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Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including a list of interviewees).

How did you get the job on Super Friends?

I was an ad agency producer on commercials for Leo Burnett Company in Chicago. Transferred to the West Coast. Did lot of stuff with H-B with characters on packages. Got to know Bill Hanna very well. One day we went to lunch and he said I’d like to hire you. I couldn’t sell H-B characters for ads—they wanted full rather than limited animation. I finally said, “You’ve seen me direct—I’d like to do that on your shows.” I got switched to that [even though] my credentials were not in animation.

I didn’t like Joe. I felt he was a sociopath. He did things like fire his secretary when he was in Rome. He didn’t know he was doing it which I think is the very modern model of a sociopath. Joe did not have any sense of humanity. Popular guy—people would say “What a personality!”—but in terms in dealing with the human side, he just didn’t understand it. Six or seven years later, Joe said, “Get rid of Burr.” Bill hired me and Joe fired me. I still have very bad business dreams [about being a meeting and not prepared for it]. Bill knew how to make things, Joe knew how to sell them.

How familiar with the characters were you before you got the job?

I wasn’t a comic fan. I didn’t find it as a barrier—didn’t have to be steeped in it. The spirit and mythos existed and it wasn’t difficult to get on it. The writers were the ones responsible for translating from comics to animation. I believe writers are the gold in our business. Rest of us are meddlers. I don’t say that to schmooze you—they’re the ones that should get the big bucks and usually do.

What was it like portraying the Atom?

Super Friends was a fun show. Most of the heroes were straight and fairly articulate. I started a subterranean thing to make it more camp. I saw it more as a comedy derived from the ‘60s Batman TV show. The actors in cast enjoyed spoofing the whole genre. I don’t know if it annoyed Joe or if he even knew it was happening. I felt I was the one who gave it that. I did [Atom] because I wanted to get into SAG so I requested [to do it]. The actors on show were making more money than I was as director. I had done professional performance as an announcer.

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including a list of interviewees).

Bill responded to my list of questions with a conversational e-mail, so rather than break it down into Q&A format, I will just run it as he sent it, with the usual small tweaks for clarity.

I can’t begin to tell you how great those Hanna-Barbera years were for me. In my career I’ve gotten to work with many of the great comics and actors that peopled Hollywood in the late 20th century. Many names you may not know, but rest assured, they were the heavyweights, people like Hamilton Camp, Alan Oppenheimer, Julie Dees, Janet Waldo, Frank Welker, June Foray, Danny Goldman, and many more, and lots you do know like Hans Conreid, Albert Brooks, Paul Winchell, Gary Owens, JoAnne Worley, Jim Backus, Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, Jonathan Winters, Gene Wilder, Brenda Vaccarro, and on and on...and one thing I’ve learned, acting is a lot of fun! And cartoon acting is especially exhilarating!

The way I got started at Hanna-Barbera is an odd and unlikely tale, but true. I was in an acting workshop at the time, my focus being stage and film work. Another actor in the class, Bruce Watson, and I were working on a scene. I had a recording setup, was fascinated with recording in general and voices and characters in particular, and had just finished making a joke tape of commercials that could never be aired when Bruce came over to rehearse our scene.

On a break, I said, “Hey Bruce—check out my joke commercial tape.” We listened and he said, “Hey Bill, I just got hired as casting director at Hanna-Barbera. Can I take this tape over?”

Joe Barbera was at my first audition, for the part of Square Bear from the [1971 cartoon] Help!...It’s the Hair Bear Bunch. He heard something he wanted and really worked with me to solidify the character. I got the part, and thus it began, getting to work a thousand cartoons with a thousand great performers! Personally I wanted to be Steve McQueen, but I kinda went more toward Charlie the Owl [of 0 Comments on Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—Bill Callaway (Aquaman 2, Bizarro) as of 1/1/1900

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including a list of interviewees).

How’d you get the part?

I guess I had to audition. They wanted a real butch gal. I had heard the soundalikes that they wanted. What I remember is that they liked the sound but not the acting [of other potentials].

What do you remember about the experience?

It was always fun when I could be real butch. “I’m more of a man than you’ll ever be, Superman!” Because mostly I played the real ingénue. [In the SF era], you had to be able to do at least three voices for the price of one. Then they fought hard and now they get only two voices out of you. So not really a win for SAG.

Did you make any suggestions or requests when doing the character?

I’m sure I did. I’m very mouthy.

What do you remember about your SF cast members? (I named names.)

I’ve always played opposite Michael Bell. We’ve always played boyfriend and girlfriend. I learned a lot from him. Jana of the Jungle was my first series at H-B. [short anecdote about how Jana spoke different languages to each animal and Michael coaching her on what a narwhal might sound like] I see Michael a lot and I teach his daughter voice lessons. Singing.

Bill Callaway—a good thing about him, if he found something offensive in a script, he wouldn’t do the whole series. And he was a hard-working actor but wasn’t rich. [Similarly, about scripts with certain types of characters], Casey Kasem would ask, “Does it have to be an Arab?”

Do you still have any SF scripts or other memorabilia?

Don’t have a single script. There would be garbage dumpsters out in the parking lot filled with cels. Then when Ted Turner took over they had guards and they’d look in your trunk for cels. Used to be like a family, a mom and pop thing with Joe and Bill. Then the corporation came in and fired people over a certain age and asked how many pencils you’re using.

Do you have any WW fan letters?

No, but I went to this G.I. Joe convention few months ago and had a bunch of Wonder Woman pics made up and Michael Bell and I came in.

0 Comments on Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—B.J. Ward (Wonder Woman 3) as of 1/1/1900

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

How did you get the job on Super Friends?

There were 300 women that auditioned for the part and the network in New York picked my voice as one of five called back. They said that they liked the crinkle in my voice. So I was chosen.

then

now

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).


NOTE: Some of my questions are based on information Shannon shared in a 2009 Toon Zone interview.]

Did you know when you were cast as Wonder Woman that you were the first to portray her for an ongoing TV series? (I don’t know who voiced her for her debut animated appearance, The Brady Kids in 1972.)

Yes, I was told that. It gave Wally Burr and me free reign to develop the character. Every time he could “hear” me wearing a shirtwaist dress, he would remind me that I was a superhero!

1983

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

How did you get the job on Super Friends?

There was a fellow named the “Voicecaster.” I worked with him out at North American Aviation. They had a television division. This was long before we put a man on the moon! [In fact] I think a bunch of us did a great deal to delay the program, but not deliberately. He said they’re looking for a fellow to replace Ted Knight who’d gone on to bigger and better pay. I met Wally Burr and he said “Make it large.” I could do that and I got the job. I did it in as an exaggerated version of Stan Freberg’s “The March of Time.”

What was your background before that?

I worked in theatre in New York. I worked with Helen Hayes and Paul Robeson. I did Cyrano de Bergerac. As I knew then and I certainly know now, I was one of the lucky ones.

Are you from New York?

I’m a Californian but was theatre-struck as a kid. I worked at a couple stock companies. They did a different play every week. This was 1928 and I was 11 years old.

Were you familiar with the Super Friends characters before you got the job?

Not very much. I knew who they were as comic strip characters because I had small sons.

Do you remember when you started?

I do not. Did [voice director] Wally [Burr] know?

I think you started in 1977. Were you with the show till it was over?

Yes. It was a delight to work at Hanna-Barbera.

What challenges were involved in recording SF?

(laughs) Wally Burr! I’m sure at least Michael Bell and at least one or two others mentioned this to you. Wally loved to read every line—every line. It made some more angry than others. (laughs) We’d say “If you really want someone else to play this part, why don’t you trust them a little?” (laughs) Wally said yes [he did trust us]. But it meant the director was being extra creative.

And you’re still friends?

Oh, yes.

Did you do other roles besides the narrator?

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

I downloaded your Super Friends remix (if that’s what you’d call it) “The Time Is Now” nearly ten years ago. How did it come about?

Cartoon Network contacted me about doing music for a Super Friends promotion and the theme song being so recognizable [made it] the perfect candidate for a remix. I pulled apart the original track making samples of anything that was clean enough to work with, then started to assemble beats, new melodies, and harmonies to layer with it.



What year was that?

I believe it was 1999 or 2000.

Were you a Super Friends or superhero fan before this?

I have been a Super Friends/superhero fan since I was a kid.

Where is the narration from?

The opening sequence with the reporter and background destruction ambience was something I created in the studio to set the stage for the line “If this nation, or, in fact, the world ever needed heroes, that time is now…that time is now.” Steve Patrick, the producer of this project, wrote the reporter’s lines and another Cartoon Network producer, Larry Morris, went into the booth and performed them. I filtered the dialogue and added all the noise and background sound effects to create the scene.

How long did it take you to complete it? Did you have to go through hours of footage?

I think it took a couple days to complete. Unfortunately we rarely got the amount of time we would like to work on projects like these, but this one turned out well.

What was the response at the time, presuming it was prior to the peak of message boards and the like?

The only response we got initially was from the other people at the network, and it was very positive. I know Steve and I played it quite a bit for our own pleasure, and for anyone else that would listen.

Do new fans continue to find it today, and if so, how?

I still get a lot of emails about this piece on a regular basis. I think there are new fans from Boomerang, and old fans who finally took the time to figure out how to contact me and ask about it. 4 Comments on Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—Michael Kohler, composer of “The Time Is Now” promotional remix, last added: 8/2/2011

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

What was your role on Super Friends?

I produced Super Friends around 1983-1985. It was fun.

Did you make any significant changes?

When I took over the show from Wally Burr, I wanted to change the voice of Wonder Woman, who was Shannon [Farnon]. Wally said “Shannon’s such a wonderful gal” and he had been directing her very butch. So I re-auditioned her and we kept her.

I named names (or he did) and he commented:

Jack Angel was a nice guy.

Bill Callaway was a good talent.

Michael Bell…I worked with him many times over at Marvel. There was something about Michael’s voice that registered strong, it kind of magically cut through. Occasionally caustic.

Frank Welker was another great talent.

Did you know much about the superheroes before you took the job?

We all knew about Superman and Wonder Woman.

Anecdotes?

The network wanted to audition more characters so I ended up with a cast of about 17 people. Bill Hanna came by and said why so many actors in there?

Would they all be in the studio at the same time?

They had a large studio there (at H-B). Sometimes they had to double up on the mikes but most of the time they had eight or nine mikes.

Photos?

I have the Scooby cast but not Super Friends.

Still active in the business?

I retired in 1998. I did fine arts for about seven years after I retired. Now just enjoying life.

Did you work exclusively in animation?

Yes, mostly at Hanna-Barbera and Marvel. Also commercials. Ended my career at Sony. Just before I retired there seemed to be a change in the humor in young people. More toilet humor.

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

Iraj Paran, art director:

What exactly was your role on Super Friends?

I worked at H-B as an art director for 33 years. I designed the openings, titles, bumper cards, and end credits of the Super Friends, plus certain collateral material including advertising and publicity art, every year. Anything graphic.

What was your background before that?

Before I became in charge of the Title Department, I worked in the background department as a background artist. I painted backgrounds for shows including The Mighty Mightor, Dastardly and Muttley, Josie and the Pussycats, Perils of Penelope, Gulliver’s Travel, etc.

Regarding the original characters the Wonder Twins, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai, and El Dorado, what do you know about who created them and what the process was?

As I recall, Alex Toth was the main character designer for many of the superhero shows. He did the rough drawings for approval. Bob Singer was in charge of the layout department and character design. Excluding the non-Hanna-Barbera properties such as the Smurfs, almost all of the H-B characters were created by the layout/character design departments where many talented artists were employed.

What else did you design with regard to the show?

I was involved in producing the commercials for superheroes cereal boxes for General Foods.


0 Comments on Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—Iraj Paran, art director, and Bob Singer, character designer as of 1/1/1900

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).


Fun facts from Darrell:

• Zan and Jayna were named after Tarzan and Jane.
• The year when the title switched from Super Friends to Superfriends was 1978.
• The Legion of Doom was first pitched with a different lineup.

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).


How did you get the job on Super Friends?

I was working at Hanna-Barbera as an animator. You worked on whatever shows they had. I learned from my father, Jerry Hathcock, who was a feature animator at Disney and one of the original key animators of all the Hanna-Barbera stuff from Flintstones, Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and most everything until he retired in 1976. I stayed with him as his assistant and then later as an animator on his teams until he retired.

How familiar with the DC superhero characters were you before you got the job?

I had a subscription to Justice League of America in the early ‘60s and may have read some Dell Comic books, too…but I grew up.

Any funny or unusual anecdotes?

Bill Keil, who was the head of animation, had a small argument with me over whether Wonder Woman would throw her lasso underhanded (the bad guys were going to step into the loop). He didn’t like that I animated her throwing underhand so I asked Bill Hanna if he minded me leaving to work on Captain Caveman with Ron Campbell and he said that was fine. By the way, they ended up using that [underhanded lasso] scene in the main title of Challenge of the Superfriends.

What challenges were involved in animating SF?

The animation budget called for pretty limited animation and I always thought that these somewhat realistic designs were not very appropriate for that kind of animation. These H-B shows were a bit ugly.

Do you still have any SF scripts?

Animators did not get scripts. We worked from storyboard and exposure sheets.

Do you have any other SF memorabilia from the era (i.e. cards signed by cast members, candid photos, etc.)?

The only things I may have would be Xerox copies of model sheets and maybe some storyboards. By the way the model sheets were bad model sheets because they were so taken by Alex Toth’s wonderful drawings that they included them in the models even though they were not all the same. It would have been better if they made better model sheets from his designs. I remember that there seemed to be several versions of Aquaman in the model sheets (not sure if Alex drew those or not).

Are you still in touch with anyone from SF?

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

How did you get the job to write for Super Friends?

I started working in animation studios right out of high school, first at De-Patie Freleng as a Xerox processor, transferring the animation drawings onto the cels. From there I managed to get a script assignment for What’s New Mister Magoo and went on staff on that CBS saturday morning show. After the season was over, I hit all the animation studios for freelance writing assignments. I submitted story premises at Hanna-Barbera for all their Saturday morning shows and managed to get a story assignment for Dynomutt: Dog Wonder for ABC. I wrote the story outline but it was never put into a script because the series was cancelled.

Did you come up with the stories on your own or did producers guide you in any way (i.e. “we want a story with dinosaurs,” etc.)?

The two ABC executives, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, liked my story and felt that they kinda owed me a writing assignment. Joe and Ken were in charge of Super Friends and they were writing the story outlines for all the episodes and giving then to the writers to turn into scripts.

At the time, Jeffery Scott was the story editor and was doing most of the scripts from Joe and Ken outlines.

The first outline I was given to write a script for was “The Lionmen” and I guess I did a pretty good job because after that I was given outlines to write scripts for four or five other half-hour Super Friends and a half a dozen short episodes to write scripts for.

At the time, Hanna-Barbera paid $750 for a half-hour outline and $1,750 for a script. It was a great gig because I was given the complete outlines and was able to write the scripts in about a week and was paid the $1,750. That was in 1977.

Of the episodes you wrote, do you have a favorite?

I think my favorite episode was “Tiny World of Terror” which had the Super Friends being shrunk down and placed in a swamp where they had to battle off the creatures and dangers there. The story outline was from Joe and Ken and that preceded Honey, I Shrunk The Kids; I always thought maybe the writer [of that movie had seen] the Super Friends episode.

Where did you write—at h

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

How did you get the job to write for Super Friends?

I was a staff writer/story editor under contract at Hanna-Barbera so I was friendly with the two story editors on SF, Alan Burnett and Jeff Segal. I had given them their first writing assignment at H-B on a Johan and Peewit segment of The Smurfs, which I was story editing. So when Alan and Jeff got the story editing gig, they asked me if I would come up with some ideas.

How familiar with the characters were you before you got the job?

I had read plenty of DC comics as a kid, so I obviously knew Superman, Batman and Robin, and Wonder Woman.

Did you come up with the stories on your own or did producers guide you in any way (i.e. “we want a story with dinosaurs,” etc.)?

I came up with the stories for the three SF episodes (“The Curator,” “The Mask of Mystery,” and “The Wrath of Brainiac”) and one Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (“The Bizarro Super Powers Team”) on my own, from ideas I pitched to Alan and Jeff.

How long did it take you to write one episode?

I had a reputation for being pretty fast, and these were only 11-minute episodes, so after coming up with the premise, you had to do an outline so the story editors and then the network could give notes. The outline would take a day or so. Then once the outline was okayed to script, it would take another two or three or four days to write it, depending on whether there were other projects going on at the same time. Definitely not more than a week.

What challenges were involved in writing SF?

Just making sure all the characters were true to their origins.

The show (like many of the era) didn’t allow for much characterization. Did that make the job easier or harder?

I think with the 11-minute format in particular, there wasn’t much time to do more than set up the story. Hopefully there were still some touches of character in there, even if we didn’t have time to explore them more. Plus we were servicing quite a few superheroes in a short amount of time and that wasn’t always easy.

How did writing SF compare to writing other animated series? (Related: what has been your favorite series to w