Hey, everybody, I’ve got another great interview for you. This one is with Chuck McKibben, a voice actor, producer, and coach. I really want to thank Chuck for taking the time out to do this today. He shares information on a lot of great stars – Mel Blanc, Kirk Douglas, Jack Benny, Casey Kasem, Vincent Price, and Rod Serling. If everybody is ready, let’s get started. (PS: Full disclosure here. Chuck is currently voicing six audio books for me).
_____
What really stands out for me is the time you spent producing Mel Blanc. Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Yosemite Sam were all such a big part of growing up in the sixties and seventies. What was it like working for Mel Blanc?
Chuck: I knew that I wanted to be some sort of announcer or voice actor at the age of 6. That's when I asked my Dad, who was the manager of a truck terminal, if being one of those men I saw talking on TV was a job, in the same way, that he went to a job every day. "Yes, that's a great job, son" he answered. And throughout his life, he did everything in his power to help make my dream come true. He was tremendously supportive, doing things like getting us "VIP" tours of local radio and TV stations back in Dayton, Ohio.
Like every kid of the 50's, I was captivated by the magic of cartoons. Imagine, working in Hollywood for someone like Walt Disney, or for Warner Bros. Well, I had some 78 rpm phonograph records by a man named Mel Blanc. I was amazed that he could sing a duet as both Sylvester the cat and Tweety Bird on "I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat." So there I was age 6, knowing that this man Blanc, whose name I also saw in the movie theater, was some kind of magician. What I didn't know, or even dream of was that just 19 years later, I would work for him!
During about 10 years as a radio DJ, I had become a very skilled audio producer. Dayton provided a good place to start, on WING radio, a station that also gave birth to the careers of Jonathan Winters and Nancy Cartwright. However, I yearned for the "big time," as those two great talents did. So I pulled up roots and drove, four days straight, to Los Angeles. No job waiting, no contacts...I had never even visited the town.
It scares me to death today to think about what could have happened out there, but I met a real-life "guardian angel" named Rod Thibault (tee-bo), a studio owner, who took an interest in my well-being. It was Rod who invited me to meet Mel at the opening of his voiceover school. At this point, some of your readers may be thinking, "You mean, I could have studied cartoon voices with the one and only Mel Blanc?" Yes, you could have, during a period of only about two years. Anyway, I met him and his son Noel at the door. After exchanging a few nice-to-meet-you's, Noel asked me, "Can you run a tape recorder for us in dad's classroom tonight? One of our tech guys apparently couldn't find the place and didn't show." So, three minutes after meeting Mel Blanc, and about 20 years after first being mesmerized by his talent, I was employed by Mel Blanc.
I climbed the ladder of his audio production company in Beverly Hills very quickly, and when a great guy who held the job of Studio Operations Manager left to work with Casey Kasem, I took over the position. The title meant that I was now Mel's personal audio engineer and the audio engineer/producer for all of the studio's output. We created radio commercials that cost the clients a minimum of $10,000 each, and syndicated radio shows, all starring Hollywood's greatest talents.