XVAF: Lennie Weinrib

[Xerus]

XERUS'S VOICE ARTIST FOCUS:

A couple of days ago, Lennie Weinrib had passed away. (1935-2006) So I decided to do my next voice artist tribute to him. Lennie was most famous for voicing H.R. Pufnstuf as well as doing lots of characters for Hanna-Barbera as well as the famous ABC Saturday Morning character, Time For Timer. Lennie was also a writer for the Pufnstuf series as well. Farewell, Lennie. You and your talents will be missed. -_-;;

THE ADDAMS FAMILY(ANIMATED 1973): Gomez
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOODNIK: Robin Hoodnik, Alan Airedale, Whirlin' Merlin, Lord Scurvy, Friar Pork, Little John
THE AMAZING CHAN & THE CHAN CLAN: Stanley
ASTRO & THE SPACE MUTTS: Dipper
BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS: King Leonidas, Secretary Bird
BUGS BUNNY'S 1001 RABBIT TALES: Prince Abadaba
THE FLINTSTONE COMEDY SHOW: Moonrock, Bronto
THE FLINTSTONE KIDS: Freddie(first voice)
FRAIDY CAT: Kitty Wizard, Captain Kitt, Sir Walter Cat
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF DR. DOLITTLE: Sam Scurvy
HEY, IT'S THE KING!: The King
H.R. PUFNSTUF: H.R. Pufnstuf, Orson, Stupid Bat, Monster Tree, Talking Book, Horse
INCH HIGH PRIVATE EYE: Inch High
KISSYFUR: Charles, Lennie
LIDSVILLE: Certain Hat People
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN: Commissioner Gordon, The Joker, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Additional Voices
THE PEBBLES & BAM-BAM SHOW: Moonrock, Bronto
THE POINT: Count
RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI: Darzee
ROLAND AND RATFINK: Roland and Ratfink(first voices)
THE ROQUEFORT GANG: Giovanni, Mouse Seller
THE SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY DOO SHOW: Scrappy Doo(first voice)
SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL: Rattle
THE SKATEBIRDS: Knock-Knock
SMURFS: Big Mouth
TABITHA & ADAM & THE CLOWN FAMILY: Big Louie, Count Krumley, Mr. McGuffin
TIME FOR TIMER(SERIES AND SPECIALS): Timer
VOLTRON: Hunk, Prince Lotor
WHEELIE & THE CHOPPER BUNCH: High Riser
YOGI'S ARK LARK: Captain Noah

 

[D'Snowth]

TABITHA & ADAM & THE CLOWN FAMILY

Tabitha and Adam? As in Tabitha and Adam Stephens from Bewitched?

 

[Xerus]

Tabitha and Adam? As in Tabitha and Adam Stephens from Bewitched?

Yes it is. And I have the video. In this Saturday cartoon special from Hanna-Barbera that aired in 1972, a teenage Tabitha and her brother Adam visit their circus relatives and they use their secret witch powers to save the circus from an evil count and his wizard lacky. However, the original actors who played Tabitha and Adam did not provide the voices though.

 

[The Count]

Well... Sad to see another one bite the dust. But among the entries you have for this V/A actor...

Bedknobs and Broomsticks, always been one of my more favorite Disney films.
Hey, It's The King!: I remember this short-lived one. The King was a hep cat Fonzlike lion with a pack of 50's animal cohorts right? And they all piled into their roadster with the nerdish hippo filling up the rear seat right?
Inch High Private Eye, that one I remember fondly. In the vein of Scooby-Doo spinoffs, really more of a blended spoof of Get Smart and/or Inspector Gadget.
Wheelie and The Chooper Bunch: Another one I cherished, back when the USA Network had its animated shows on the morning with that trademark locomotive/monorail chugging along. But who was Highrise?
Yogi's Ark Lark, Captain Noah, was he only seen in the original pilot movie?

Fraidy Cat and Kissyfur, never seen those shows, me thinks I would've found them purrfect since I do like cats. Then again, maybe not.
The New Adventures of Batman: Around what batch of episodes would those be? Cause really and truly they all blended together into one overreaching series.
Time for Timer? ABC's Saturday Morning Weekly Specials? Sorry, don't know that series... The one I do know from ABC's Weekend Specials is the famed Captain O.G. Readmore and the rest of his gang.
BTW: Have you ever seen one of those Weekend Specials named Witch Cat? Or Monsters In My Pocket? Those are two I remember, besides the ones with O.G. Readmore, and I'd like to get those if possible.

 

[Xerus]

Hey Count, here are the answers to your questions.


Hey, It's the King was part of the CB Bears series. The King was a Fonzie -ike lion whose gang constisted of an alligator, hyena, gorilla, and a giant hippo named Big H.

Yogi's Ark Lark started out as a special for the ABC Saturday Superstar Movies. Noah was the Jellystone handyman who helped the gang build their ark and became the captain. But for some reason, Yogi became the new captain and Noah disappeared.

Kissyfur is about a father bear and his bear cub, Kissyfur, who escape from the circus and live in a community of swamp animals. The series was made by DIC and it aired Saturdays on NBC during the late 80's.

Fraidy Cat was a Filmation cartoon that was a part of the Uncle Croc's Block series and later moved on to Groovie Goolies and Friends. Fraidy Cat was about an alley cat who used up eight of his lives and has only one left. And what's worse, the eight ghosts of his past lives always appear if Fraidy ever mentions their number and they do things to get Fraidy in trouble. It was interesting watching Fraidy's stories and wondering which ghosts will appear.

Those Batman series would be from the Filmation series where Batman and Robin had an unusual sidekick. A little imp like creature named Bat Mite.

Time or Timer were one minute shorts that aired during the commercials back in the 70's and 80's. Timer was a tiny man with a yellow round body and a yellow top hat and tie. He would sing songs about good nutrition.

I remember seeing Monster in My Pocket, but I've never seen Witch Cat before though. I miss those good old days of the weekend specials.

 

[D'Snowth]

Xerus, are you sure about his work on H.R. Pufnstuf? I heard he only did the voices of Pufnstuf, Seymour Spider, and Ludicrous Lion.

 

[The Count]

Thank you Xerus! You've helped solve one of my memories' longest-standing mysteries. I think.
Hey, It's The King!, yes I do remember watching that one now.
Yogi's Ark Lark: I know, Noah was excised when it was turned into a series. He didn't even show up in the one episode where the ark returned to Jellystone, Ranger Smith in one of his more artistically rendered forms was there.
Kissyfur, never seen it. Thought you might be talking about the hillbilly bear family from HB, but that's not the case.
The New Batman Adventures, yeah I remember those or some from the Spanish dubbing on local channels here. The title misled me, thought it was part of the 92 animated series run.

Timer, from ABC... Yes, that little roly-poly yellow man is a staple of my childhood cartoon watching days. Remember the one he did about the orange pops, and the western number about a hunk of cheese. They used him and School House Rock quite evenly. Although there was also the plasticine reporter man and the three backup singers, or the clay horse that dropped on top of the cowboy singing "We'll be riiiight back!"
The Amazing Chan Clan, can't rully tell you who's who, since that only aired in Spanish on Cartoon Network's early days from 92 to 95, an identity language crisis they still suffer from on my affiliate.
Oh, and you forgot my question about Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch.

Monsters In My Pocket, only saw it once, but the Weekend Special and video game were waaaay better than the little rubber figures sold in stores.
Witch Cat was another Weekend Special where a race of talking cat familiars were each placed with their young girl partner destined to become a witch.

As for the mystery? Fraidy *Freakin'* Cat!
Though I've never seen it, I have this weird memory of an alley cat being haunted or pursued by a floating cloud-formed number 9. Always thought it was part of the video associated with the song Naughty Number Nine from Schoolhouse Rock, but you may have just dispelled that myth.
Please LMK if this descript is correct, would go a long way towards solving that one.

 

[Xerus]

Xerus, are you sure about his work on H.R. Pufnstuf? I heard he only did the voices of Pufnstuf, Seymour Spider, and Ludicrous Lion.

I believe I'm sure. And Walker Edminston was the one who did the voices of Luicrous Lion, Seymour Spider, and Dr. Blinky. I can usually tell when Lennie does a character by the sound and tone of his voice.

 

[Xerus]

Oops. Sorry about missing your Highriser question.

Highriser was that tall brown bike member with the blue wool hat.

And I too remember making orange popsicles thanks to Timer's tips. And I also loved his Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese song. "Look, a wagon wheel!"

And I remember those neat, "We'll be right back", segments ABC offered us over the years.

And yes, whenever Fraidy Cat said a number. That number would appear and be replaced by the ghost who represents it. And whenever Fraidy said, "NINE", by accident. A monsterous lightning cloud shaped like a 9 would appear and try to strike Fraidy dead, for that 9 represents his last life. And it does kind of remind me of that Naughty Number Nine song from Schoolhouse Rock.

Fraidy Cat is an orange cat with a white stomach, yellow eyes, and voiced by Alan Oppenheimer. The ghosts that always appear when Fraidy mentions their number are....

1. The cave cat named Elafunt, along with his pet brontosaurus named Ant.
2. The magical Kitty Wizard, who always messes up his spells.
3. The pirate, Captain Kit, who's always stealing stuff and getting Fraidy blamed.
4. The gentleman, Sir Walter Cat, who always tries to help Fraidy, but messes up.
5. The cowboy, Billy the Kit, who likes to lasso people.
6. The undertaker, Jasper Catdaver, who's always trying to find a way to get Fraidy killed.
7. The pilot, Eddie Kittenbacker, who always has his airplane with him and flies it wrecklessly.
8. The cool, zoot suit, wearing Hep Cat, who's always speaking in jive and knows how to handle himself when there's trouble.

I have the Fraidy Cat episodes on video.

Bye Count, and thanks for telling me about Witch Cat.

 

[The Count]

No... Thank you Xerus for solving one of my memory banks' long-standing mystery rememberances.
Man, guess we cats always gotta suffer that naughty number nine. Take poor Gaffer for instance...
Heh, thanks for the extra info 'bout Highriser, know who he is now.

Anticipating the next V/A focus.