ENTERTAINMENT

W hen the

originator of Bugs

Bunny's voice died,

ff Bergman

auditioned and won

the job.

MICHAEL ELKIN

Special to the Jewish News

W

hat bugs Jeff
Bergman?
Not much these
days — and certainly not Bugs
Bunny. While he may tweak
and twit Elmer Fudd, the
buck-toothed Bugs is best bud-
dies with Mr. Bergman.
Indeed, Bugs is part of a
Bergman 14-carrot success
story that has the Northeast
Philadelphia native and cur-
rent Yardley, Pa., resident
hopping planes to Los
Angeles on a frequent-flyer
basis these days.
At 30, Mr. Bergman is big
box office — even if mov-
iegoers never see his face.
Mr. Bergman has replaced
the late Mel Blanc as the
voice of the wascally wabbit
— as well as a numbing
number of other Warner
Brothers' bumbling cartoon
characters — in a series of
film and TV projects des-
tined for the big and small
screen.
Ahhh, what's up, Jeff?
Well, there's Jetsons: the
Movie, the summer flick for
which he supplied the voice
for Mr. Spacely (originally
done by Mel Blanc) as well
as George (following the late
George O'Hanlon); a Bugs
Bunny short that accom-
panied Gremlins 2 in movie
houses; the upcoming Box
Office Bunny, due for
Thanksgiving in honor of
Bugs' 50th birthday; a col-
laboration with Quincy
Jones on a rabbit rap video
with Bugs trekking to

Jeff Bergman: Mel Blanc was encouraging.

The

wascally Wabbirs

New Voice

Harlem; as well as "Tiny
Toon Adventures," a syndi-
cated cartoon project pro-
duced by Steven Spielberg
for TV this fall.
Thufferin' thuccotash,
that's some schedule! (Yes,
Mr. Bergman does
Sylvester, too.)
But Mr. Bergman seems
to take it all in stride.
"This happened very late
in my career," he says of the
cartoon characters for whom
he supplies the voices. "I've
always done voices, but
primarily celebrity voices."
In fact, Mr. Bergman was
somewhat of a celebrity
himself at Hebrew school,
where his impressions made
a good impression on fellow
students — if not on the can-
tor.
"I'd imitate him in class

just before he got there,"
recalls Bergman of his can-
tonal capers at Congrega-
tion Beth Chaim in Feaster-
vale, Pa. "He'd come in, and
I'm sure he knew it was me."
Mr. Bergman was known
as the "class clown" in high
school, where he also headed
up the senior talent show.
"Everyone thought I'd be a
comedian," he says.
A funny thing happened
on the way to the one-liners:
Mr. Bergman now does his
stand-up act sight unseen,
providing the gags for a
gaggle of animated cartoon
characters.
Jeff Bergman first met his
idol, Mel Blanc, at the Univ-
ersity of Pittsburgh, where
Mr. Bergman was a student
and Blanc was a guest lec-
turer. "I found out what ho-

tel Mel was staying at, and I
followed him there after the
presentation," recalls Mr.
Bergman.
"The second he opened the
door, I begged to be let in,
saying I was his biggest fan.
Not only did he let me in, he
spent 45 minutes with me,
critiquing my voices and
giving me advice."
Mr. Bergman told Mel
Blanc of his career ambi-
tions. "He told me to stick
with it because he had a feel-
ing I was going to make it."
Mr. Blanc was right. After
graduating from Pitt, Jeff
Bergman landed an agent
and an invite from Warner
Brothers to hear him out.
What Warner Brothers
heard was, in the words of
Greg Ford, the company's
voice expert, "remarkable."

Mr. Bergman set up dual
cartoon soundtracks, with
his voice on one side and Mel
Blanc's on the other. The
experts couldn't tell which
was which.
That was four years ago.
With the death of Mel Blanc
last year, Mr. Bergman got
the call to audition for "Tiny
Toons," a Spielberg-Warner
Brothers project. This close
encounter of a second kind
landed him the job.
When Mr. Bergman
sounds off for this syndi-
cated TV show beginning in
September, he will be doing
so for Bugs, Sylvester,
Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd,
Yosemite Sam and Foghorn
Leghorn.
Th-th-th-that's not all,
folks! He also does the voice
of Charlie Tuna, replacing
the late Herschel Bernardi
in the popular commercial
for StarKist.
Performing as Popeye for
Quaker Oats commercials is
like a cartoon-come-true for
Mr. Bergman, who admired
the spinach-munching sailor
as a youngster.
Does he have a favorite
now? "It depends on the
week," says Bergman. "Last
week, I was in a Bing
Crosby voice — don't ask me
why. Then I got on a Don
Pardo kick," and Mr.
Bergman does a brilliant bit
as the game show and'
"Saturday Night Live" an-
nouncer.
What's new is his TV
newscaster impression.
"I've been working on a
Tom Brokaw voice," says
Mr. Bergman, breaking into
a Midwestern twang.
Some voices are a mouth-
ful, more challenging than
others.
"I'm trying to do David
Letterman and Arsenio
Hall," he says of the two TV
talk-show titans.
Arsenio poses a problem
because his voice changes so
much, and the Letterman
voice isn't letter-perfect yet,
admits Mr. Bergman.
While he is gaining public-
ity and probably prosperity
for his cartoon characteriza-
tions, Mr. Bergman says
that he can't see doing Bugs
Bunny forever.
Hare today, gone tomor-
row?
"Eventually, I'd like to do
other things in life," he says,
adding quickly, "but to be
known as the voice of Bugs
Bunny is pretty special." ❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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