Huckleberry Hound Goes Home

Daws Butler was the backbone of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio in the Kellogg’s era. He voiced almost all the main characters and was, indirectly, responsible for most of the others.

Butler’s cartoon career was shifted into high gear at MGM (the studio of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera) when he auditioned for director Tex Avery and was handed a stream of parts, continuing after Avery was let go in 1953.

Avery came up with a low-key wolf with a southern accent for Billy Boy (released in 1954). Butler insisted the voice was borrowed from a neighbour of his wife Myrtis in Albemarle, North Carolina. The character was a heavy influence when Joe and Bill came up with Huckleberry Hound in 1958.

Butler’s cohort at H-B was Don Messick, whom he had recommended to Avery for voice work while still at MGM. And Doug Young, who was the Durante-inspired voice of Doggie Daddy on The Quick Draw McGraw Show in 1959, was also a recommendation from Daws, who had done the same voice for Bill and Joe at MGM.

The Butler family paid occasional visits to see Myrtis’ folks. The local paper, the Stanly News and Press, talked to Daws during one trip in 1960, arguably the height of Huck’s popularity. This is from July 1. Daws gets into the philosophy behind the earliest Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

TV’s Huckleberry Hound Man is Visiting in Albemarle
The voice behind the popular Huckleberry Hound TV series cartoon characters is in Albemarle this week.
He is Charles Dawson Butler, better known under his professional name of Daws Butler.
Currently, he and his wife and four sons are visiting here in the home of his wife's mother, Mrs. E. M. Martin, of 128 Summit Avenue.
Mrs. Butler is the former Miss Myrtis Martin of Albemarle.
The most impressive thing about Mr. Butler, of course, is his voice—after you get over the initial shock that he's only five feet two inches tall.
What he lacks in stature, he makes up for in voice, volume, and in warmth of personality and showmanship that is no less than captivating.
His speech has the glibness of a circus barker, yet, it has the depth and adoritness [sic] of a serious student and practitioner of show-business, one wise and experienced in the life of an actor.
Worldwide Audience
About his work as the voice behind Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and related characters in the syndicated cartoons which reach a worldwide audience, he is most enthusiastic.
Occasionally to illustrate a point, he assumed the voice of one of his cartoon characters and demonstrated his versatility. His eyes laugh and his voice has that extra special lilt to it.
He can talk about cartooning and animation for hours and hours and cover all the intricacies that go into the production of a completed cartoon. Incidentally, the seven-minute cartoon requires about three weeks to complete, from beginning to end.
His part of it, the voice part, requires only a fraction of this time. In fact, he has put the voice in as many as half a dozen cartoons in one day. The day before he left on his current vacation, he taped four or five.
Mr. Butler works very closely with Don Messick, another animator who puts the voice in Bobo Bear [Boo-Boo] and Pixie. Each man also has many secondary and minor talking parts.
Huckleberry Hound is now in its third year. A companion cartoon series, "Quick Draw Drama" [sic], also features voice characterizations by Butler, Messick and Doug Young. About a year and a half old now, the latter series features such characters as Baba-Looey, Super-Snooper, Blabber-Mouse, and Auggie Doggie.
Won An Emmy
This year Huckleberry Hound was awarded an "Emmy" in the children's category by the TV industry.
The name of the outfit which produces the shows is Hanna-Barbera Productions. The producers are Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, both veterans in the field.
"Originally, the show was aimed primarily at kids," Butler said. "But now it has grown into a family show and is reaching a wider audience than ever.
"When we got together to launch the thing, we were looking for something like a Tennessee Ernie for kids. If you remember the old Tom and Jerry cartoons you may see some vestige of them in our show."
Butler considers their early cartoons as primitive compared to what they are turning out today. When their mail and surveys indicated a big upswing in adult viewers, they threw in some adult appeal. A certain level of humor was injected for the adults to balance the show with the strictly juvenile portion.
Character Emphasis
Warmth and close character identification are the attributes most stressed by the producers, Butler says.
"Our characters are not just voices and names," he said. "Each is a distinct personality with obvious tags and philosophies. That is the secret of the whole thing."
Many TV cartoon viewers think the story and animation come first in a cartoon, then the voice. This isn't the case at all. Butler says. The voice comes first and the animation and drawing shaped to correspond.
The Kellog[g] Company sponsors the shows.
Butler does the commercials, also, rather, is the voice behind the commercials.
In addition to his regular work on the two syndicated cartoon shows, he does freelance work commercials.
Huckleberry and the other cartoon regulars are produced by a topflight staff of professionals, Butler said. They constantly inject new blood and new material into the show to keep it fresh, exciting, and secure in its top-spot position.
The few competitors of their shows he termed as crude.
"Ours is pure fantasy," he said, "A never-never land where animals talk and do impossible things and have a whale of a lot of fun. This way, you're not fettered. You do not have to adhere to the norm. You have freedom to experiment and move around in.
"Our show has grown and it has improved. Those little extra touches and subtlies [sic] like a jerk of the head or a special nuance of the voice go a long way toward making a quality product."



Native Of Ohio
Born in Ohio, Butler was reared in Oak Park, Ill., where he emerged from his formal schooling with an ambition to be a cartoonist. Shy and awkward about reciting in school, he later forced himself to participate in talent contests and speaking engagements to overcome his handicap. This self-therapy continued until he joined three other entertainers and founded an act which took them to stage floors over half the nation.
Uncle Sam called in May, 1942 and he was a yeoman in the U. S. Navy until 1946. While working at the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., he met his wife who was employed there by the government.
There he immediately went into radio work, auditioning at the cartoon studios every chance he got until he landed a job.
Then it was but a matter of hard work and making the right contacts until his talent was recognized and carried him to top jobs.
Today, he and his family live in a comfortable home in Beverly Hills, a 20-minute drive from his studio.
Sons In TV, Too
The four boys of Mr. and Mrs. Butler are David, 16; Donald, 13; Paul, 10; and Charles, six.
All of them, under the expert coaxing of their father, have been in bit parts in TV commercials. And some not so small parts.
One of them has landed an important part in a Hans Christian Anderson classic now under production.
The Butlers and Mrs. Martin plan to leave Friday for a week's stay on Ocracoke Island on the eastern North Carolina coast.
After returning here, the Butlers will leave on July 12 to return home. Although Mrs. Butler has returned here and her mother has visited them in California, Mr. Butler says this is his first visit back here in 17 years. "I love your wonderful green country here," he said. "It's so fresh and natural and unspoiled. Out where we live much of it is manmade and artificial."
The Huckleberry Hound man sees a very bright future in cartooning. "It's good and American," he said. "It's been tried and proven and accepted as a permanent part of the entertainment world. It's here to stay."

There was a post-script to the story. The paper’s editorial section printed this on July 5. It is a very good assessment of Daws’ abilities.

Fred Morgan’s Musings
That Huckleberry Hound TV cartoon guy is quite a versatile showman and actor. He visited in Albemarle last week and is due to come back here late this week prior to leaving for California.
I enjoyed immensely my brief visit with Daws Butler and his family and the intriguing glimpse into this phase of show-business that he gave me.
Daws is the kind of guy you appreciate instinctively.
He came up the hard knock way through the ranks to his present position as one of the very top cartoon voices in the field, overcoming a latent shyness and fear of anything to do with audio performances before an audience no matter how small.
Daws says there are no hard and fast restrictions and barriers in his shows between him and his co-workers, all seasoned professionals. Their working relationship is always flexible and open to suggestion and change for the betterment of the program.
You have to hear Daws in his various and ludicurous [sic] character voices to fully appreciate this man's talent and capabilities.
My interview with him was a riot of laughs, for I couldn't resist laughing spasmodically during the full hour I was there.
You would have, too.
I'd ask Daws a question and Huckleberry Hound would answer me.
Or Yogi Bear. Or Mr. Jinks. Or Super-Snooper. Or Blabber-Mouse. Or any one of a dozen or more characters.
You ought to hear Huck say, "It's good to be in old N. C."
Or Yogi drawl, "I like the feel of a real Tar Heel."
Or other such gag lines which bubble out of Daws with magnificent ease.
He does more than just say the lines. He puts action and showmanship into it.
This is important, Daws says, not only to give him a more genuine control of tone and nuance of voice that he wants to put into the line, but to give the artists and animators an idea for the actions and facial expressions of the character who is speaking the lines. The artists and animators always watch Daws as he records the voice and note these subtleties which they incorporate into the finished product.
In cartooning as in any successful creative work, Daws says is vital to capture the intrinsic emotions and motivations of your characters. He does this admirably well.
• • •
Marvin Coley had an excellent radio interview with Daws, too [on WABZ], which I managed to catch. That Daws is really a swell fellow and I hope cartooning will continue to kind to him.

Over the years, I’ve talked to people who knew Daws. Everyone praised his kindness, generosity and assistance. As time moves along without a pause, it’s a little difficult to think he passed away 37 years ago. His voice, or at least the ones he gave his characters, is still there. I hope it always will be.