GEORGE FOREMAN DEAD AT 76

 

You can read the full story here.

He played George Fisticuff, a parody of himself, in an episode of Garfield and Friends.

BOB FOSTER DEAD AT 81

 

You can read the full story here.

He co-developed Road Rovers; did layouts for Yogi’s Gang, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, CB Bears, Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, Yogi’s Space Race, Jana of the Jungle, The New Shmoo, Godzilla (1978), Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Meatballs and Spaghetti, The Incredible Hulk (1982), Dragon’s Lair and Garfield and Friends; storyboards for Little Muppet Monsters, The New Archies, Camp Candy, Little Shop, Garfield and Friends, Superman: The Animated Series, Freakazoid!, Hercules: The Animated Series, Mickey Mouseworks, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Xiaolin Showdown, Tutenstein, Tom and Jerry Tales, and Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates; was story director for The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley; and did models for Garfield and Friends.

JAMES EARL JONES DEAD AT 93

 

You can read the full story here.

best known for his signature deep voice that embodied Star Wars’ Darth Vader and The Lion King’s Mufasa. Along with being considered the first celebrity guest on Sesame Street, he made several more appearances later on, provided the narration for “The Parsley Garden” episode of ABC Weekend Specials, Diablo in an episode of Garfield and Friends, and reprised the role of Mufasa for The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar.

35TH ANNIVERSARIES

 Our 3rd week of anniversary celebrations leads us into

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: GARY OWENS

 

GARY OWENS
(May 10, 1934-February 12, 2015)

 
Notable Roles: Roger Ramjet, Space Ghost, Blue Falcon, Captain Squash, Commander Ulysses Feral, Powdered Toast Man, 1950s Batman
 

Born Gary Bernard Altman, Owens was notable for his baritone speaking voice and deadpan comedic delivery that made him an ideal narrator and announcer for various projects—particularly of the humorous kind. He began his career as a news reporter on radio station KORN in 1952 in Mitchell, South Dakota, and was promoted to news director two years later. In 1956 he left to be a newscaster at KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa, before becoming a disc jockey at KOIL in Omaha, Nebraska. After bouncing around a few other stations, he finally ended up in California in 1959. He began a two-decade tenure at 710 KMCP (now KSPN AM) where he displayed his surrealistic humor and tendency for puns, as well as inventing nonsense words and doing amusing radio promotions. He also developed several alter-egos: gruff old man earl C. Festoon and his wife, Phoebe; stuffy businessman Endocrine J. Sternwallow; goofy good ol’ boy Merle Clyde Gumpf; and crochety old Mergenthaler Waisleywillow. In 1961 he started transitioning into film and television by providing the uncredited prologue narration for The Naked Witch (although it wasn’t released until 1964). In 1965, he made a couple of appearances on McHale’s Navy and voiced the titular character in the animated Roger Ramjet. His most well-known role came in 1968 as the announcer for the sketch comedy series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, where he established his trademark routine of holding his hand on his ear as he spoke into the microphone. Owens had a long association with Hanna-Barbera Productions, providing either opening narrations or episode narrations for various shows like The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Yogi’s Space Race and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, as well as various roles including the heroes Space Ghost in Space Ghost and Blue Falcon in Dynomutt, Dog Wonder and supporting antagonist Commander Ulysses Feral in SWAT Kats. Additionally, he voiced various cartoon characters on Sesame Street, the characters of Powdered Toast Man in The Ren & Stimpy Show and Captain Squash in Bobby’s World, and was even one of the prospective voices for Inspector Gadget in one of the pilot episodes. In 2004, Owens co-wrote the book How to Make a Million Dollars with Your Voice (Or Lose Your Tonsils Trying) with Jeff Lenburg, an anecdote-laden guide on how to get into voice acting. In his final years, Owens served as the promotional announcing voice for retro network Antenna TV until his death in 2015 due to complications from his life-long bout with Type-1 diabetes.

 
Saturday Credits:
Space Ghost and Dino Boy
Sesame Street
The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics
Yogi’s Space Race
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
Space Stars
The Mighty Orbots
Inspector Gadget (1 pilot version)
Garfield & Friends
Yogi’s Treasure Hunt
Bobby’s World
Defenders of Dynatron City
Tom & Jerry Kids Show
Eek! the Cat
Goof Troop
Raw Toonage
Skeleton Warriors
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
The Mask: The Animated Series
Nightmare Ned
101 Dalmatians: The Series
The New Batman Adventures
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Teamo Supremo

LARRY STORCH DEAD AT 99

 

You can read the full story here.

Best known for his starring role in F-Troop (which was seen in archival footage on an episode of Freakazoid!), he also had an extensive career on Saturday morning. He starred as Phineas J. Whoopee, as well as Rocky Maninoff, G. Washington Bridgit and Red Beard in Tennessee Tuxedo and his Tales; Joker in The Batman/Superman Hour and The New Scooby-Doo Movies; Drac, Ratso, Hagatha and Ghoulihand in Groovie Goolies, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies (where he was also The Phantom), The New Archie/Sabrina Hour and Sabrina, Super Witch; Marlon, Fleetwood and Chuck White in “The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island” episode of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, which was followed with The Brady Kids where he was also Mop Top, Sleezy Sam, Knuckles, Coach, Chuckonis Ospro, Krunk, Nets Nolan, Hoax, Orville Wrong, Wilbur Wrong, Major LeTraine and Colonel Jones; Eddie Spencer and Big Al on The Ghost Busters; and Mr. Mendaelbaum and Herbert Finagle in episodes of Garfield and Friends. He also provided voices for Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp, The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour, The Puppy’s Further Adventures, and Foofur.

WILL RYAN DEAD AT 72

 

You can read the full story here.

He voiced Wishing Well in an episode of The Wuzzles; Slime, Selwyn Quarrel, Cousin McDougall, Wizard Anton, and additional voices in The Smurfs (1981); Chubs in Teen Wolf: The Animated Series; Ogres, Gad and Zook in Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears; McKraven, Webster the Rabbit and additional voices in Garfield and Friends; Mr. Cross Ghost, a Medic Guardian and Voices in The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat; Willie the Giant in Disney’s House of Mouse; and played various characters in various episodes of ABC Weekend Specials, for which also wrote, produced and provided music for an episode. 

ON TV IN 1990 & 1991

 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) that debuted 30 years ago. AND! As a bonus, since we were so busy with our 70th anniversary celebration last year, we're doing a double shot and bringing you the Saturday morning hits from 1990 AND 1991! Without further ado, while watching on Saturday morning, you may have seen these*:

1990

8:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

8:30 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

9:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

(1 HOUR)

9:30 A.M.

10:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

10:30 A.M.

11:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

(1 HOUR)

11:30 A.M.

12:00 P.M.

*FOX was airing local programming for the noon hour.

12:30 P.M.

1991

8:00 A.M.

8:30 A.M.

9:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

9:30 A.M.

10:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

10:30 A.M.

11:00 A.M.

(1 HOUR)

(1 HOUR)

*FOX aired local programming beginning this hour.

11:30 A.M.

12:00 P.M.

*FOX was airing local programming for the noon hour.

12:30 P.M.

*Shows and times may have differed between markets.

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: JULIE BENNETT

JULIE BENNETT

(January 24, 1932-March 31, 2020)

Notable Roles: Cindy Bear, Lois Lane, Wonder Girl/Donna Troy, Lady Constance, Queen Anne, Kitty Jo, Chessie, Monica, Boo, May Parker

Bennett was a character actor on stage and radio, and later television as it began to rise in prominence; appearing in such shows as The Adventures of Superman, Dragnet, Leave It to Beaver and Love American Style, among many others. During the 1950s, her resume expanded to include voice work for UPA’s Mr. Magoo franchise, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes franchise, and the Fractured Fairytales segment of The Bullwinkle Show for Jay Ward Productions. In 1961, she became the voice of Cindy Bear for Hanna-Barbera, which she reprised over several Yogi Bear films and shows. She also returned to the Superman franchise by becoming the second voice of Lois Lane in Filmation’s The New Adventures of Superman after the departure of original voice Joan Alexander, and took on the role of Wonder Girl in the Teen Titans segments of Aquaman.  From then on, she spent much of her voice career at Hanna-Barbera, moonlighting a few times for guest-roles in DiC’s The Real Ghostbusters and Film Roman’s Garfield and Friends, as well as continuing to appear on TV shows and made-for-TV films. In 1997, she succeeded Linda Gary as the voice of Aunt May Parker in Spider-Man: The Animated Series after Gary’s death in 1995. Her final known role was as an old woman in the 2000 Spider-Man video game. In between her acting gigs, Bennett worked as a realtor and an agent for other actors under the name Marianne Daniels. She died in 2020, one of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic.

Saturday Credits:

The Bugs Bunny Show

The Bullwinkle Show

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour

Cattanooga Cats

The Funky Phantom

Jeannie
These Are the Days

Yogi’s Gang

Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels

Fred Flintstone and Friends

The All-New Popeye Hour

Dinky Dog

The Little Rascals

The Mighty Orbots

The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show

Yogi’s Treasure Hunt

The Real Ghostbusters

Garfield and Friends

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

SATURDAY MORNING MASTERS: PAUL WINCHELL

PAUL WINCHELL

(December 21, 1922-June 24, 2005)

Notable Roles: Dick Dastardly, Clyde, Softie, Fleegle, Tigger, Gargamel, Baby Smurf, Goober, Woofer, Moe Howard, Marmaduke, Zummi Gummi

Winchell had ambitions to become a doctor, but the Great Depression eliminated any possibility of his family affording medical school. While sick with polio, he saw an ad for a ventriloquism kit and created his first dummy: Jerry Mahoney. He worked on his act and took it to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1938, which he won. The prize included touring and playing with the Major Bowes Review. Bandleader Ted Weems saw Winchell and offered him employment, which Winchell accepted. He refined Jerry’s design and created a second dummy, Knucklehead Smiff. He also created Ozwald, a character rendered by drawing a face on his chin and filming himself upside-down. He and Jerry first appeared on radio in 1943, but was overshadowed by Edgar Bergen. They found success in the 1950s on television with The Paul Winchell Show, which aired in various timeslots under various names and formats for its duration. Following that, Winchell and his dummies appeared on various programs, with his last regular on-screen role being in the children’s game show Runaround. Beginning in 1968, Winchell became a voice actor, notably as the voice of Dick Dastardly for Hanna-Barbera and Tigger in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise, and later on as Gargamel in The Smurfs franchise. In between, Winchell realized his medical ambitions by becoming a pre-med student at Columbia University, a graduate of The Acupuncture Research College of Los Angeles, working as a medical hypnotist at the Gibbs Institute in Hollywood, invented an artificial heart with Dr. Henry Heimlich, and developed over 30 patents. In the 1980s, he attempted to aid starvation in Africa by coming up with a way to cultivate tilapia fish in tribal villages, but was denied Congressional support. Winchell retired from acting in 1999 and died of natural causes in 2005.

Saturday Credits:

The Paul Winchell Show

Paul Winchell’s Cartoonies

The Lone Ranger (1966)

Wacky Races (1968)

The Pink Panther Show

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop

Storybook Squares

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour

Help!...It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!

The New Scooby-Doo Movies

Runaround

The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie

Yogi’s Gang

Goober and the Ghost Chasers

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch

Hong Kong Phooey
These Are the Days

The Oddball Couple

Clue Club

The Skatebirds

CB Bears

Fred Flintstone and Friends

The Robonic Stooges

Casper and the Angels

The Super Globetrotters

Trolkins

Heathcliff (1980)

The Smurfs

Spider-Man (1981)

Meatballs and Spaghetti

Yogi’s Treasure Hunt

Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Garfield and Friends

LEE MENDELSON DEAD AT 86

You can read the full story here.

He was a producer best known for his long career making various productions based on the Peanuts comic strip, including The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. He also worked on Mother Goose and Grimm, Garfield and Friends, and served as a creative consultant on episodes of Toonsylvania.