Mention the name “Daws Butler” to any animation buff and you’ll probably hear “Well, he was the guy who did all of those great voices for Hanna Barbera. Yogi Bear. Huckleberry Hound. Quick Draw McGraw. Wally Gator. Mr. Jinx. The list goes on and on.”
However, were you to mentions Daws’ name to any of the performers who provide voices for today’s cartoon characters and you would get a very different reaction:
“He was my mentor.”
“He was my teacher.”
“He taught me everything I know.”
“I owe my career to that guy.”
This is why I’m such a big fan of the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA). Particularly the Hollywood branch of the organization. For every month, these folks present events that highlight little known aspects of animation history.
Such was the case back in late July, when ASIFA-Hollywood organized a tribute to Daws Butler. Which was held at the Glendale Public Library. But this event wasn’t really to honor Daws Butler the performer. But rather, Daws Butler the teacher.
This entertaining and informative evening was hosted by writer/documentarian Joe Bevilacqua. Bevilacqua moderated up a panel that was made up of the crème de la crème of vocal performers working today: June Foray (AKA the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel and Witch Hazel), Corey Burton (AKA Moliere from “Atlantis” and Capt. Hook from “Return to Neverland” and Nancy Cartwright (AKA Bart Simpson from “The Simpsons” and Rufus the naked mole rat from “Kim Possible”.)
June Foray and Corey Burton at July’s ASIFA-Hollywood event honoring Daws Butler.
Photo by C.W. Oberleitner.
Any of these versatile performers could have easily held the stage all by themselves. Telling hours of fascinating stories about their varied careers. But that wasn’t really why Joe, June, Corey and Nancy had made their way to the Glendale Public Library that night. They were there to pay tribute to Daws Butler. Their teacher and friend.
And pay tribute they did. For an hour and a half, they spun out all of these great yarns about Butler. About how generous the man was — with his time and with his talent. How Daws used to hold these acting workshops at his home. Where performers like Bob Bergen (I.E. the current voice of Porky Pig), Burton and Cartwright would gather in the house’s two-story garage that Butler had converted into a recording studio. Once there, they’d read aloud from these extremely witty scripts that Daws had written. Which were deliberately designed to give these fledgling performers a chance to try out new voices. To try on various characters for size.
That (for me, anyway) was the real highlight of this evening at the Glendale Public Library. When Bevilacqua passed out copies of Butler’s old scripts and Joe, June, Corey and Nancy began bringing all of these quirky characters that Daws had written to life. These were surprisingly funny sketches, people. Full of flavorful storytelling. Among the high points were:
Corey and Joe playing two Irish gents as they spun out the tale of “Margery Dickerson.” The poor old women who fell down one day … and never got up. This particular skit — which Daws had written as an exercise in dialect and difference in characterization — was like something straight out of Monty Python. Absurdity piled upon absurdity. And ending with one of the best punch lines (“I call it … conversation.”) that I’ve heard in years.
June and Nancy doing a superb job with a quirky character piece about two noodgy New Yorkers. Here, Daws’ gift for somewhat sensible sounding non sequiturs came shining through. Give a listen to these intriguing bits of alleged wisdom: “With butter, matzos don’t taste so much like siding” and “Tap dancing in mud is unfulfilling.”
Nancy Cartwright at July’s ASIFA-Hollywood event honoring Daws Butler.
Photo by C.W. Oberleitner.
But the real highlight of the evening was when all four performers joined forces to perform Butler’s script for “Punky Possum’s Mud Bath.” And Joe Bevilacqua virtually stole the show when he “borrowed” Marlon Brando’s voice when he played the part of a pig.
Now where this got interesting was — after these four had finished performing “Punky Possum’s Mud Bath” — they all talked about the other times that they’d heard that particular skit performed. Where other vocal performers had tried playing the part of the pig as Pat Buttrum, Charles Laughton, Edgar Buchanan, W.C. Fields or Jimmy Durante. This was the very sort of thing that Daws always encouraged his students to do. To try something different. To not be afraid … but spread your wings and see what happens.
Given the affection that the folks on the panel as well as the people in the audience (Animation vets like Margaret Kerry, Tony Pope and Lucille Bliss all made their way to the mike to say a few kind things about Daws. Which I know meant a lot to Myrtis, Daws’ widow, as well as his sons. All of whom were in attendance that night at the Glendale Public Library), it was clear that this good and gentle man meant a lot to the animation community. Particularly June, who had worked with Daws since the early 1950s. Foray had actually flown all the way out from the East Coast just so June could be on hand for ASIFA-Hollywood’s Daws Butler evening.
Yes — all in all, folks — it was a pretty magical evening. Something that I’m so glad that I went out of my way to attend.
By the way, this wasn’t a one shot deal, friends. After all, ASIFA-Hollywood holds events just like this one every single month of the year. For example — on Saturday, September 27th at 3 p.m. — author Mike Barrier (best known for his book, “Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age,” which is being reissued in a revised paperback edition later this month) will be hosting a screening of rare cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. And on Tuesday, October 2nd, award winning animation by ASIFA’s East Coast members will be shown. And on Saturday, October 25th, ASIFA-Hollywood — in conjunction with the UCLA Film & Television Archives — will be presenting some rare silent era cartoons.
So if you’d like to take part in one of these upcoming events and/or learn more about ASIFA itself, be sure to visit the ASIFA-Hollywood’s site.
Or — if you’d just prefer to learn more about the life and teachings of Daws Butler — you can do so over at the official Daws Butler website.
Addendum
After this story was published, I got e-mails from dozens of JHM readers, asking “Where can I go to read some of those great scripts that you were talking about today?”
Well, not-so-co-incidentally, Joe Bevilacqua (the author/documentarian who hosted the Daws event back in July) has actually put together a book of Butler’s voice workshop scripts. This thin but fun volume is called “Scenes for Actors & Voices” (BearManor Media, July 2003). And if you’re a would-be cartoon voice performer who want some tips on how to perfect your craft … well, you can order a copy of Bevilacqua’s book through the official Daws Butler website.