Brian,
I wanted to write you and give my deepest appreciation to this wonderful site. As the subject of the message states, I am totally blind. Because of this, voice acting, radio shows and the like, have always been a huge interest of mine.
I am 27 years of age, but I have wonderful memories of being a very small kid listening to Yogi Bear, Bullwinkle, and of course, those Holiday specials! It would be many years before I discovered exactly why I liked these cartoons so much.
I was listening to a Dr. Demento show in 1985 or there abouts. He had as his guest, Daws Butler. Daws who? His name meant nothing to me at the time. I learned while listening to that interview that Daws was the voices of so many characters that would bring a smile to my face. Of course, not being able to see the screen, I knew nothing about voice credits at the end of the cartoons. What a shock it was when I found out that the voice of Yogi Bear was also the voice of Huckleberry hound! How! grin
Daw’s interview with the good doctor amazed me, but like many things, the amazement faided with the knowledge that I may not be able to learn more. Not many things existed about Daws Butler in Braille at that time. grin
Several years later, I got my first computer and got on the Internet for the first time! Wow! I could actually research independently any subject I wanted! In year’s past, I would have to rely on a reader or another human to browse subject matter for me. Not too many people were really anxious to help me look up Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, Bill Scott, Paul Frees, etc.
With thanks to the Internet, I was able to find books written by Stan Freberg and others, as well as study about being a voice actor! In fact, I decided to study some voice acting and take a few workshops.
As luck and life would have it, I needed to pay the bills. As a result, I put my voice acting interest on hold for the time being. I currently work as a trainer of computer technology for the blind.
I have also worked as an independent audio production person, doing several Internet broadcasts, as well as a professional musician playing trumpet keyboard and singing. Most of the audio production work has been done independently, using my computer as a multi-track recording studio. I have had a lot of fun restoring old cassette tapes and the like into a clearer digital format for preservation. It takes a lot of time, but the results are clearer than the original, if you know what you are doing. grin
I am just now beginning to dust off my previous dreams of voice acting. My biggest hang-up was reading scripts. Thanks to some new technology, I can have scripts Brailled in a matter of seconds, and even keep electronic copies of scripts in a Braille format in an electronic notetaker.
I came upon your site while doing a web search for Jay Ward cartoons. I was looking for a place to get the old Bullwinkle cartoons on VHS or DVD. I wanted to hear the audio from those cartoons and study them. After finding your site, I spent four hours reading the articles, and I am still not done! grin What a wonderful site!
A few years ago, I tryed to put together a site which contained more than just little clips of the Mel Blancs, Daws Butlers, Paul Frees’ and Walter Tetleys of the world. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a lot of cooperation with the project, so I gave up on the idea. Your site is the closest thing to what I had in mind.
I have yet to read your tribute to Daws Butler, but have you ever seen that vodeo called “Daws Butler: Voice Magician?” I own that video, and find it to be packed with a lot of wonderful information.
Daws is also featured on a DVD that I just purchased. It is the Beanie and Cecil DVD put out by the family of Bob Clampett. Daws Butler and Stan Freberg are featured.
Keep up the great work.
Sincerely
Jeremy D. H
No, I have not seen or heard those videos/DVDs. I would, of course, enjoy them very much. If you have not gotten to the Daws Butler features yet, you’re in for a treat, because there is some audio. On the other hand, you may have already gotten to that, if you clicked on the “sound bites” feature. May I ask you how old you are? It’s always interesting to get a feel for the age of folks wanting to break into voice acting. We did hear from one guy, quite some time ago, who was in his 20s, who was trying to get into this field (and he said that he could do most of Daws’ voices). I also know of another man, who is the president of a voice actors appreciation email group, who is 30 or 31 years old, who is just getting started. I’m older than both those gentleman, as you may know from reading our site. If I won the lottery, tomorrow, and did not have to worry about working, I would enroll in several classes for voice acting and try to do it myself, full-time, someday. Though I have been told, over the years, that I seem to have a knack for this craft, I did send a demo tape, with some of my voice characterizations, to Hanna-Barbera back in the summer of 1987. The casting director, at Hanna-Barbera, told me that I was in need of training and that I was not ready (she was very nice, however, about the way that she told me this).
Hey thanks, for your very kind words, and how supportive you have been of Greg’s and my own efforts! I am really very happy that you have enjoyed most of our site, and that the things that I have written have held your interest enough to persevere and continue reading. I hope that you will continue to enjoy our site, as you continue to read it. I am also very happy that computer technology allows for many things to be translated into Braille!
Sincerely,
Brian