That's All Folks

I am sure there would be very few who have not come across the above image except for those really matured guys who don't watch cartoons. I just love cartoons and the characters more for their voices than their appearance and antics.

I just love the way Bugs says "aaanh whatszzzup doc" and Tweety says "i thot i thaw a putty cat". But I have never wondered about the person who gave those characters all their voices. It was really amazing that both the voices were given by the same person. I was actually going through some famous last words and came across "Thats all Folks" quoted by Mel Blanc. Then I did some research on the name and found this genius of a man who gave his voice to almost every cartoon character. No wonder he was called "The Man of 1000 voices", although he confesses that he had provided only 850 voices. What a man!

There is more to this guy, he wanted his gravestone to be inscribed with "Thats all Folks". The sentence which was used by Porky Pig at the end of ever Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies show. When you think more about it you realize that those three words mean everything that anybody can say while departing. One could write long poems or paragraphs and still miss out something that could have been said but , this short sentence.. these three words say it all. Here is a picture of his gravesite marker in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.

That one sentence and all those voices had made this man immortal. If I ever have a chance to choose the gifts that can be granted in another life I would want to be born with the gift that this man has got. A gift that would entertain millions of people across the world breaking language barriers and live forever in their hearts. In this life, if I had to leave suddenly and if I didn't have a chance to say anything before I leave, and if someone wonders what I would have said to them if I had the chance, I would tell them "That's All Folks".

The best tribute this wonderful man could get was from the characters he gave his voice to and here is the picture of the characters paying tribute to this legend.

Friends

It has been three months since my last post and life just zapped by me with very little time to sit back and relax. That doesn't mean i didnt have idle moments, yes i did but didn't find much to write. Last week i watched a movie titled "Stand By Me" based on a Novella by Stephen King, which also plays the song "Stand By Me" by Ben King. It is the story of four 12year old boys and their journey to locate the dead body of a boy struck by a train. Nothing great about the story line but the film demands attention till the very end.

Its more about the freindship you have at the age of 12. The entire film is narrated in first person by one of the four friends who goes on to become a writer. None of the other three friends make it beyond young adulthood. The narrrator ends the story by saying he will miss his friends and he never will have the kind of friends he had at the age of 12 and asks "Does anyone?"

That took me way back into my memory lane to see if it was really true... at the age of 12 i was more or less a loner..... i have made a couple of friends... but didnt last long.... In those days i was really not sure on why i didnt have any friends or why i left many friends... maybe the fault was with me maybe the fault was with them.... eventually most of my friendships in those years used to end up with an argument or a fight. I would even attribute it to moving to different places and studying in 7 different schools in the 12 years of my schooling.

I guess i was in search of someone to spend some quality time.... i was in search of a person who is more or less like me, shared the same opinions and ideas. As time went by i realized if the person was more like me then there wouldnt be much to talk or share... I was out of High School and entered college and the same thing continued.. this time the problem was with the quality.. I became a strong believer in "you are judjed by the company you keep" and i have set some character traits which were very difficult to find in another person.... I have entered graduation and stopped my search to find a friend that would suit my requirements and started making the best out of the friends i already have.

Thats when the friends i would like to have in my life started happening to me. Friends with whom i could laugh,cry,share, discuss almost anything under the sun. Some of them parted (not due to an argument or fight), some of them departed and a couple of them are still around. These friends did not happen at the age of 12 (maybe i could have had some if not for the arguments and fights), they happened much later in life but, these are the friends i would have really loved to have a the age of 12. One could say what difference does make if they did not happen at the age of 12 and happened at the age of 20 or more. It wouldnt have made no difference except for the amount of beautiful memories i could have stored in the archives of my memory, the number of stories i could tell.

Finally i could sleep peacefully thinking that i was successful in making atleast couple of friends i would cherish my entire life. This is to those friends and the beautiful moments i have shared with them. Thank You for the memories...and the song below is for you

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FX--7gFHkU0