Cross it off the Bucket List

If you know me,  you know that I grew up with Warner Brothers Cartoons. I loved to do voices and loved to draw,  so animation was of double interest to me.  I always appreciated early Disney animation but I was obsessed with what the WB was turning out at the same time.  Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson and Bob Clampett are my heros. Mel Blanc was a saint and Yosemite Sam a role model.  I still quote Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny lines on a regular basis.  Some say that even my philosophy of life is "Looney Tunes theology".   

Yesterday I fulfilled a fantasy.  I did some voices on a Warner Brothers Cartoon.  Let me say that again because it feels great to type it... I did some voices on a Warner Bros. Cartoon. 

Standing in the  virtual living room of  Bugs  Bunny

(I took this self portrait in the lobby of the WB animation studio. I am standing in front of a mural celebrating their animation stars and a few executives.)
It was way too much fun.  I flashed back to myself as a seven year old kid with my first tape recorder trying to imagine what it would be like to be in the studio of Warners.  It was nothing like I had imagined... it was better. There I was sitting in a sound proof studio with four other voice actors hiding behind music stands, scripts and impressively expensive microphones. It was a Merry melodies wet dream for me. As an added bonus I  got the chance to work with director Andrea Romano who joins the ranks of Jones, McKimson and Clampett as my modern day hero. 

Years ago, to get a small role in the animated movie "Annabell's Wish" I had to write myself in.   I was called in on that project to "punch up" the script and ended up doing a page one re-write.  I got to do the voice of a dog I created named Ears.  Since that project was a tale about animals who talk only on Christmas Day  the animal parts were not the bulk of the story. As much fun as that was to be writer and voice actor, it was not a Warner Bros. cartoon.

I think a bucket list includes  things you want to do ONCE before you die. For me voicing cartoons especially at legendary studios with the hottest director in town is something I would like to do a lot more than once.
Thank you Andrea for inviting me into your world.

As you were,

Jay