I’ve written on Cartoon Research before about Mel Blanc’s role as Bugs Bunny on Old Time Radio shows. Now though, I am going to showcase to all of you more of these classic appearances of Mel as Bugs and other cartoon characters.

The first and most significant of these I’m showing is an appearance he made with Abbott and Costello on their program with Lana Turner. The program is probably the most significant radio episode of Lou Costello’s life. This is not because of any performance, though. Just a short time before the broadcast began, Costello was told that his baby boy had died. His baby, Lou Costello Jr., was a day away from turning a year old. In the face of the worst moment any parent could have, he went on with the show to entertain his fans. Listening to the program again, one understandably notices the struggle among the cast members. In the wake of the most painful moment of his career, Costello remained an absolute master of comedy and a true professional, showcasing his talent as a radio and film comedy legend. Bud Abbott made an appearance at the end of the program to give an announcement about the tragic event. Later in their career, Abbott and Costello opened a youth foundation center, which Abbott decided to name after Lou Costello Jr. The Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center still exists today. Mel Blanc’s appearance can be heard here as Bugs Bunny. More about Lou’s performance can be read here.

“Train leaving on track five, for Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc—-amonga.” This was a staple of the Jack Benny program and something Mel Blanc was very famous for doing. Any time Benny was at a train station, they would do this same bit over and over. It always got laughs. It was also a favorite of the folks at the Warner studio. Jack Benny was one of the most famous people in America when the Warner Bros cartoons were being made. He was incredibly popular, and the staff at Warner Bros took cues from the Benny program because of their own interest in the show and because audiences would get laughs from the Benny bits due to how recognizable they were at the time. Frank Tashlin told Michael Barrier in an interview that they stole a lot from Jack Benny. Tashlin said, “We’d come in Monday morning, all of us were talking about Jack.”

The train conductor bit is used to probably its fullest extent in this program from June 6, 1948. Around the 18-minute mark in the program, Mel also performs as Woody Woodpecker while making a train announcement. The show can be listened to here. I urge all of you unfamiliar with old-time radio to listen to the entire thing. You may be surprised at how much fun you have listening to it. It often seemed to audiences that Blanc’s pause between “Cuc” and “amonga” would get longer and longer. And each time, it would get funnier and funnier. Benny had occasionally interjected statements like “oh no” in the pause. Mel Blanc and Jack Benny discussed it with Johnny Carson here. The bit was used quite a bit in cartoons, including Daffy Duck Slept Here and Mississippi Hare. Mel did plenty of his other bits in the cartoons as well, and imitated Rochester several times.

Mel Blanc performs once again as Bugs Bunny on this episode of Command Performance. Martha Raye and Rudy Vallee discuss all the animals that soldiers remember back home. Bugs Bunny appears and joins in on the fun. Moment with starts around the 21st minute. Listen to the show here.

Last time on Cartoon Research, I spoke at length about Dennis Day and his wonderful work as a musician and impressionist. Now, here are more radio shows featuring Dennis Day, but with Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny. Blanc appeared in many of the major radio comedies, and because Day was a regular on Jack Benny’s program for so long, it was only fitting that Blanc would make appearances on Dennis Day’s program as well. In this program, Mel sings his most remembered work for Capital Records, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, for Dennis Day and his audience. I’m not going to go over the history of this record with all of you, as all of you Cartoon Research regulars remember it well from Greg Ehrbar’s Animation Spin columns. Blanc sings The Pussycat Parade and performs as Woody Woodpecker (who destroyed Jack Benny’s violin) on this episode of Dennis Day’s program. The version of the Dennis Day show showcased here wasn’t a successful one, lasting very few episodes.

Mel Blanc appeared with Walt Disney on Mickey Mouse Theater on the Air. Blanc was a young radio regular at the time known for schtick such as excessive hiccupping, which is what he did on the Mickey radio show. Blanc did his hiccupping bit on many shows, particularly as the sound man on The Abbott and Costello Show. Blanc also did this bit on every other episode of the Mickey Mouse Theater on the Air radio program. I’m not going to discuss the history of this radio show, as many already have, particularly historian Keith Scott. According to Scott, the hiccupping bit was what led Blanc to get the role of Gideon in Pinocchio, whose dialogue would eventually be cut to only the hiccupping. Speaking of Pinocchio, Mel Blanc plays the wooden puppet in this radio show from 1951. Warning, unlike the others, it’s a hard one to sit through. Blanc sounds more like Woody Woodpecker than a little boy. It can be downloaded here.

Below is Blanc on the first Mickey Mouse radio show, a program telling the story of Robin Hood. The early Mickey radio shows featured Walt himself as Mickey. After the third episode, Joe Twerp took over as Mickey due to Walt being to busy with other projects.

And finally, courtesy of Keith Scott, here is Mel Blanc performing Toot Toot Tootsie in his Al Jolson impression on Ginny Simms Botany Song Shop. Mel Blanc’s most notable impression on radio was definitely Al Jolson. Mel covered Al Jolson’s Toot Toot Tootsie (Good-Bye) for Capital Records, which he was very proud of. Here, he is performing it for Ginny Simms.

Extra special thanks to Keith Scott and John Henderson for their audio clips and episode recommendations

Also thanks to: Don M. YOWP, Laura Leibowitz, Ron Palumbo, OTR Downloads, Greg Ehrbar, Noel Blanc, Devon Baxter, and Michael Barrier.