Sunday, July 31, 2011

Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—Don Jurwich, producer

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

What was your role on Super Friends?

I produced Super Friends around 1983-1985. It was fun.

Did you make any significant changes?

When I took over the show from Wally Burr, I wanted to change the voice of Wonder Woman, who was Shannon [Farnon]. Wally said “Shannon’s such a wonderful gal” and he had been directing her very butch. So I re-auditioned her and we kept her.

I named names (or he did) and he commented:

Jack Angel was a nice guy.

Bill Callaway was a good talent.

Michael Bell…I worked with him many times over at Marvel. There was something about Michael’s voice that registered strong, it kind of magically cut through. Occasionally caustic.

Frank Welker was another great talent.

Did you know much about the superheroes before you took the job?

We all knew about Superman and Wonder Woman.

Anecdotes?

The network wanted to audition more characters so I ended up with a cast of about 17 people. Bill Hanna came by and said why so many actors in there?

Would they all be in the studio at the same time?

They had a large studio there (at H-B). Sometimes they had to double up on the mikes but most of the time they had eight or nine mikes.

Photos?

I have the Scooby cast but not Super Friends.

Did you work exclusively in animation?

Yes, mostly at Hanna-Barbera and Marvel. Also commercials. Ended my career at Sony. Just before I retired there seemed to be a change in the humor in young people. More toilet humor.

Still active in the business?

I retired in 1998. I did fine arts for about seven years after I retired. Now just enjoying life.

Next: Michael Kohler (musician).

2 comments:

Mel from L.A. said...

First off, continued great posts every day. This is the 1st time I read the whole blog and not just the Bill Finger part. Nice work. Some other comments:

How does Bob Kane's family feel about what ur doing (or is that in your book)?

I will buy one of those shirts this year.

Hanna Barbera had a recording studio INSIDE the building? They didn't go to a studio like Batman: The Animated Series did? Oh man, if I had know I would have broken in there when the building was still standing and taken photos. Oh well that's how it goes.

Am gonna go visit Olan Soule's grave next month. I've been to Forest Lawn 3 times for Bob Kane and once for Stephen J Cannell (his was unmarked as of June). I never knew "Batman" was there too. Well time to make up for past mistakes. I finally saw the Batman tv episode where he appeared as a newscaster.

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

Thanks Mel! I appreciate your continued support.