Here's how the story goes: He and his wife decide it's time to ask the boss for a raise. Never his strong suit -- to ask for money -- but he practices his little speech then goes to the boss.
He asks for the raise. The answer is... "No." The reason? "Insufficient profits."
But before Mel Blanc leaves, he tries one more tactic: "Well, if you won't give me a raise, how about at least giving me a screen credit."
Now, a little history here. This was a bold request. At the time, voice actors NEVER got screen credit. They got paid for their work, but that was the end of the story. The boss's response to Mel: "Credit? Who ever heard of a voice-man getting a screen credit?"
Even so, the boss actually agreed. It'd be no extra money out of his budget. And he probably wanted to keep Bugs Bunny happy. Ever after, Mel Blanc's name was listed in the credits as "Voice Characterizations by Mel Blanc"
We'll let Mel take it from here:
"Once talent agents discovered Mel Blanc was the man behind Porky, Daffy, and the nascent Bugs Bunny, I received a bounty of offers from other studios, as well as from radio shows. Opportunities were plentiful, I even had to turn some down. At one point in the mid-1940s, in addition to voicing Warner Bros. animated films, I was on eighteen trans-continental programs a week and bringing home two thousand dollars a week."Not bad for a guy who didn't actually get "the raise" he was asking for.
2 comments:
I hope my screen credit gives me just one percent of the benefits Mel Blanc got.
That was actually a smart move made by Mel Blanc. Though he didn't got the raise he wanted at least he had a lot of offers even the "raise" could not pay for. :)
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