, a nice wolf who was always getting into trouble because of what he was: a wolf! People would see Loopy as a wolf and automatically assume Loopy was dangerous and once again, Loopy would be running for his life! Hahaha. All the radio appearances are noted...all the characters...all the vinyl children's albums are listed...this, along with the Paul Frees book, are essential reading for voice actor fans or those wanting to read about the legends of voice acting!! I hope Ben Ohmart one day writes a book about two more voice giants: Mel Blanc and Don Messick.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The man behind the voices, January 7, 2005
This review is from: Daws Butler, Characters Actor (Paperback)
He's not as well known as Mel Blanc, but should be. Daws Butler was the voice of Yogi Bear, Huck Hound, Elroy Jetson, Mr.
Jinx, Quick Draw McGraw (and don't you fer-get it!) and Snagglepuss in the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. He also
worked with the legendary Stan Freberg (from "Time For
Beany" to his radio shows and records). Toward the end of
his life, he served as mentor to the likes of Nancy Cartwright
(voice of Bart Simpson) and Dr. Demento's co-hort Whimsical
Will.
This is an enjoyable read for fans of cartoons and old time
radio. Ohmart and Beliacqua show us the man behind the voices, both at work and at home. Heavens to Murgatroyd!
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