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Mel Blanc: ''[Joseph Barbera] was certainly talented, but he drove me nuts sometimes.''
The beginning of The Flintstones was not without its challenges.
Even the best of friends can grate on each other's nerves sometimes. Once you add a working relationship into the mix, things can get complicated, to say the least.
When Mel Blanc agreed to take on the voice role of Barney Rubble of The Flintstones, he certainly was venturing out of his comfort zone, with much of his experience in voice acting coming from Warner Brothers and playing Looney Tunes characters.
The beginning of Blanc's relationship with Hanna-Barbera co-founder Joseph Barbera was not without its misgivings. Because Blanc had a history of working with Warner Brothers directors, there was a familiarity between them that lent itself well to the work Blanc did. With a new director like Joseph Barbera, the new relationship led to some communications issues, at first.
In Blanc's memoir, That's Not All Folks!, the actor wrote, "Barbera was certainly talented, but he drove me nuts sometimes, not always being able to get across what he wanted. And he had this irritating habit of starting from the top every time an actor made a mistake. Recording sessions dragged on interminably, unlike at Warner's."
Luckily, Blanc's experience as a voice actor meant that he was as knowledgeable about the editing process of animation as he was about voicing characters, and he was able to offer Barbera a less time-consuming solution.
"I suggested to him that we repeat only the misread line." In Blanc's scenario, it would then be the editor's job to cut the correct line over the misspoke one, ensuring that takes wouldn't have to be recorded all over again in the strive for perfection.
This was a minor pebble in the shoe of what Blanc described as otherwise a very amicable relationship between himself and Hanna-Barbera. Moreover, working on The Flintstones still meant that Blanc was never far away from his friends at Warner Brothers.
"That beef aside," Blanc said, "Hanna and Barbera were wonderful to work for: both creative professionals and marvelous guys. Plus, they surrounded themselves with some of the industry's brightest talents, including my former Warner Bros. colleagues Warren Foster and Michael Maltese, who had left the studio for greener pastures. The first time I sat in on a Hanna-Barbera story meeting, it seemed just like old times."
13 Comments
MisspokEN one.
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