TVSquad

Allan Melvin had so many roles on so many TV shows over the years that it's hard to know where to begin, but I guess the most logical spot would be The Brady Bunch, where he played Sam The Butcher, the guy Alice dated. He was also a regular on The Phil Silvers Show, played Archie Bunker's friend Barney on All in the Family, and also played Rob's army buddy on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He appeared on dozens of other shows over the years, from the Andy Griffith Show (he always played a crook - that's him on the right in the pic) and Gomer Pyle, USMC to Kung Fu and The Banana Splits (he was Drooper).

You would probably also recognize his voice in many cartoons, including Magilla Gorilla, The Flintstones, The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, The Smurfs, Spider-Man and Friends, Foofur, Ducktales, Talespin, and others.

He died of cancer in Los Angeles.

Animaniacs Volume 3 and Pinky and the Brain Volume 3 both come out June 19. This is an early review.

It's been my opinion for some time that series like Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid were entertaining cartoons not because of Steven Spielberg's involvement, but in spite of it. Spielberg --from what I can gather based on what I've read and the special features on both Animaniacs Volume 3 and Pinky and the Brain Volume 3-- always had the final say on character design and such. I'm just not sure what exactly would qualify Spielberg to make such decisions, since I'm fairly certain he's not an animator.

Interesting things in the world of animation have happened. I will now tell you about them:

First of all, if you're a fan of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, or you have kids who love the show, the recently-released DVD Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure is definitely worth the purchase. In this made-for-TV movie --which originally aired on Cartoon Network-- Billy, Mandy and Grim must race against Boogey (a.k.a. "the Boogeyman") to retrieve Horror's Hand, an ancient artifact that give its possessor the power to conjure up everyone's deepest fears, but only if one conquers their own fears first. Kids will enjoy the silly characters and booger jokes, and there are plenty of pop cultural references for adults: within the first five minutes of the movie we're treated to homages to Terminator 2, Stargate, Star Wars and Fractured Fairy Tales, just to name a few. Also, there's a nice lesson about facing your fears that ties all the random insanity together.

Hey, everybody, here's a few tasty tidbits from the world of animation for you. Please chew carefully:

A fourth trailer for The Simpsons movie was released not too long ago. Most of you have probably seen it already, but if not, I've placed it at the end of this post. The brief shot of Lisa fainting over the cute boy gets me every time. The animation in that sequence is unlike anything they do on the TV series, which leads me to believe this movie is going to kick twelve essential kinds of ass.

Happy Monday, everybody. I've compiled some interesting news and tidbits from the world of animation just for you:

In keeping with the current trend of depicting cartoon characters as real people, someone has drawn the South Park characters as real people.

As reported by Brad last February, classic Gumby shorts are now available on YouTube, Google Video, and In2TV (which is run by TV Squad's parent company, AOL). The shorts are being made available through DMGI, which is also releasing a Gumby DVD later this year. I've placed the first Gumby short at the end of this post.

First of all, I have to give a big ol' Minnesota-style "thank ya" to those of you who recommend some great anime for me to check out. A Minnesota-style "thank ya" is like a regular "thank ya" except you say it while keeping a herd of rabid moose away from your snow fort with a hockey stick.

When people talk about the greatest voice actors in cartoons, Mel Blanc is always at the top of the list, and for good reason: he solely provided the voice of the majority of the Looney Tunes characters, save for Elmer Fudd, who was voiced by Arthur Q. Bryan. His first real contribution was providing the voice of Porky Pig, a gig originally given to an actor named Joe Dougherty whose genuine stutter made it impossible for him to control the character's voice.

Blanc also worked in radio before and during his time at Warner Bros., working with such legends as Jack Benny, Abbot and Costello, and Burns and Allen. It was radio that helped him to create solid but unseen characters, a talent that carried over beautifully into animation.

After the jump is a clip from the Tonight Show featuring the man himself being interviewed by Johnny Carson. It's rather bittersweet to see these two great comedic minds on screen together, and to think of what the world of entertainment lost when they each passed away.

[via Frederator]