The Woman Who Was The Voice Of Judy Jetson And Penelope Pitstop Has Died

Janet Waldo with a drawing of her character
Judy Jetson. Waldo died this week at the age of 96.  

Remember "The Jetsons"?

The futuristic cartoon from the 1960s featured a family living way off in the future, and it included the perky teenage Judy Jetson.

She was the one with the gravity-defying ponytail who always seemed to be gushing about the hot guys at school. You know, hunks like Buddy Blastoff, Larry Luner and Ricky Rocket.

Judy Jetson's voice was so gushy and like wow you practically went into a diabetic coma listening to her.

The reason I bring all this up is, sadly, the voice of Judy Jetson, Janet Waldo, has passed away at the age of 96. 

She was an iconic voice of other young women and teenagers in mid to late 20th century cartoons, including the voice of Josie in "Josie And the Pussy Cats."

She was also the voice of Penelope Pitstop. You remember her. That perky voice again, this time with a southern accent. "Heyelp!, Heyelp!"

RIP to an icon of 1960s cartoons.

Here's Judy Jetson, going gaga over boys on The Jetsons:

I Love My Minion (And Other Crucial Toys)

I went out and got myself a Minion.

No, not a real one, they don't exist, silly. It's a plush toy, a one-eyed, yellow, blue overall clad Minion to add to my collection of other cartoon character toys. They're characters that for some reason I relate to quite nicely.

Me and my trusty Minion.  

Maybe my life is like a cartoon. Maybe I've got the brain of a five year old. Sue me.

Minions are those worker bees in the animated film "Despicable Me."  They're the always cheerful, sometimes clumsy, sometimes put upon workers who try to make the evil main characters schemes and projects come to fruition.

My newly acquired Minion  joins Beaker, the hapless lab assistant to Dr. Bunson Honeydew from Muppets, and the Tasmanian Devil, the tornado like, slobbering foil to Bugs Bunny, at a special spot in my house.

Call it my shrine, if you will.

What I have in common with these characters is they are simultaneously simple and straight forward enough, but none of them are easily understood, the way they babble on about the scary things they're exposed to. Their demeanor is a strange mixture of fear and acceptance, though they all have their own way of going about it.

But they're my imaginary friends, if you will, because we all experience life in much the same way. Yes, I know my life is real, and the Minions, et al, are just cartoon characters, but bear with me.

For me and the Minions, Beaker and the Tasmanian Devil, things are totally out control. We feel at the mercy of others, especially in the case of the Minions and Beaker.

For me, the Minions, Beaker and the Tasmanian Devil, things usually end up badly, but comically so.  Here's a video that shows the life of the Minions. They're obsessive like me, get distracted often, and things get weird, like they do for me. OK, maybe not exactly, but close enough

Watch this example of the Minions at work to illustrate my point:





It might seem funny or odd that a middle aged guy like me has an affinity for such toys. First of all, come on, it's not like I relate to them like real human beings. It's not like I have conversations with them, arranged in a circle in a playroom somewhere. I don't take them to bed with me like a Teddy Bear.

But all adults need a nonthreatening, non-human, not terribly complex muse to cling to. These are mine.

They tell me that whenever I feel overwhelmed, threatened, oppressed, I shouldn't get too upset. Their episodes always end in laughs, and mine will too, no matter how bad things seem in the moment. At least I can hope so.

Maybe I'll make the Minions, Beaker and the Tasmanian Devil regular muses in this blog. And I should bring back Darlusz, the ceramic frog I also have. I used to use him in blog, giving him the voice of a wise but naive Polish immigrant that lives with us.

Because sometimes made-up characters give us all more insight that me, or any other human can do.

Creeping Out Charlie Brown

Found this oddity on YouTube but I love it. It's a little depressing actually, but still worth it.

Film editor Rob Yulfo assembled bits and pieces of Charlie Brown cartoon segments and set it to a version of Radiohead's brilliant song "Creep," as song by a somewhat mournful Vega Choir.

"Creep" is one of my favorite songs (OK, it's dark, sue me) And sometimes, I can relate to Charlie Brown. After watching the poor hapless Charlie Brown in this video, you want to just give him a great big hug.

Watch to the end, because it's definitely not hopeless. But the Choir's version of "Creep" has a bit of NSFW language, so don't play it too loud.

Occupy Wall, I Mean, Sesame Street

Like lots of Americans, I've been watching the growing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations across the country. They're lashing out against the growing income inequity in this country, and the perception that the playing field isn't level any more, that the big wigs are calling all the shots, at the expense of the rest of us.

Bert runs afoul of police during Occupy Wall Street
or Sesame Street protests

It was inevitable these protests would spread to Sesame Street, as can be seen in this photo blog. Muppets unite!   Great photoshopping, anyway.

Where will the protests spread to next? Maybe the Brady Bunch will get involved. But probably not. It would just devolve into Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.

I suppose the Teletubbies could get involved, but I don't think they can chant much. They just make those weird noises, so they might be ineffective. I also don't think Tinky Winky would make a great protest spokescreature.

I think the Looney Tunes characters from the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour would be great at this.  The coyote could give the ill-fated Acme products to the Wall Street bigwigs, and the Road Runner would then chase the big wigs to hilarious, explosive results.

Bugs Bunny can go onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, say "Nyah, What's up doc?" then throw a carrot into the works, setting off a chain of events that throws every hedge fund in the world into total disarray.

I don't trust Elmer Fudd with his gun. He'd probably yell about the Second Amendment, and team up with the hedge fund managers and chant "Kill the wabbit!"

It could get violent.

Then Pepe LePew could come onto the floor of the NYSE and save the day. I don't think the super rich tolerate skunks that well.

There could also be some infighting. I think Tweetie Bird and Sylvester the Cat would be too busy fighting each other to fight for justice.  But these kinds of protests always have their share of internal discord, so they'll work it out.

The best part of the Looney Tunes protest would come from the Tazmanian Devil. Just unleash him in the opulent penthouses in the Upper East Side and watch him single handedly bring down the rich and powerful.

I don't know if any of this is plausible, but hell, you've got to make social change fun somehow, right?