![]() ![]() He was used primarily for his narration skills, which were heard on many of those cartoons in which Daws Butler starred. His notable roles in this era were Boo Boo Bear, Ranger Smith, Major Minor, Pixie Mouse, Astro, and Dr. Always the sidekick, Messick's characters were not headliners. #REDDY ICE DRIVER PAY SERIES#From 1958 to 1959, Messick played Tadpole in the animated television series Spunky and Tadpole, produced by Beverly Hills Productions.įrom 1957 to 1965, Butler and Messick gave voice to a large number of characters. Messick also narrated the show, which had a serialized storyline. Messick was Ruff the cat and the Droopy-sounding Professor Gizmo, while Butler played the dog Reddy. Messick and Butler's first collaboration was Ruff and Reddy. When William Hanna and Joseph Barbera formed their own animation studio, Hanna-Barbera, in 1957, Messick and Butler became a voice-acting team for the company. Avery hired Messick after Daws Butler, who voiced characters for MGM, suggested him. The regular voice actor Bill Thompson was unavailable. ![]() Īt MGM, Tex Avery was producing the Droopy cartoons. Messick's first big break came when he was hired by the Mutual Broadcasting radio station in Los Angeles, where he played Raggedy Andy and Farmer Seedling on the radio series The Raggedy Ann Show. In 1944, Messick joined the US Army, performing for troops as a part of the Special Services for 20 months. Two other workers and he were taking down a flagpole when it came into contact with electric power lines, electrocuting all three men. ![]() As Messick worked to reduce the Baltimore accent identified by the manager of WCAO as an impediment to his radio career, Messick's father was killed, along with two other men, in an accident at the Nanticoke School. Messick moved back to Baltimore a year later, after graduating high school, and approached radio station WCAO about getting his one-man show on the air. At age 15, Messick performed in front of the program manager and chief announcer at radio station WBOC in Salisbury, Maryland, and was given his own weekly show, for which Messick performed all of the character voices and sound effects. Career Early work Īt first, Messick wanted to be a ventriloquist and even supported himself as one for a time in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He was raised by his maternal grandparents in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, where he received his early training as a performer at the Ramsay Street School of Acting. Messick was born on Septemin Buffalo, New York, the son of Binford Earl Messick, a house painter, and Lena Birch ( née Hughes). ![]()
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