In Memory of June Foray: The Woman of a Thousand Voices

Mel Blanc, the man who voiced nearly all of the characters for the Bugs Bunny cartoons, was considered the man of a thousand voices. However, when June Foray was referred to as the female Mel Blanc, legendary director Chuck Jones spoke out; stating that she was not the female Mel Blanc. Jones stated that Mel was the male June Foray.

Mel voiced nearly every character associated with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes, except for Granny (Tweetie’s owner) and Witch Hazel. Those were performed by Foray. Foray also voiced Rocky the Flying Squirrel, as well as Rocky’s nemesis Natasha Fatale. Years later, Foray portrayed May Parker on Spiderman and his Amazing Friends. She also gave life to the love interests of two iconic characters; Dudley Do Right’s Nell Fenwick, and Ursula, the girlfriend of George of the Jungle, and these were just the tip of the iceberg of Foray’s amazing career. 

Attempting to list all of June Foray’s credits would take as long as it would to list Mel Blanc’s. These individuals voiced many of the cartoon characters that children grew up enjoying. Though children never knew who provided the voices, the voices themselves were unmistakable and will never be forgotten.

In Memory of Chuck Berry: One of the Architects of Rock and Roll

The debate over who “invented” Rock & Roll will never go away. Many give Elvis Presley the credit, while others claim that his music was nothing more than blues riffs sped up. Little Richard’s music is based on what was known as “barrel-house” or “boogie-woogie” piano, similar to the sound of Jerry Lee Lewis. Bo Diddley’s music is simple call-and-response, but all of these men helped shape Rock & Roll, as did the man who took the barrel-house piano sound and played it on the guitar; the incomparable Chuck Berry.

The music of Little Richard and Chuck Berry was oddly similar, but while Little Richard screamed and used his falsetto as his calling card, Berry’s signature was his guitar mastery and his showmanship. Chuck Berry was a great guitarist, ranking as high as seventh on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, but his shows featured much more than his musical skill. Berry incorporated dance moves that looked simple if done alone, but doing them while holding and playing a guitar made the steps and his show spectacular. 

Berry’s duck walk and his leg-extended hop should make playing the guitar more difficult, but Berry did both effortlessly, and they were necessary features of his shows. 

Chuck Berry’s music influenced scores of guitarists and other musicians, and Berry was a member of the first class of inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; a fitting legacy to one of the architects of what the world came to know as Rock & Roll music.