SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: SCOTT MENVILLE

 

SCOTT MENVILLE 

(February 12, 1971- ) 

 

Notable Roles: Spanky, Bingo Beaver, Thaddeus Micawb, Jonny Quest, Prince Dexter, Freddy Flintstone, Ralph Gumer, Captain Cortex, Wonder Kid, Red Herring, Ma-Ti, Joe McIntyre, Slightly, Hayato, Duane, Toby Danger, Ira Melman, Trouble/Kenny Braverman, Goro/Shoichi, Zack, Fraz Flub, Kevin French/C-Dog, Tubute, Robin/Tim Drake, Red X, Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Shaggy Rogers, Metamorpho/Rex Mason, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Jimmy Jones, Bucky/James Barnes, Salad lad, Chrono Spanner/Ken Tennyson, Bucky Hensletter, Arthur, Sneezy, Crankshaw, Stretch/Jake Armstrong, Scott Dingleman, Dr. Octopus/Superior Spider-Man/Otto Octavius, Grady Scraps

 

The son of animator and writer Chuck Menville, Scott Menville went into the “family business” by becoming a voice actor; with his first credit being a 1979 episode of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. His first starring role came as Spanky in The Little Rascals animated series in 1982, followed by Bingo Beaver in The Get Along Gang. He proceeded to have a series of starring, minor or guest-starring roles for Hanna-Barbera Productions, Ruby-Spears Productions, Bagdasarian Productions and DiC Entertainment, while branching out into live-action acting with a guest appearance on One Big Family in 1987. That led to his having recurring roles on The Wonder Years, Full House (reprised on its sequel spin-off Fuller House), The Parent ‘Hood and others. Interestingly, he performed on both the live-action Punky Brewster and its animated spin-off. He has maintained a steady career as both a live and voice actor, doing cartoons, anime dubs and video games. Most frequently, his voice allows him to be cast in the roles of young boys like Robin in the Teen Titans franchise and Scott Dingleman in Bunnicula. Along with acting, Menville is a musician. He played bass guitar for the band Boy Hits Car from their founding in 1993 until 2006. The band released three albums with Menville as a member, and their song “LoveFuryPassionEnergy” was used as the theme song for WWE wrestler Lita. Menville has been nominated for a Young Artists Award and a Behind the Voice Actors Award, winning several of the latter.

 

 

Saturday Credits: 

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979) 

The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show

The Gary Coleman Show 

The Dukes 

The Little Rascals 

Alvin & the Chipmunks (1983) 

The Get Along Gang 

It’s Punky Brewster 

Challenge of the GoBots 

The Little Wizards 

The Real Ghostbusters 

Popeye and Son 

The Flintstone Kids 

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures

New Kids on the Block 

Peter Pan and the Pirates 

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

The Little Mermaid: The Animated Series 

Beethoven: The Animated Series

Freakazoid! 

Superman: The Animated Series 

Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? 

All Grown Up! 

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! 

DC Nation: New Teen Titans 

Star vs. the Forces of Evil 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) 

Teen Titans Go! 

Ben 10: Omniverse 

Bunnicula 

Marvel’s Spider-Man 

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 

Young Justice 

Big City Greens 

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: BUSTER JONES

 

BUSTER JONES

(December 12, 1943-September 12, 2014)

 

Notable Roles: Black Vulcan, Spaghetti Man/Twiggy Sander, Blaster, Doc, Zap, Winston Zeddemore, Lothar

 

Born Edward Jones, he began his career playing music with various bands around the world before ending up in Washington, DC as a DJ. In 1972, he shifted into a career on camera with a role in the film The Marshal of Windy Hollow. In 1973, he was recruited by Dick Clark to host the short-lived spin-off to American Bandstand called Soul Unlimited, which was designed to compete with Soul Train by appealing to that program’s audience. In 1977, after a stint doing voiceover for commercials, Jones’ agency sent him out for an interview and he landed the role of Hanna-Barbera’s original character, Black Vulcan, in the Super Friends franchise. Hanna-Barbera later tagged him as the voice of Harlem Globetrotter Twiggy Sanders in the series The Super Globetrotters. In 1981, he began a long association with Marvel Productions, Sunbow Productions and Hasbro when he lent his voice to the syndicated Spider-Man, then went on to have multiple roles in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Transformers and Jem. Jones’ biggest role, however, came in 1988 when he replaced Arsenio Hall as the voice of Winston Zeddemore in The Real Ghostbusters; which he would reprise in two episodes of the follow-up, Extreme Ghostbusters. After a few more minor roles in the likes of Batman: The Animated Series and The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Jones largely disappeared from the spotlight after 1998 as job offers dried up; getting mostly music gigs and starting up his own record company, Buster Jones Records. He died at his home in North Hollywood in 2014 at the age of 70.

 

Saturday Credits:

Soul Unlimited
The All-New Super Friends Hour
Challenge of the Superfriends
The Super Globetrotters
Spider-Man (1981)
Shirt Tales
Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
The Flintstone Kids
Jem
The Real Ghostbusters
The Karate Kid (1989)
Batman: The Animated Series
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
The New Batman Adventures

LUIS ALFONSO MENDOZA DEAD AT 55

You can read the full story here.

He provided the Latin America dubs for Winston in Thomas and Friends; Winston Zeddemore in The Real Ghostbusters; Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and his appearances in the 2012 version; Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid: The Animated Series; Barney Rubble in Flintstone Kids; Newton in Ned’s Newt; Daffy Duck, including Duck Dodgers; Dr. Stable and Ponet Fantastique Director in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; Octagon Vreedle in the Ben 10 franchise including Omniverse; and GoiGoi in The Lion Guard.

ARTE JOHNSON DEAD AT 90

You can read the full story here.

He voiced Super Scuba in The Super 6; Misterjaw in The Pink Panther Show; Rhubarb in The Houndcats; Weerd in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo; Count Ray and Dr. Ludwig von Strangeduck in DuckTales (1987); Devil Smurf, Custodian of Avalon and additional voices in The Smurfs; Lou and Top Cat in Yo Yogi!; and Newt, delivery guy and German dog in Animaniacs; and provided additional voices in Pac-Man, The Dukes, Foofur, The Flintstone Kids, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, Snorks and Tom & Jerry Kids Show. He also co-created Baggy Pants & the Nitwits, in which he reprised his Laugh-In character Tyrone reimagined as a bumbling superhero. 

 

ON TV IN 1987

As Doc Brown once said: "30 years. It's a nice round number." We agree, and with that thought in mind, and what with it being September when new programs traditionally began airing, we figured we'd show you the Saturday morning television schedule for all the major networks (alphabetically) from the fall of 1987. While watching on Saturday morning, you may have seen these:

8:00 A.M.

8:30 A.M.

(1 1/2 hours)

(1 1/2 hours)

9:00 A.M.

9:30 A.M.

10:00 A.M.

10:30 A.M.

11:00 A.M.

11:30 A.M.

12:00 P.M.

12:30 P.M.

NOTE: Some regions may have had slightly differing schedules due to local programming or other considerations.

JUNE FORAY DEAD AT 99

You can read the full story here.

June Foray was an actress whose career began during the golden age of animation and led her to work for just about every production company there ever was. Her longest-standing role was that of Granny throughout the various incarnations and spin-offs. She also performed several other roles, notably that of Witch Hazel. Her other longest roles were Rocket J. Squirrel and Natasha Fatale in the Rocky & Bullwinkle franchise.

On Saturday mornings, she starred as Mother Gruesome in Frankenstein Jr. & the Impossibles; Ursula and Marigold in George of the Jungle; a gypsy fortune teller in an episode of Scooby Doo, Where Are You!; Mrs. Baker in The New Scooby-Doo Movies; Granny, Sonja, Iggy, Muggsy, Crazy Shirley and Marcy in Heathcliff (1980); Jokey Smurf and Mrs. Sourberry in The Smurfs; Aunt May in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends; Grandma Howard and Mrs. Seslick in Teen Wolf (1986); Grandma Cavemom in several episodes of The Flintstone Kids; Bertha Bird in an episode of Denver, the Last Dinosaur; Constance McSnack in an episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo; Mrs. Rogers, the Mayor’s wife, and Mrs. Dweeb in The Real Ghostbusters; Magica De Spell, Ma Beagle, Mrs. Featherby and Scrooge’s mother in DuckTales; Bathsheba, Saturna, Sister Mouse and Duchess in various episodes of The ABC Weekend Specials; Grammi Gummi and several other roles in Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears; various roles throughout Garfield and Friends; Blocky and Svetlana the Spy in Rugrats; and Martha Wilson in All-New Dennis the Menace.

She also provided voices for Super 6, The Pink Panther Show, The Incredible Hulk (1982), Saturday Supercade, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Foofur, CBS Storybreak, Tom & Jerry Kids, and The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.