Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70 Vol. 1

Keith Scott is one of the premier animation historians, who specializes in vocal talents.This narrative, some 35 years in the making, is his magnum opus. A history of voice talent in the Golden Age of animation. He discusses the careers of many well known talents such as Mel Blanc, giving new insights and sometimes correcting what was long thought to be common knowledge.In those days, vocal talent was either studio staff or radio personalities, along with contacted singing groups. Many of these talents have been id’d from surviving studio records, or recollections from the directors.I had long wondered who did the Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and Cab Calloway impressions in CLEAN PASTURES and the MGM frog cartoons (now I know). One great way to bring the Censored Eleven and the like to home video, via Warner Archive, would to do a documentary on the great African American talents that starred in those shorts and give them proper recognition and appreciation.I’d love to see some images of them.Unfortunately, many voices still remain forgotten. Keith Scott has said over the years that there’s still many holes to be filled. I cringed when I read about the destruction of Fleischer’s studio records by Paramount in 1941.Hopefully more information will come to light on some of the unconfirmed talents. Scott’s “top mystery voices” are the same as mine.I hope there will be some additional passages in a future volume about the Disney shorts in the post-war years. The filmography book credits Clarence Nash as voicing Mickey in several of his last appearances. It’s always been stated that sound effects engineer James MacDonald voiced Mickey during this timeframe. There must be some untold story behind the transition from Walt to MacDonald.It’s time that many of us animation fans get out there and start digging in the film archives and libraries and make contributions to the history books.

Keith Scott wrote "The Moose That Roared", one of the few truly gripping turn-pagers in animation history literature. "Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age" couldn't be that given its broad scope, but even so, it'll still give you a general idea of how things worked at Warners, MGM, Disney, Lantz, UPA, etc., mostly from the point of view of the voice actors, Scott's specialty.I'm fairly well-versed on the ins and outs of the classic cartoon studios and even I learned quite a bit of new information. It's one of those rare books where you can open it at any page, skim for a recognizable name, and dive right in. You'll learn about heavyweights in the voicing arena like Daws Butler, Stan Freberg, June Foray, and of course the champion Mel Blanc, but you'll get more than you ever thought you wanted to know about dozens of others. In this sonic world, too many novices and fanboys do uneducated guess work and fill up Wikipedia and IMDB with stupid misinformation. Scott curbs that by citing records at the various studio archives and interviews, as well as his unbeatable ears, to positively ID who voiced what.With toilet paper in the form of "Wild Minds" getting all the press and plugs, Scott's is *such* a welcome addition to cartoon history. Highly recommended! (And make sure you get Vol. 2, too!)

This is a superlative book, in which Keith Scott does for voice artists of animated cartoons and radio what Sam Gill, Steve Massa, Imogen Sara Smith and Brent Walker have done for the legends (and lesser-known luminaries) of silent film comedy. Along the way in this lovingly detailed and researched tome there is much history regarding the Hollywood and New York animation studios, as well as the numerous links between vaudeville, radio and cartoons. Highly recommended and a must for the classic movie aficionado's bookshelf!

The voices of the talented artists behind those cartoons and animated features we've enjoyed since childhood is brought to life and our attention in this well researched and written book.

Keith Scott, the definitive chronicler of Rocky and Bullwinkle, returns with another wonderful, appreciative work about animation in the 20th century. Something deserving of respect, which he thoroughly gives.