You Know the Voice: Clarence Nash (1963)

Waaaaaakkkk!!!! Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, appeared as an imposter on To Tell The Truth in October 1963. Gene Rayburn (Match Game, ex-Choose Up Sides) was filling in for Bud Collyer. Panelists Orson Bean & Tom Poston would have that chore the following two weeks.

Nash appears in game 2, but didn't get a single vote from Bean, Poston, Sheila MacRae, & Kitty Carlisle.



Bean & Rayburn would switch places the following week, and the panel would correctly identify two more challengers.

There is at least one episode of Choose Up Sides now available on YouTube. We'd previously posted a standard intro, so maybe we'll get a full show up soon.

Toons You Might've Missed: Duckwood (1964)

Dandy Deal brings another "lost" Terrytoons character, Duckwood, who, according to the Big Cartoon Database, appeared in 3 shorts in 1964. Duckwood, however, appears to be the second banana, as his partner, a WC Fields soundalike, carries most of the action. Dayton Allen did the voices.

Here's the last of those three shorts, "Oil Thru The Day":

Edit, 1/25/21: The video was deleted as Dandy Deal lost his account. Instead, we have this still shot:

The music at the end was later recycled for syndicated reruns of Mighty Mouse in the 70's.

Rating: B.

Saturday Morning Ringside: Remembering Ivan Koloff (1942-2017)

It has been a tradition in wrestling that some characters aren't really foreigners or Native Americans. For example, the late Chief Jay Strongbow was, for many years, played by a man of Italian background. The late Yokozuna (Rodney Anoai), billed as being from Japan early in his run with the then-World Wrestling Federation in the 90's, was actually Samoan, and came over from the AWA, where he had been billed as Kokina Maximus, and, yes, as a Samoan. Mr. Fuji, who passed away late last year, wasn't from Japan, either, but really from Hawaii, and perhaps as a nod to his true heritage, adopted the look of the state's most famous fictional detective, Charlie Chan, in the mid-80's.

That brings us to Ivan Koloff, who passed away yesterday at 74. Koloff was no more legitimately a Russian than his storyline nephew, Nikita, was. Nikita was actually as American as apple pie. Ivan, born Oreal Parris, was orignally from the Quebec province in Canada, but after an early stint as an Irish heel named Red McNulty, adopted the persona that would define his career. Koloff, managed by Captain Lou Albano, defeated Bruno Sammartino in 1971 at Madison Square Garden to win his only World title as a singles wrestler. It was, unfortunately, a short reign, as Koloff dropped the strap less than a month later to Pedro Morales.

Strangely, Koloff is not in the WWE Hall of Fame. That might be because he spent a larger chunk of his career in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where many fans rediscovered him in the 80's when the Atlanta based superstation, (W)TBS, began beaming in the Northeast. Koloff won several tag team titles in the NWA with various partners, including Nikita and, before that, Don Kernodle.

Edit, 6/19/19: Had to delete the NWA footage. In its place is a 1983 WWF squash.



In 1995, Ivan Koloff renounced the partying lifestyle of the 70's & 80's, and became a born again Christian, just like Nikita. Oreal Parris became an ordained minister, a path that fellow heels Tully Blanchard & Ted DiBiase, Sr. would also walk at the end of their careers. However, Parris was also dealing with liver cancer, the result of all that partying and substance abuse. On Friday, God called him home. Maybe now WWE will consider adding Koloff to the Hall of Fame. Virtually all of the company's World champions from its early years, from Buddy Rogers to Edge, with the exception of current stars John Cena, Randy Orton, and Triple H, to name a few, are already in the Hall, and Triple H had done yeoman's work behind the scenes to get Sammartino enshrined a few years ago. The "Cerebral Assassin" is also a historian, so figure he'll get the ball rolling soon enough.

Rest in peace, Ivan.

Toon Rock: What's Your Sign? (1972)

It's been a while since we queued up something from the Bedrock Rockers via the Flintstone Comedy Hour from 1972, marking its 40th anniversary this year. Here's "What's Your Sign?".

Saturday Morning Ringside: Remembering George "The Animal" Steele (1937-2017)

The Grim Reaper's been very busy in the wrestling world over the last couple of weeks. First, there was Chavo Guerrero, Sr. (known as Chavo Classic for marketing purposes during his brief stint with WWE in 2004), who passed away last week. Then, in quick succession, over the last 48 hours, we've lost Hall of Famer George "The Animal" Steele, whom we'll talk about shortly, Nicole Bass, who, according to conflicting reports, either is still on life support, or may have passed on at 52, and, finally, former WWWF World champ Ivan Koloff, who lost a bout with liver cancer.

The interesting paradox with Steele (William James Myers) is that the Animal was, essentially, an alter-ego. Outside the ring, the college educated Myers was a football coach and teacher in his native Michigan who took his name from a rival football coach. This would explain why a lot of Steele's appearances were mostly in the summer. Once he gave up his academic career, Steele became a full-time wrestler, settling into the guise of a modern neanderthal with an appetite for turnbuckles. He was never a World champion, but was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006.

We'll look at Ivan Koloff tomorrow, but now, here's George from 1977, managed by Captain Lou Albano, vs. perennial jobber Frankie Williams:



Beneath the persona of the Animal laid a brother in Christ who was called home. Rest in peace.

Toon Rock: Cold Wisconsin Nights (Sittin' By The Fireside)(1969)

While Ted Nichols was the credited musical director for the Cattanooga Cats series, the musical numbers were produced by Mike Curb, who was also scoring Ken Snyder's two freshman series for ABC that same year, Hot Wheels & Skyhawks. Curb took the sneaky route with this next track.

Credited as "Sittin' By The Fireside", this song was originally known as "Cold Wisconsin Nights", and recorded by the American Revolution about a year or two before this series hit the air. The common link? Curb produced both records, along with Michael Lloyd. Sounds to me like he used the original American Revolution track in this spot, and changed the title, thinking no one would be the wiser.

Well, it is the middle of winter, after all......

Spiderversary: Spider-Man vs. the Scorpion (1967)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man's TV debut. From that first season, we present the first TV appearance of the Scorpion, a common crook who was given powers by a mad scientist hired by J. Jonah Jameson as part of the publisher's obsessive quest to discredit the wall-crawler. Here's "Never Step on a Scorpion":



Rating: B.