Above is the opening Warner Bros. logo for the best Looney Tune you’ve never seen. How do I know that? Because I wrote it. Well, that’s kind of egotistical, you say. I say, not at all. Not only did it win top honors, the Gold Special Jury Award, in the Short Subject/Film and Video Category at the 2000 Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, but if you’ve seen all the other Looney Tunes (and I’m including Merrie Melodies, too), then this is the best one that you’ve never seen. Here is the title card:

Tomorrow I’ll tell you the story of how it came to be made and delve into trying to figure out why you’ve never seen it.

Jim Henson with cast members of “Sam and Friends” (from left to right): Harry the Hipster, Sam, Yorick, Kermit. Photographer uncredited. MUPPET, MUPPETS, and the Muppet characters are registered trademarks of The Muppets Holding Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ©2006 The Muppets Holding Company, LLC.

Here is a link to everything you need to know about the Smithsonian Muppets exhibit, titled Muppets and Mechanisms: Jim Henson’s Legacy. It begins today and runs through September 4th.

In honor of the previous item and the Smithsonian exhibit, I thought I would take this opportunity to show you more of my unpublished photos from Sesame Street. On the far left, in the foreground, you can see the pedestal extension to make the camera high enough to be eye level with the puppets. In the center is Jim Henson with Guy Smiley.

Guy is one of the earliest examples of a Muppet with movable eyebrows. There is a string attached inside, which runs the length of the puppet and comes out the bottom. On the left, you can see Jim had to drop the arm rod and reach inside for the control to make the eyebrows move.

Of course, on the right in the top picture is Frank Oz as Grover. Oz was one of the most versatile and funniest Muppeteers. His other characters included Bert, Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy, as well as Yoda in the Star Wars movies.

For those not familiar with how television puppetry works, in the top picture, you can see Jim and Frank watching themselves on a monitor. This way, they see exactly what the camera is seeing, rather than trying to crane their necks to watch the performance over their heads.

I’ve always thought it was kind of funny that every picture I’ve ever seen of Jim and Frank, they were wearing long sleeve shirts that they had to roll up to operate the puppets. Mind you, the photos on this page were taken in August in New York. Maybe there was some kind of story behind their choice of outerwear, but I’ve never heard it!

Jim Henson and Jane Nebel, who would later become Jane Henson, with characters from Jim’s first television show “Sam and Friends”. One of the friends is Kermit, Version 2.0

There’s a new Muppet exhibit going into the Smithsonian Institute as reported by puppeteer Andrew on his blog. I was at the Smithsonian a year ago and all they had at that time were Kermit and Oscar the Grouch.

Oscar the Grouch and Kermit the Frog as seen at the Smithsonian Institute in 2005

At far left is the original Kermit, made from Jim’s mother’s old coat. Although he had the eyes for it, at this point, Kermit was not designated a frog. Beside Kermit is Sam, of Sam and Friends. Both of them can be seen in the new exhibit.

But it was worth it to bring you this comic strip by Richard J. Smith.

Thanks, Richard, for the link!

While the Magilla Gorilla DVD set has been announced for some time now, I have just confirmed that some of the suggestions I made for Bonus Material, well… materialized.

• Here Comes A Star - A 1963 Half-Hour Special that was used to introduce the show to the world. It is hosted by George Fenniman (Groucho Marx’s announcer from You Bet Your Life), who talks to Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. It’s in B&W and is particularly interesting because it shows the then newly constructed H-B studio at 3400 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood.

• New interviews with Allan Melvin, the voices of Magilla and Punkin’ Puss and the only surviving cast member, and layout artist and character designer Jerry Eisenberg.

These extras alone will make the set a must-have for TV animation buffs and especially for H-B fans.

Thanks once again to Eric Costello (who may soon have to go on the payroll) for providing this link to a mini-biography of Joe Penner on the Internet Movie Database.

I was correct in calling him a vaudeville comedian and he also worked in burlesque before getting into radio. According to the bio, he had a regular routine where he would bring a prop on stage and ask his straight-man, “Wanna buy a door knob?” or whtaever the prop happened to be. One time, he brought out a decoy and asked, “Wanna buy a duck?” It got such a huge laugh, that it stuck and became his catch-phrase from that time on. The other truly interesting part of the story, which ties this all back together, is that on his radio show, the duck’s name was Goo Goo. And who provided Goo Goo’s radio voice? None other than Mel Blanc.

You can read the rest of his bio by following the link above. Now on to Gallagher and Shean!

Referring to Egghead’s Joe Penner voice, Jerry Beck writes:

Keith Scott, who is writing/researching the ultimate reference to identifying Hollywood voice actors during the golden age, has said that Dave Webber was the radio mimic who provided the Joe Penner imitation in several Warner Bros. cartoons. Webber changed his name to Danny Webb and got a few small parts in Hollywood films - including a starring role in a Columbia comedy short in 1939. His final cartoon voice was that of the evil Queen in Clampett’s COAL BLACK.

Mark Evanier confirmed this tidbit of information, but spelled the first name “Dave Weber”, with one “b”. The Internet Movie Database only has a listing for a Dave Webber as a current composer. It does have a listing for Dave Weber, but only shows one credit in 1938. However, Danny Webb has six credits, most of them being cartoon voices.

I couldn’t find a picture of any of the incarnations of this actor’s names, so here are some substitutes for your approval:

David Webber Farquhar

Danny Webb (At least this one’s an actor!)

Danny Webb at the Teen Club (My fav!)

And for some reason, Joe Penner is still trying to unload that darn duck!

Standing from left: Me, My Fiancée Denise; Seated: My Mom, My Sister Elise

I’m guessing that most of you have or had a mother at one time or another. If you haven’t, you should get one. It’s a very nice thing to have. Who would I be without my mother? Someone completely different. And that just wouldn’t be right. I kind of like me the way I am. So, thanks Mom for making me! Uh, making me who I am… yeah, that’s what I meant. Anyway, Happy Mother’s Day, especially to my Mom and to all you mothers out there!

Yesterday’s entry about the Warner Bros. cartoon character, Egghead, sounding like comedian Joe Penner, brought this additional information from Eric Costello:

There’s a character who shot across the footlights like a meteor. Joe Penner died when he was 37 or so (in 1941). His radio career was moderately short by Old Time Radio standards; Rudy Vallee in ‘33, then his own show for NBC Blue, then CBS, then NBC Blue again between 1933 and 1940 (Bill Goodwin, who announced for Bob Hope and Burns & Allen, was one of the announcers). His is a classic case of a personality showing up again and again and again in 1930s cartoons, with little or no chance anyone will recognize him 75 years on. I’ve read that he was popular with kids until the very end.

That’s a picture of Penner above on the left, being hovered over by a very young Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard, who, of course, would later become Harriet Nelson. Here’s another shot with some other well-known personalities of the day:

From the left, that’s Bob Burns, Tommy Riggs, Charlie McCarthy and his pal, Edgar Bergen, Rudy Vallee and Joe Penner. It’s interesting to note in this picture, Penner is carrying a basket with a duck poking its head out. As the title of this article states, one of his catch-phrases was “Ya wanna buy a duck?” I’m afraid its meaning may be lost to the ages. I don’t know why he was always trying to sell a duck. Maybe someone reading this remembers.

I also want to set the record straight, just for the sake of accuracy, something with which today’s journalists seem to be no longer concerned, and talk more about Egghead’s voice. It seemed to change with the wind, or possibly what actor was available when the cartoon was recorded. In Daffy Duck and Egghead, Cinderella Meets Fella, Count Me Out and Believe It Or Else, he has the Penner voice. In Hamateur Night, Mel Blanc provides his voice as he sings “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain”. In Egghead Rides Again, Mel again does the voice, sounding like a slightly lower pitched Daffy Duck, complete with lisp. In Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas, Mel gives us a preview of what Bugs Bunny will sound like in a few years, again slightly lower pitched. It’s Mel once more in A Day at the Zoo, doing Lou Costello’s catch-phrase, “I’m a bad boy!” And in the cartoon mentioned in the other article, A Feud There Was, where Egghead is identified as Elmer Fudd, you can hear Mel’s own speaking voice, though very soft spoken and this time, pitched just a bit higher.

Does anyone know who did the Joe Penner impersonation? It definitely wasn’t Mel Blanc. In fact, in rewatching these cartoons today, there are quite a few other voices besides Mr. Blanc. And while I’m in a questioning mood, “Ya wanna buy a duck?”