The voice and vision of Jim Henson

The world is a better place for Jim Henson sharing his vision, his voice, his heart, and his soul. Let's take a look and listen back over his work.





















Jim Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990)

Listen to "A Boy and his Frog" by Tom Smith

Read the lyrics by Tom Smith

Bob "Porky Pig" Bergen Wednesday on Shokus Internet Radio

Mark Evanier


Over at his wonderful blog, "News From Me," Mark Evanier let us know that the enormously talented Bob Bergen (the nice Jewish boy who grew up to voice Porky Pig) will be appearing on "Stu's Show" on Shokus Internet Radio with Stuart Shostak. Mark reminds us that Shokus Internet Radio is NOT a podcast, so you CANNOT download the show, but MUST listen during the "aired" time from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern.


Bob Bergen

You might want to check out Bob"s one-man-show "Here's The Deal" and what he has to say about recording a voice-over demo here.

Here is an interview with Bob at ToonZone, Part 1 and
ToonZone, Part 2

Mark has also posted a couple of "Mr. Magoo" commercials for Stag Beer, voiced by the late, great, Jim Backus

Susan Berkley presents her mini-course on interpreting ad copy

Susan Berkley presents her 5 part Mini Course - How To Do Voice-overs
The Five Questions voice actors need to ask themselves in order to interpret Ad Copy
Question #1 Who am I?
Question #2 Who Am I Talking To?
Question #3 What Is My Relationship?
Question #4 Where Are We?
Question #5 What Would It Look Like?

Learn more about Susan at The Great Voice Company: http://www.greatvoice.com

You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Boris Karloff performed the voice-over work and Thurl(Tony the Tiger)Ravenscroft sings the signature song from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas."

Good Morning, Bob Bergen

Gary Cogill of Good Morning, Texas interviews Bob Bergen (voice of Porky Pig and Tweety Pie) at this link.

Wally Cox on "What's My Line?" & There is a Tavern in the Town 1953-54

Dr. Who Voice Over Recording for "The Infinate Quest"

Up!

On November 24th, 2003, Laurie and I went to a live-cast reading of THE WALDORF CONFERENCE, a play about the men behind the Hollywood Blacklist. The play was presented at the WGA Theatre in Beverly Hills as a benefit for the Hollywood ACLU and the Writers Guild Foundation. Nat Segaloff produced and John de Lancie directed with the following cast:

Edward Asner as Louis B. Mayer
James Cromwell as James F. Byrnes
John de Lancie as Eric Johnston
Harlan Ellison as Barney Balaban
Michael Laskin as Mendel Silberberg
Paul Mazursky as Samuel Goldwyn
Kenny Morse as Spyros Skouras
Ethan Phillips as Harry Cohn
Robert Picardo as Dore Schary
Lawrence Pressman as Albert Warner
Jacob Snyder as William Goetz
Alan Toy as Nicholas Schenck

After the play we were handing out with Harlan and Susan Ellison, when I worked up the nerve to ask Harlan to introduce us to Ed Asner. "Hey, Eddie! Come're, I want you to meet some people." Thanks to Harlan, we met a true gentleman.

On June 28th, 2008 I participated in Patrick Farley's "Mix Down/Melt Down" event, held in Chandler, Arizona. I had been listening to Pat's free lessons and felt I could learn a great deal from such a generous teacher. I was right. I spent some time with Pat at VOICE 2008 and I felt even more inspired by his teaching style and demeanor.

I recently participated in Pat's "Billion $ Read" which was another mind-expanding event.

I do regret my inability to attend Pat's "Play Among The Stars" event. One of the directors was Ed Asner.


Ed Asner stars in Disney Pixar's "Up"

Paul Frees: Welcome, indeed!

He's was the voice of John Lennon and George Harrison, the voice of Boris Badenov and Inspector Fenwick, the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Froot Loops Toucan Sam, and the Jolly Green Giants' protogé, Sprout, among others. Paul Frees had a long and varied career in radio, television, movies, and voice-over. Arguably,more people have heard Frees as the Ghost Host of Disney's Haunted Mansion than any of his other work. Listen to these outtakes of Frees recording sessions for Disney. Happy Halloween!

It's Gary Owens!

Host ,Janie Haddad, speaks to Radio announcer and voice actor, Gary Owens,about his book, HOW TO MAKE A MILLION DOLLARS WITH YOUR VOICE, and his career.



Here we have Gary Owens going through some memorabilia from his days on Laugh-In.