Brian–
Hello from Keith Scott, author of “The Moose That Roared.” I just discovered your site with all my beloved voice-people like Tetley, Frees. Thanks for all the work you put into it.
Do you know of Ben Ohmart – he is writing a book about Paul Frees, and I have been helping him with research.
Just thought I’d drop you a line.
Best regards,
Keith Scott
Hi Keith:
I loved your book. I bought it in New York City, when I was visiting my father around Christmas 2000, shortly after we had started this site. I have loaned the book to my web partner, Greg, to read bits and pieces when he gets a chance. Though I like best, the parts of your book that deal with the Jay Ward/Bill Scott duo, I REALLY enjoyed the chapter(s) about Crusader Rabbit before Ward and Scott teamed up. I found that fascinating, since that was the genesis of Ward’s work in this field.
I was aware that Ben Ohmart had been in contact with you. Some time ago he had emailed me and told me that you had very kindly agreed to help him out with his book on Paul Frees……….As a matter of fact, I mailed Ben a transcript of my tape-recorded letter from Paul Frees, when he asked for it (he asked for a copy of the tape itself, but I felt that that property was a little bit too personal to me, to just give a copy of it to anyone; I had no problem with just a transcript and he was happy with that).
Though a great deal of my work, is based on the letters and tapes that I received from Daws, June, Bill and Paul (and also some info that our readers have contributed), I have tried, very hard to credit you, everytime I quote something that I recall reading in your book. We also credited you on a picture that we took from The Moose That Roared (of Bill Scott). We just could not find any other picture of Bill Scott that looked as good. I decided not to use the photo that you had of him, with the autograph to you, because I felt that that was too personal, and sentimental to you, to use (even if we took the autograph off, I would have felt very uncomfortable about doing that………..because that was a very special picture for you).
I was a little bit concerned that you would be upset that we did not ask permission about everything; I kind of hoped that if we credited you as much as possible, that you would not mind. In the Peabody’s Pony Express (our mailbag feature) there are actually quite a few times that I credit you (if I think that some of my comments might coincide with yours).
Anyway, what an honor to hear from you! We heard from Barbara Scott, too; we included some of her comments under our feature: Honorable Mentions, The Other Voices. She wrote in about her mother, Dorothy Scott (Bill’s wife, of course).
I was so much like you, when I was 12-14 years old, with this show…………I can relate to a lot of your anecdotes about how you were “hooked”, so to speak, on the genius of Jay Ward cartoons…………and especially on the voice artists!!
Sincerely,
Brian Kistler