Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe B.
This blog was in hibernation when Joe Barbera shuffled off this mortal coil last month, so I’m probably the last one to post anything about it. However, it’s relevant again as Warner Bros. hosted the official Mr. B. memorial on Wednesday night.
It was held on the main studio lot of Warners in the Stephen J. Ross Theater and Museum, which is located near the commisary on the entrance to the backlot. There was a huge turnout. So big, there is no way I could name everyone of importance that was there, but here is a short list: Voice Artists: June Foray, John Stephenson, Frank Welker, Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, Greg Burson and Stan Freberg. Casting directors and voice directors: Gordon Hunt, Andrea Romano, Ginny McSwain and Kris Zimmerman. Writers: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Tom Ruegger, Mark Seidenberg, Tom Minton. Artists: Scott Jeralds, Scott Shaw!, Jerry Eisenberg, Willie Ito, Lance Falk and, as they used to say on the end credits of Rocky and His Friends, “A host of others” including Studio Executives, Ink and Paint people, and Joe’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The event was hosted by Carlton Clay, Mr. B.’s longtime assistant and caregiver. Carlton is the nicest man you’d ever want to meet and whatever he lacked in polish, he more than made up for with sincerity and heartfelt appreciation.
The proceedings were much less corporate than Bill Hanna’s memorial, held in the same location. The tackiest thing was two giant statues of Fred and Barney in front of the theater that you could get your picture taken with. I didn’t understand that. I think it would have made more sense to have a lifesize cutout of Joe so that you could get one last picture with him. There was only one mention of “branding”. For the most part, it was a real tribute to Joe himself and not what a great company asset Hanna-Barbera is.
They opened with a nice little biography that Gary Owens narrated. Then came the live speakers, Barry Meyer, President of Warner Bros., someone from Cartoon Network (whose name I didn’t know and don’t remember), and Sander Schwartz, President of Warner Bros. Animation. Next, Michael Antonovitch presented a proclamation to Neal, Lynn and Jayne, Joe’s children, making it officially Joe Barbera day in Los Angeles. After that, Casey Kasem spoke, as did Margaret Loesch, who was very funny. Then they did something very wise. Rather than have a long parade of people speak, they produced a tape with another dozen people getting to speak, including Jean MacCurdy, Don Jurwich, Jerry Eisenberg, Scott Jeralds, Joe Ruby & Ken Spears, Janet Waldo, Stan Freberg, Frank Welker, June Foray, Gary Owens, Willie Ito and I’m sure I’m leaving people out, but as I said, I didn’t intend for this to be a complete list.
A lot of people referred to him as Mr. B. And while I always called his partner Mr. Hanna, for some reason I felt comfortable enough to just call him Joe. He made you feel comfortable… unless he was pulling your leg, then you felt very uncomfortable until you realized he was joking.
But I thought I would end this by telling the one story that I think is unique to me, the time I made him angry. I was interviewing both of them for the Flintstones Laserdisc box set. I decided I wanted to ask some different questions that I hadn’t heard before. By this time in their lives, they had their stock stories and both had written books telling them. Some of the stories were completely true, others had been honed and embellished to make them more interesting.
It was frustrating, because for the most part, Mr. Hanna would just say “I don’t know,” or “I don’t remember,” if I strayed from their usual script. But Joe was still a little sharper and lashed out when I asked, “In the beginning, The Flintstones was intended to be for adults. As the show went on, it appealed more and more to children. Did you purposely make the show less adult because that’s the audience you were getting, or did you get that audience by adding the babies?” I thought he was almost going to take a swing at me. He vehemently denied dumbing down the show. He felt it was as adult in Season One as it was in Season Six. He claimed that in order to come up with enough stories, you have to freshen up the show, therefore in Season Three, Pebbles was added, in Season Four, Bamm-Bamm, in Season Five, Hoppy the Hopperoo and in Season Six, it was The Great Gazoo.
I still must respectfully disagree. Even as a young person watching the show, I liked the episodes better that were made before the birth of Pebbles. Of course, this is unfair as Joe isn’t here to argue his side any more, but then again, it’s my blog.
But that one point aside, the world of cartoons, and my life in particular, would have been a lot less fun without the creations of Joe Barbera. There’s no question that he will be missed, not just by the people that knew him, but by the whole world.