We love this story about Mel Blanc, the man who gave us the voices behind so many of the beloved cartoon characters we grew up with. The statistic of how many characters he voiced –over 400—is amazing! But what is most inspiring is that though Mel initially “failed” from a conventional perspective (e.g., he was a “wisecracking truant” and dropped out of high school) he stayed true to his own blueprint, his DNA-driven talents.
As a young person, Mel followed his natural interests and satisfied his appetite for the arts by studying the violin, banjo, and ukulele. Skipping school to go the movies resulted in teachers predicting he’d never amount to anything. Yet once Mel started telling jokes and stories in different voices at school assemblies, he had the knowing thought: This is definitely for me. A product of his environment, Mel Blanc would go on to use all the voices and characters he had absorbed, ultimately making a significant contribution to American pop culture and delighting generations.
Follow your own unique path and you never know…
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