The Unique World of Will Ryan with Katie Leigh, Nick Santa Maria & Diane Michelle

The life, career (and delightful quirks) of multi-talented WILL RYAN (Smurfs, The Little Mermaid, Adventures in Odyssey, Mickey’s Christmas Carol) is shared by four of his countless friends. 

Episode Transcript

(00:11):
Ladies and gentlemen. Children of all ages, we love
head of our mirror. Welcome to the Fantastic World
of Hannah and Barbera, a celebration of Bill, Hannah, Joe

(00:32):
Barbera and the thousands of people, past and present who
have shared in their entertainment tradition.
And now your host, Greg Garbar. Thank you Chris Anthony.
Welcome to the fantastic world of Hanna and Barbera and the and
is there because it's about the Ands as well as Hanna Barbera.

(00:53):
And today we're going to pay tribute in a loving, funny way
to one of our dearest friends and most talented artists.
Did voices for Hanna Barbera as well as many, many others.
Was Eugene on the long running and still running radio series
Adventures and Odyssey, A musician, A composer, was a
legendary Disney performer in the park on stage and and

(01:17):
parades and also on many records.
We're all going to share wonderful stories and there's
are some funny stories. I'll start with he kept a lot of
his paperwork in his oven. He never used it.
That's just who would that be, the glorious Will Ryan, Ladies
and gentlemen, I'll start with our newest guest, the wonderful,

(01:40):
talented Diane Michelle. Thank.
You. I'm very grateful that you
included me in this tribute to Will Ryan.
He was such a champion of my talent, and I know that he was
that for many people. Will Ryan I met through his
sister Patty. Basically, I was doing some
storyboarding for a song called Neptune's Tavern, and the

(02:03):
artwork was being done at Patty's house near the Hollywood
Bowl. And she goes, you know my
brother, right? And I said, who's he?
She goes, well, he's an animation, you should meet him,
as will Ryan. I said, well, I'd like to meet
him. And so she put us together and
the next thing I know, I'm working with him on the Dumbo
circus show with Katie Lee and Patti Paris and many others.

(02:25):
I mean, really, it was like jumping in.
I had been studying with Dos Butler, and he knew that that
was through another friend, my singing partner, Lori Johnson.
Lori was a daughter of Paul Smith, who was Ella Fitzgerald's
piano player. And so she, we knew a lot of
industry people. And when I was able to get into
Daws's workshop out of his garage, which was right down the

(02:47):
street from me, we were living in Beverly Hills at the time.
All of a sudden I started getting calls from Hanna
Barbera. And I thought, well, that's
interesting. But I never necessarily thought
my teacher was putting in a goodword, but I kind of like to
think he did. But the very first job I got
through Don Pitts, my agent, wasto be a Greek Tavern owner.

(03:08):
And he goes, Diane, you can do aGreek accent, right?
And I said of course. I could ride a horse.
And so I went to the San Pedro, where I am right now, where I
grew up, Greek restaurants, PaulPapantagas.
Oh, it's. All Greek down there too.

(03:29):
This is way before Internet, he goes.
We've got grape leaf, domas, baklava, Museka, I said.
I think I got enough, thank you.So I did my first Scooby-doo the
next day and I managed to pull it off with.
Who was the character? I may have just watched that
one. Her name was Anna, the taverna
owner. The only glare scare.

(03:51):
I still get residuals. So.
By making us think the professorhad turned to stone, they tried
to scare us off the trail. What do you mean us, Anna?
This taverna is just my cover. I work for Greek Secret
Intelligence. For years, we've been trying to.
Capture. Thaddeus split.
Anyway, that's my sort of beginning.

(04:11):
Will was, like I said, always writing songs.
He wrote a whole album for me called Baba Lavoom, The Outer
Space Detective. And I mean, basically he just
saw in me a potential that in this business, if you don't have
a daddy or a mommy that you know, can open some doors, you
better get some relationship connection and of course have

(04:35):
the talent to back it up. So that's what happened.
And the next thing you know, there's a 43 year career as a
Screen Actors Guild member with many, many, many, many stories
to tell along the way. And Speaking of Vava Lavoom, and
maybe we can talk more about that, is that was a character in
one of the pioneering online series.

(04:58):
Well said, it was the first. Annie award for the first online
it was called Elmo Aardvark outer space detective with Corey
Burton doing that kind of old school announcer voice this is.
Elmo Aardvark, America's original animated star.
Tony Semi retired from motion pictures.
Elmo lives a happy and peaceful existence.

(05:20):
Just me and my ukulele. A Kokomo.
Of course. My dog hair squeezed.
In a quiet little bungalow in the Hollywood Hills where
nothing ever happens. My dog has squeezed Great Danes
and Ducksons what just landed inElmo's backyard.

(05:41):
Is he all right and will he everget at Ukulele?
Tuned to find? Out join us again next time for
Elmo Aardvark outer space defective.
Oh that's detective that remainsto be seen.
I got to get the only one answer.
June for Ray was on it, and PhilLawler will played Elmo, of

(06:01):
course, but out of that came an album of songs that he wrote
specifically for her. But at any rate, it was a great
experience. And Katie?
Hi, I'm Katie Lee. Yeah, I've been in the business
about the same amount of time Diane Michelle has.
It's funny, but we met through Will, I guess, because I don't
think I worked with you before. Well, I'm down by the circus.

(06:24):
That's it. I mean, Will championed
everybody. So he's always trying to find
just just just hire this person.Just hire this person and get it
done. And that whole thing where he
had so many little pockets of friends because I lived in the
same apartment building as Eric Goldberg and his wife Susan at
the time. And they were having Tim and

(06:44):
Tom, Seto and Pat. They were having a party or get
together. They've been working on the
Ziggy cartoon that Will was voicing Ziggy and I was just
starting out in voice over and Eric said, well, you must know
Will Ryan, same thing like Fatty.
No, I don't. I don't know hardly anybody who
come over over to the party. So we met, but then nothing

(07:05):
really came of it till Dumbo Circus when we actually started
working together. I really did not work with him
until Dumbo Circus. The funny thing, you know, I
have our own Tell You Later showpodcast and Phil Barron came on
and Phil said, you know, I was supposed to be Dumbo's voice
until you showed up and auditioned for the cat when they

(07:28):
said do you read for it and gavethe part to you?
So. But yeah, so the Tell You Later
show actually started with Will his last year here on Earth and
that was really fun because we got to be together every week.
Pretty. Much.
And you were together for what is it, 3 decades or so?
Quite a while, yes. Well, if you start with Dumbo

(07:50):
Circus and then move to adventures in Odyssey, because
we had a Dumbo Circus for what, a couple years, Diane?
Yeah. And then pretty much that whole
cast moved over to adventures inOdyssey.
But I don't have any other friends.
I have you and Connie. But but, but I admire you and
and all I do is argue with Connie.
That's not true. See, we worked on other things.
The gummy bears, adventures of the gummy bears together.

(08:13):
Teddy Ruxpin and I always forget.
Nick, you're probably the same way.
Like I think of a couple things.And then as time was wait and
wait, and then there was this and there was this was this you
keep. Adding and.
He kept saying I'm going to get you an ABIFFL and Shuster.
We keep thinking of skits and you can be the secretary, but it
never happened. What a segue, because Elmo

(08:33):
Aardvark, which Diane and Katie were doing, that was a fictional
classic cartoon character that existed, you know, way back when
and had this great history. So you've got to do all this
retro animation with with the great Daryl Van Sitters, Biffle
and Schuster. They represented all these great

(08:54):
decades of comedy and they were this legendary team.
Nick was the great Benny Biffle,who lives on in a fictional
history on Nick's page. Yes he does.
It's so funny. Hi, my name is Nick Santo Maria
and my Facebook page continues the Biffle and Shuster legend

(09:15):
and they have fans that contribute to the story of the
Fool and Shuster and some of them are just gut wrenchingly
funny. OK, I moved to Los Angeles the
day after 911. My then girlfriend at the time
and I got in our car and left Manhattan Island.

(09:37):
We were the only car on the road, there was nothing but
soldiers with automatic weapons standing everywhere, and they
let us take the Verrazano Bridgeoff the island.
And it was a terrible, terrible time.
Anyway, we moved to Los Angeles 2001.
I got involved with the Disney company doing the Genie in
Aladdin, a musical spectacular. The.

(09:58):
First Genie, the first live action on stage.
There was no other genie but Robin Williams until you played
them on stage. Exactly.
Yes, and it is kind of cool anyway.
To be compared to Robin Williamswas like, who are you?
Who am I? I'm a Smurf with a thyroid

(10:19):
problem. Genie, Genie.
Say it with me, Genie. I knew you could.
And you know what that means? You've got 3 common, 3 wishes
come in your leg. But before we start, let's go
over the Genie rule book, shall we?
Spur rule #1 No wishing for morewishes.
It's against Genie. Labor.

(10:40):
Law, forget about rule #2 I can't make someone fall in love
with you. Hey lady and rule #3 I cannot
raise the dead. You wouldn't believe the letters
I get. From far as long.
So that was a really great thingand that was my Disney
connection. So, OK, I'm living in Los
Angeles. I'm doing the Disney thing.

(11:02):
I get involved with Mel Brooks and the producers.
I go out of town. I finally come back to town.
It's about 2006 and I have nobody.
I've been on the road all this time.
My girlfriend and I are not together anymore and I'm alone
basically. So I decide one day I say I'm
going to take life into my own hands and I'm going to meet

(11:23):
people that are like minded so Ican find a whole new group of
friends. So I go to the Old Town Music
Hall where Janet Klein is doing a concert.
I have no idea who she was. I had nothing.
I went. I love the concert.
At the end, you know, people arewinding up to say hello to
Janet. So I got online to tell her how
much I love the show and standing in front of me was

(11:46):
Rusty Frank. Yeah, yeah.
She's the premier tip Tapper of all time.
She wrote a great book about tapdancing.
She travels all over the world giving workshops and everything.
She's just wonderful. But this is the day I met her
and she turned around and she hit on me first of course, but
she said honest to God and I told her no, I'm sorry, I'm

(12:07):
still in love with my old girlfriend.
I don't want to do that. But anyway, we're online and she
starts picking my brain and she realizes that I'm one of one of
us. Boo Boo Gabba one of us and she
takes me up to Janet Klein is he's one of us, he's one of us.
She's introducing me to everybody.
And the next day, the very next day, she invites me to her place

(12:27):
and Elsa window. She's got a beautiful little
Craftsman house. It's gorgeous.
And she says to me, I invited a friend of mine over.
I want you to meet him. I think you guys would get on
really well. And I was like, okay, whatever.
So she says he's a very nice guy.
He's one of the most talented people I know and one of the
biggest name droppers, so pleasegive him a little space for

(12:48):
that. And I was like, OK, I can handle
that, that's fine. And it turned out to be true.
But, you know, I'm no slouch either.
So we hit it off immediately. He had his ukulele with him.
I used Rusty's and we jammed together.
We harmonized together. I did my trumpet with him as he
played. And we just, it was like love at

(13:09):
first sight. Before you know it, Will was
telling me we should be a comedyteam.
And I'm like, what? You know, first of all, I don't
know anything about his voice work.
So Will to me was Sammy Shuster from Biffle and Shuster.
He was the straight man of the comedy team, which was very

(13:30):
gracious to him to take that role.
And we hit it off by gangbusters.
It was amazing. And about six years later, our
recently late friend Michael Schlesinger put together a short
that we filmed and then five more that we put on DVD and it's
out there on Amazon.com. The Misadventures of Biffle and

(13:50):
Shuster. And we'll and myself considered
that a no offense to either of you to this was his favorite
job, as well as my favorite job in 50 years of show business.
That was the best job we've everhad.
We wanted to be Biffle and shoesfor the rest of our lives.
And I used to tease will. I used to say, you know, if you
die, I'm gonna have to hire Curly Will like the Stooges

(14:14):
hired Curly Joe. Curly will.
Curly will. It's so neat because, you know,
you guys covered all the things that I don't know.
What do you call it when you make up stuff and act like it's
real? Is there a name for that?
Insanity. And it's like faux historical
stuff, but all that, the genre of music, the type of comedy,

(14:37):
all the things that y'all loved,you actually got to do it.
Not even just as a cartoon, but physically on camera.
Yeah, yeah. And I believe retro would be the
word. It's very retro, you know.
And my friend Perry Shields fromchurch.
And I kept saying, I know, but Ikept saying, Perry, you've got
to meet my friend, but he didn'tknow you.

(14:58):
Then I kept you got to meet Nickand Will and these people that I
know you would have a lot in common with.
And somehow you all finally met and he's in your Biffle and
shoes. And so is his wife, Cindy.
And actually, I got to be, we were talking about this before
you started, Greg. I was in a scene with Biffle and
Schuster, and we did not rehearse.

(15:20):
You remember that? Nick had a run through it.
I could see in Michael Schlesinger's eyes like, oh, OK,
this is going to work. And he grabbed the musicians and
he grabbed the camera guys. And we did it again.
And I mean, it was like, for me,I tasted what you guys had.
What you had told everyone was your favorite kind of showbiz.

(15:42):
It's like being in a movie, being glamorous, being, you
know, able to shine on camera and funny.
I really haven't done any much except that I am a live
performer but not on film. And I took my mom.
Do you remember that, Katie? You were sitting near me and you
were tunic. And we climbed up to the top of
the Egyptian theater seats. She's 96.

(16:06):
She got to see me on the silver screen.
How fun is that? It's really a testament to, you
know, we're here talking about will manifesting these things.
Like some people would just say,wouldn't it be funny if he'd
say, how can we make that? Let's just do it.
Yep. Let's just that was.
Him, I'm totally jealous becausefor years we talked about it

(16:29):
because we need to do an act, him and me like a Gracie Allen
and George Burns thing. Yeah.
And we talked about it and wrotesome stuff, but it was luckily
he had you to do Biff on Tuesdayand somehow Schlesinger, as you
say, yeah, yeah. Who was able to somehow knew him
and wanted to make it happen. Which is so bizarre anyway, that

(16:51):
you would find a producer who would want to do something so
classic. That's.
All right. Classic.
Yeah, Yeah. Classic style.
A vintage comedy, Yes. Mission to that one.
Katie manifesting was really something he was good at,
although he probably wouldn't have called it that.
When I looked on the show Focus on the Family, he and I got to

(17:12):
be sort of well, he was becominga regular.
I was becoming a regular and allof a sudden he said this is not
working for me, that we're not after, you know, what your radio
show would be. And so he included me in a group
of people who stood up to the siren call of another job by

(17:33):
saying, well, actually I'd love to, but I can't because I feel
we really need to change this toa after production.
And sure enough, he manifested. He made it happen.
So that you and so many others, Trona and all these people he
helped get gigs on that show, I felt really good about taking a

(17:55):
stand, which, you know, if you're going to be in a union,
you might as well abide by the rules.
And he was able to turn that ship around.
I always give him credit. Yeah, Paul.
Herlinger, too, really stood with him.
Wasn't Eugene went to a monastery during that period?
Or I. Don't know where he went.
I still haven't listened to those episodes.

(18:16):
I don't know where he went. But yeah, he basically didn't
work on the show for three yearsuntil they made it happen
because back by popular demand, Eugene Melsner, and they figured
it out. And it isn't that they didn't
want to. I mean, ever since the
beginning, we'd be bugging them and then after didn't want to
talk to them. But by his doing that and they

(18:40):
made him have to figure out a way to do it because after
wasn't really interested really,to be honest, to be fair, they'd
say, well, we base all our salesat because we're kind of a in
between kind of a radio drama, because in the beginning focus
would just give the product awaylike, well, we're based on

(19:02):
sales. Well, we're not.
They're a ministry. So how do you figure this out?
You know, it was just a dilemma,but thank goodness they did
figure it out. And I'm very thankful.
And I confess I wasn't supporting his effort because I
had just, you know, been supporting focus, frankly.
But I, I am very thankful and admire what you all did.

(19:23):
And, and you know, I made me feel bad.
I didn't help you do it quicker.I think it's important for
people listening who aren't familiar with Adventures in
Odyssey to understand what a strange and wonderful hybrid it
is. First of all, it's called a
radio drama. But there's there's a ton of
comedy. I mean, Will was in it.
And music. Yeah, and music.

(19:45):
And it's a dramedy, but it's also a science fiction.
It's satire. They do Star Trek takeoffs.
They do the Novacom thing, whichwas a running story that was
about this. Which is like almost real now in
real life, the whole science fiction part of.
It is not. Far fetched anymore.
It was about an invasive thing that came into people's home.

(20:06):
It was, but they do that kind ofstory.
But even though it falls under inspirational, the people who
write and produce it want this show to be the top drawer that
it is. So it is recorded at the finest
studios in Hollywood with the cream.
Janet Waldo, Alan Young, Hal Smith, June Foray, everybody who

(20:29):
is anybody in voice acting was on the show.
Harley Grainger, Debbie Reynolds, Debbie Levine.
Miriam Hopkins. Miriam Hopkins.
You know what, if they were breathing, Will got him on the
show. OK, Even if they weren't, they
might have got honorable mention.
Well, it depends on their breath.

(20:52):
I do want to bring up one thing that Will actually manifested
for me and became a career. One day I got a phone call and
he said Dan Weinstein, his bass player, couldn't make it to a
recording. They were doing 1/2 hour pilot
show of Will Ryan and the CactusCounty Cowboys, which was his
westerns band and they were wonderful.

(21:13):
It's cowboy skiffle. Yeah, Cowboy Skiffle.
I had that for breakfast, but hecalls me up.
I'm going to play the part that Dan is to play.
So I was his sidekick, Westy. Oh yeah, and he had a real
Westy. Yeah, right.
He was. Westy was very ill and
eventually he left us. Westy West on offer?

(21:35):
I get to the studio and I'm playing against June for Ray.
Yeah. Now my head's about to explode,
and I'm like, this is the most amazing thing ever.
So we've finished the show, and the producer comes up to me
afterwards and says, I like yourvoice.
He goes, have you ever done audio books?
I said no, I've always wanted to, but yeah, yeah, because I'm

(21:57):
going to call you tomorrow. 10 years later, I've done over 300
audiobooks. Wow.
Wow. To Will Ryan.
Yes, he opened that door. Yeah.
And John Reynolds. John Presto, Reynolds.
And Katie Cuvera and the character used to have me do is
Ruby of Klum and. Ruby, Klum and Ruby.

(22:17):
Yeah, they were a character duo similar to, I guess, Gracie and
Burns. It was kind of a well, thanks
for listening that kind. Of it was funny, it was funny.
He wrote songs for them too. But Katie, don't you remember a
lot of rehearsing with Will if you were to do a show with him?
A lot of practice and rehearsing.
No, not at all because I didn't sing and I don't sing well.

(22:41):
So that's just taken for granted.
There isn't, you know, a lot of hope there.
But I did play if Virginia pentameter when they were doing
a show and all to Dina. And because I need a like an MC
for the show I like, I could do that.
Well, it's OK, I have so and so I think he was going to have
Phil Proctor do it. And he says to me, why don't you
want to? Can't do it.
Well, I'll do it. It's OK.

(23:02):
I I have somebody else lined up.Finally, the second guy
couldn't. It goes, OK, do you want to do
it? I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll do
it. So, but it was much, pretty much
improvised. He had written this long speech
originally for Filler, the othercomedian that he was friends
with. I think Phil might have been the
second choice. So he had this big speech about
the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival.

(23:24):
And I was pretty much improvisedthis afternoon.
Our city is honored performing within its borders none other
than the King of the Radio Cowboys, the official singing
cowboy of Hollywood, the Buckaroo.
Who? Put the bow in bodacious, the
Wang in twang, and the overalls in Mrs. Murphy's chowder.

(23:58):
Rhythm rides the range. Rhythm rides the range.
They truck and wave along the trail because rhythm rides the
range folk. Rhythm rides the range.
Rhythm rides the range. Cattle move in time for you
because rhythm rides the range folk.
The prayer is ringing. Guitars are swinging.
Cow folks are swinging. Singing a bandit.

(24:19):
Singing rhythm rides the Ranger,yeah.
Rhythm rides the range. Your horses have to do every
step because rhythm rides the. Range.
I was there that night. One thing about Will, and this
is where I came in handy. Will was very as a writer.
Now I'm a writer, I can say this.
He was very long winded. He could have said things in

(24:41):
half the my job was to, yeah, whittled it down so it wasn't
like a class, you know, it wasn't like an instructional
class. That's what it seemed like.
Yeah. He was definitely quite
vociferous when it came to thosekind of.
Things Well, anybody who received an e-mail from him can
testify I. Know, I know I mean just hearing

(25:03):
these names, you guys, these names Rusty and John and is.
John still around? Yeah, he's still, he's still
playing with Janet Klein in. Fact.
Amazing talent and because Will was so much fun to work with, he
amassed the best players. John was the best ever.
He was fantastic. He was one of the greatest jazz

(25:23):
guitarist I've ever seen. Forever he.
Used Larry Gitz. Remember, he had a studio out on
Robertson Blvd. Wasn't John Reynolds the like
grandson of Zesu? As Will, yes.
Zesu Pitts, Zesu Zesu Pitts, yes, he was the grandchild and
if you take the mustache away, it's the face.

(25:46):
We would talk about his grandmother and he was very
honest about her. Zesu was a John Birch Society
member and not someone I would hang out with, let's put it that
way. And he knew.
He was well aware of it. People listening don't know she
was the inspiration for olive oil.
That's right. That's absolutely true.

(26:12):
Was delightful on screen and shewas wonderful on screen, you
know. Let's talk about how many old
timers he loved, you know what Imean?
Like, he put me in touch with the guy who was the voice in
Disneyland, Thurl Ravenscroft. Was that his?
Name. Yeah.
You met him. Yeah, he was a Tony the Tiger.
Yeah, and from the Haunted Mansion.

(26:35):
Yeah, and I mean just that kind.Or the tap dancing gal.
I can't think of her name. She can, yes, Miriam.
Miriam Nelson was one of my bestfriends.
Oh, that's it, that's it. He loved to champion them, too,
because he was in awe of what they had published, and he
didn't want the world to forget them while they were sitting

(26:56):
around. I love that.
I love that nature that he had of sweet consideration.
I mean, we can say that he was also a hoarder.
He had so much stuff in his house, and we would go and
rehearse and barely find the keys.
And then he had a secretary who had, like, smoke coming out of
her ears. And when we went to New York one

(27:20):
time, he was buying engraved engravings from the in New
Yorker. And this building I had never
even heard of, and I said, will,how many are you going to get?
He goes, oh, I don't think I'll get here again.
And he just bought them where they went.
Probably a drawer. I mean, he really lived like it
was the 1940s. Like who do you know who has

(27:41):
someone write their checks for them?
You know, it's just he'd rather pay somebody to do that stuff or
ignore it. I believe his answering machine
stopped taking messages 20 yearsbefore he passed away.
He just didn't clear it, didn't answer it, didn't want the phone
wondering he he managed to do all this stuff to his credit

(28:03):
without a cell phone. Basically, we need have one
maybe for a week or two and loseit.
And you know, I forget how to open it.
So that happened, no cell phone,but just answering the phone.
And we used to do comic cons together.
So Neri, who he got very close to our Comic Con agent, Neri
Lemus. And so we joke because when
he'll call me, I'll say telephone, because that's how

(28:26):
will. It answer the phone.
Like I don't know where they came from, but tell him.
Did he ever call you and try to disguise his voice like you
didn't know who he was? Yes, and then?
Not so much. No sign off with pal to my pal.
That's so old school. Yeah, yeah.

(28:46):
My old pal. My old pal, we talk practically
every morning on the phone. If we weren't together, we
talked every morning. The last 15 years of his life,
we were always together. I can't tell you how many meals
we shared. I can't tell you how many great
conversations, how many wonderful things we watched.
He was incredible. He was just incredible.

(29:07):
I remember the first words he said to me.
I said hi, my name is Luke SantaMaria.
And he shook my hand in your man.
Hi, I'm Will Ryan and I can't get you voice work because
that's what everyone would ask him.
I wasn't going to. He just assumed because I was an
actor that I would ask him. He had me on that.
He roped me into some of those with the acolytes, the ones that

(29:30):
wanted to learn the tray, the craft, and he was so giving, but
he had to draw the line. So that's a funny opening line
to somebody. That's it.
He nipped it in the butt. Yeah, which was great because
that was the beginning of our friendship used.
To get requested to do podcasts,you know, that had to do with
Adventures in Odyssey mainly. And I say, well of course,

(29:53):
because they could contact me, he was a lot harder to get a
hold of. Yeah.
So everything would come throughme and I'd say so, so and so
wants to do, you know, podcast you could he'd go.
It always started. Oh, OK.
But just how long? Just 30 minutes.
I'd say, OK, fine. And then he would talk for an
hour and a half. I'd just say, OK, fine, whatever

(30:15):
you say. Because I knew once he started
talking and then we'd get off and say those, those were such
nice people. But he was always afraid that
something bad was going to happen.
I just say go with whatever he said.
Yeah, OK. Don't worry about it.
He was not even with an agent. He fired his agent or he left
his agent. He didn't want the phone to ring
unless he wanted to call. I heard from one casting person

(30:36):
once that the reason that he wasn't getting calls for their
house as much was because they couldn't reach him.
I hope you told him that becausehe would complain about not
having work. I'm like, well dude, you might
want to be a little more available.
Right. True.
Connected, yeah. You know, it's funny, in order
to be in the business now in modern days, you have to have

(30:58):
the modern tools. It's just the way it is.
And he just would not accept that it wasn't in his makeup.
What about his car? He eventually got so tired of
paying, paying insurance rates, monthly payments on a car,
whatever, he started renting thecar.
Every week he would go back to the same place and rent the car

(31:19):
and drive it for the week. Go back, rent it again, driver
for the week. Some weeks he didn't need the
car, so he just needed it. He'd just rent it.
Yeah, but probably was more efficient.
I did the math on it and he was saving my yeah, so we were the
dumb ones. I think this should be balanced.
There was another side to go. I've seen him sabotage things

(31:40):
when he wasn't happy, right? We did a podcast once for some
friends. I mean, these are people we
liked. He resented the fact that we
weren't getting paid. He was very big on that.
He believed not only getting paid, but he always.
Yeah. So that was big with him and
this did not sit right with him.When I listen to this podcast

(32:03):
now, which I can't do very oftenbecause it's unpleasant, he is
sabotaging from the first minuteto the last minute.
I bet what you mean by sabotaging, because I think I've
experienced it. Well, he'd never really answered
a question. And would go off on flights of
fancy and talk over people and pick up his ukulele and just
start playing while someone elseis talking.

(32:25):
I could see the little kid in him.
Yeah, Impish, I think it was, Greg wrote.
Who? By the way, Greg, you are part
of this conversation. Hello.
He's. Still.
There you. Wrote the most succinct and
eloquent, clear, all-encompassing.
Not obituary, but what do you call it?

(32:45):
You like epitaph? For remembrance.
Yeah, his column about Will and you covered so many things and
but I think it was you who used the word impish and he was.
I used Cherubic. Oh, he was cherubic.
A naughty cherub. Yeah.
I knew Will since Tim Hollis andI wrote Mouse Tracks, the story

(33:06):
of Walt Disney Records and. Remember when that came out?
Yeah, now on audio. 20 years later, it's on audio, fresh but
preserved as it naturally was written, which I find wonderful
because, you know, we'd have to say Will Ryan passed away.
It would be more sad. And that book's a celebration.
Will and I kindred spirits started, you know, right in as

(33:28):
if we'd known each other forever, just like you guys.
And we'd talk when I could reachhim or when he felt like
calling. Same thing.
And then when I moved out here 10 years ago, you know, you come
out to a place and you find kindred spirits that turn out to
be that and some that turn out to be like, I'm in the kindred
spirit. You're not the you know, I'm I

(33:49):
know this, you don't, you know, that kind of thing, that kind of
thing. And there's a difference.
So I was kind of surprised by that, but delighted to find
people like you guys. And I did meet you, Diane, at a
marathon Will lunch that turned into dinner, you know, because
we would always go to this placein Santa Monica, Earth, wind and

(34:09):
flower. And he'd come in with his
fedora, you know, rakishly, you know, arranged.
And we would not come up for airthroughout the whole.
And they knew Will, so they didn't mind if it got busy.
We'd say we better stop so they can have the table.
But it was glorious and. He always wanted the number of
the table he would walk in. He would ask the waitress what

(34:30):
number is this table in her station.
He would have to know the numberof the table.
That's just one of his works, yeah.
And the sharing of the disappointments and the highs
and the lows of all of that. You know, will he really, you
know what? I'll put it this way, when we
thought about leaving, because there were times when it was

(34:50):
very hard, one of several reasons.
And there were several, not hundreds, but several reasons I
just couldn't bring myself to itas I wouldn't be able to spend
time with Will because that's how much it became part of it.
Before I knew him, he was Eugenetoo.
And when he started talking, he would say, you know, it is as
follows. He would speak.

(35:10):
It's. Like, Oh my.
Gosh, it's Eugene. I worked with Dave Madden on a
commercial and he was very proudof playing Bernard, the squeegee
wielding window washer. You know, I have a second.
No, no. Third cousin whose maiden name
was Mushnik. Yeah, Martha was her first name.
When researching my genealogy, Irecall coming across a great

(35:31):
aunt named Martha Mushnik. No, no, no, no.
I know what you're thinking. The world no longer makes sense.
Today, Bernard Walton beats me at chess.
Tomorrow the Earth will revolve around the sun.
Earth. Does revolve around the sun,
Eugene? Dave Madden, he added an edge.
See, the thing about Odyssey is it has an edge to it, and it

(35:54):
rarely gets to pontificating. It occasionally does, but mostly
it's about the people. And by example, it's not like
Sledgehammery, It's not Jim and Tammy.
It's not that and Will you know,people who are on the show are
not necessarily of all the same faith or any That's another
thing. So Will and I would meet
whenever and in Florida. Sometimes he's I'm going to be

(36:16):
in Florida, you know, it's like OK, or I'm going to be at the
Disney studio seeing Walt's office.
You want to come and it's like, wow, you know that I'm sure you
each have a story. He would say I'm going to be
having lunch with Ann Jeffries today.
Do you want? Annie.
Yes. Annie used to wear this yellow
and white outfit constantly. She wore it all the time and I

(36:39):
tell her every time I saw her, I'd say Annie, you look like a
broken egg. You know, Greg, can I pick up on
that little tale for you? Said his words so much.
Hey, you wanna, you wanna? He's such a boy.
And so one time he didn't say, hey, you wanna?
He knocked on my door. I had gotten a gig in New York

(37:01):
doing an animatronics voice for Atlantic City, and he knocked on
the door of the hotel. I wasn't expecting him, but he
knew I was going to be there. And so the first words out of
his mouth were. I asked Charles, that's my
husband. And the funniest thing was that
this was a hoity toity hotel, the Soho Grand, and they had

(37:25):
little fish in the fish bowls atthe front desk.
So if you wanted to calm yourself, oh, through the night
or before you went to sleep, youcould choose a goldfish.
And I'll never forget he's carrying that because what, they
upgraded us to two beds and he'swalking in the hallway with this
sloshing goldfish. I'll just never forget that

(37:50):
picture Will. Well, he did come from a a
hippie background, I would say, in a way that or even beatnik.
He was not unfamiliar with couchsurfing.
Yeah. And wherever he could stay with
people and save money. But he's also, he did manage to
save a lot of money, of course, and he needed it to buy all his

(38:13):
tchotchkes and memorabilia and stuff.
He could travel around and find people to stay with and when
even when he was working at Henson's.
The fabulous World of. Yeah, The fabulous world of
Doctor Seuss. He wrote that show and for weeks
I think he just. I could where are you?
He would just be staying in different people's apartments.

(38:33):
And it was weird because he was working there.
He actually had a gig and I got to meet him there in New York.
My sister had invited me to cometo New York and he was working
at the time. So I said, oh, great, we get to
see each other and we, I think we went to the Empire State
Building together. And we're so funny because we
were walking down the street, I don't know the intersection, and
there's Phil Proctor. We bumped into him while we were

(38:56):
there. I think we'll just attracted
that kind of stuff. But yeah, he he wrote for that,
too. I don't think we mentioned it.
That was a big deal. He was very proud.
Songs. He was also serious in theater
in New York at like 1 of the workshops because he told me
once that there were some peoplelater when he was working more
in Hollywood and there's this sort of like, well, we're with

(39:18):
this theater kind of thing. And he said, well, I was
actually with that same group, same workshop, Go be yourself.
That's. Funny, I love to, and I may have
seen Diane there as well in Altadena.
And my heart goes out to Altadena because they just got
the fires. And you guys would put on the

(39:39):
shows and, you know, John Reynolds was there, and there
would be guest stars, there'd beradio shows, there'd be
participation. And it was this nice, intimate
setting. It was like stepping back.
With the Coffee Gallery West. That's it, that's it.
That was the most fun. In fact, you know, it's so weird
that Michael Schlesinger passed away.

(40:00):
The two connections I have to the Biffle and Shuster world.
Yeah, that's right. And it's just so weird to be the
the last man standing, you know,holding on to all of this
experience. And even to do the live shows,
like, will we be on stage singing April showers?
I'd be running around the audience with spray bottles, you
know? You know.

(40:21):
It was that kind of a thing. It was Olson and Johnson was
crazy, but we had so much fun. And Bob Stain, I have to say, he
was the one who ran the Coffee Gallery backstage.
Before that, one of my favorite comedy clubs, the Ice House in
Pasadena. And Bob loved us.
He used to book us whenever we want it.
I'm sure he was like, whatever. You want?
Well, just tell me when it is. We'll do it.

(40:43):
Will passed away. I was trying to think of who
would want to be informed. And I called Bob and I guess I
was the first person. It was only a day later, but I
didn't know Bob that well. But I'd performed in that club a
few times and I just said, I don't know if you've heard, but
we lost Will and he was struck, you know, as we all were.

(41:04):
But I never spoke to him after that.
But he was one of the few peoplethat I thought, well, you know,
maybe he won't hear it. He just won't hear from Will,
and then he'll hear it through the fine.
And he retired not long after. Yeah, he closed up the place.
He just kept it going. For that, who knows?
Well, he was working. Nobody knew, right, Nick?

(41:25):
I mean, he tried to. He was on the phone making phone
calls, drawing pictures from hishospital bed.
Yeah, those coffee gallery. Days were fantastic.
I feel the same and I know that.His ability to find a room like
that that had great sound. I mean, it wasn't a shocking
place. It was known for its sound,
Intimate, good comedy room. We were at June for Ray's

(41:48):
birthday. There and she was turning 98, I
believe. He got on stage, he had her
doing stuff. And you know, this is between
us. But now it's going out in the
world. She never considered herself a
great singer, so she was brave to get up up there number one at
98 and #2 because she didn't really think she was all that as

(42:08):
a singer. She could do it, but we would
always give her those kinds of encouragements.
That's June for Ray being vulnerable, and I witnessed it
through Will. That speaks volumes to who the
greats are very early on, Will. Invited me to breakfast at a
place in the San Fernando Valleyand they're sitting at the table

(42:29):
is Will Ryan, John Zachary, the horror movie host, and Chuck
McCann, who was my childhood idol.
He didn't tell me they were going to be there.
You could just imagine. And I walked and I saw that
table and it was like, you know,it was crazy.
So that's what will manifest. You know, you mentioned Nick.
About the I guess petulant side of will on that show, I did a

(42:55):
couple of Co interviews with youguys with Ed Robertson promoting
the Wolf and Schuster DVD, whichby the way folks get the DVD,
you can stream it in a lot of places as a feature linked
together if you want to see the link together segments.
It's like watching Huckleberry Hound, you know, with the link
togethers. But the DVD is a treasure trove

(43:16):
of the films as individuals, andthey resemble so closely the
years they're supposed to represent that it has fooled
audiences into sinking. They were watching real ones.
But what? You also get as many bonus
features. And I was on the floor for the.
Those are the funniest parts. Yeah.
It's a frame. Up it's just this ongoing you

(43:36):
guys coming up with things to say and it goes on.
I mean this was. Unbelievable so.
If you want value, it's really worth ordering.
Well, I always describe. Will, as someone who wandered
off the set of the 1950s sitcom,yeah, good one.
That was Will. Will lived.
In that world I lived in Ozzy and Harriet, he didn't use bad

(44:00):
words. Wow.
He never swore. He never.
Did he? Never.
Did he? Never.
Drank. He never smoked.
He never swore when he went on the show with.
Ed and I First of all, it was Ed's birthday the first time,
and I've never seen Ed laugh so hard that he couldn't breathe.
We had so much fun that day. And you guys came.
Back. This was not an issue with Will

(44:21):
holding back and this was a personal thing to me, he said.
Greg, did you have a record as akid of Alice in Wonderland with
this song? How do you do little?
I'm like, well, it was like one of my first records.
It was like one of my most important.
I can't believe you brought up this cricket record made in like
the 50s. How do you do?

(44:42):
Little Alice, how do you do today?
We're glad to know you Alice, have a cup of tea and then we'll
all go out and play. And so the two of us started.
Singing it and then you guys sang it on the show and it was
like, how does will do that? You know, how do you guys know?

(45:05):
But people ask me that too sometimes.
How do you know these things? We know because we love.
Yeah, true that true. That's.
True. It's your childhood.
I've often wondered about Will'schildhood.
He never said, oh, my mom, I gota caller.
Oh, my dad. He talked about his grandfather.
But I always wondered why he wasn't more.
Even if they weren't alive, if he didn't give some kind of

(45:26):
praise or they turned me on to the Cinderella records or
whatever. After he died, I had no.
Idea He had a brother. I knew him for 15 years and I
had no idea he had a brother. Diane and I knew George.
George and Patty. And Marsha, his normal sister
Marsha. He'd say.
And that that's my normal sister, Marsha.
I knew Patty. By contrast, I knew Patty.

(45:48):
I got to meet Marsha. Of course, when she came out, we
got to know each other a bit. And he was a vegetarian.
That was like his famous meal he'd ordered in a restaurant.
Water with lemon inside of jalapenos.
Like, OK, that's love that food.But he'll.
Help you eat yours anyway. Yeah.
Yeah. But Marsha said, you know, it's

(46:09):
interesting because Speaking of his childhood, she said when he
was a teenager, he made my mom make him a hamburger every night
for dinner. That's what he liked to eat.
Well, it sounded like another habitual thing when he ate meat.
It's like, I don't care what youall are eating.
I want to. And his mom would do it for him.
Good to hear because. I wasn't sure.

(46:29):
You know, if it was a rough kindof an upbringing, I, I just
speculate. I never knew he helped work on
his. Grandfathers farm in the sun.
I heard that later he never. Talked about it?
Who knows? Who knows?
What makes us strange birds? You know, it's some strange
childhood. No offense to your mom if she's
listening. I remember him going over to
Europe. And he was on a diet at the

(46:51):
time, which of course he had upsand downs and downs and he.
Said my grandfather. Always talked about these
pretzels and he said if you everget to Germany you have to have
the pretzels. But he was on a diet, and he
didn't do it. And I thought, wow, two things.
I thought, one, I can relate because, like, you know, if you
take something that you're telling yourself you're not

(47:11):
going to do, then you open the floodgates again.
But the other was you're in Europe.
You're not going to get back to this town.
And he didn't have them. That took a lot of willpower.
Yeah. Willpower.
No. Willpower.
Willpower. Willpower.
It's not. Yeah, that was.
That's it. That's it.
Do you think maybe it has to? Do with will was always kind of

(47:34):
his own person, almost a self created person, and it was that
different drum he marched to. So I mean, Nick and I were
talking about this before we started.
When you like not the mainstreamand not the things everybody
else likes and you have your personal like I love the Magilla
gorilla show. You know, who am I going to talk
to about that? You know, that kind of people

(47:56):
you eventually find, like the Mama cast song goes.
You know, I discovered some others like me that must have
been part of why Will was such acreation of Will.
That's a good way to say, I think.
That's a great theory. Honestly, because he was like no
one else, right? He owned it.
He was a complete original. Right.

(48:18):
Yes, he was and. He produced you guys.
I mean, even when he didn't haveto produce an album per year CD,
I remember him being part of theAcademy Award nominating.
He was a member of the Academy. Yeah, that Academy would.
Vote in the animation department.
He was a prolific producer and areally bad marketer.

(48:41):
Exactly. He was not a businessman.
No, but he always showed up. On time and in tune.
And he always paid. He always paid.
Always paid people. And with a Vava Lavoom album, we
were in a studio where poor Larry gets Will would drive him
crazy, because Will would say tome, well, try it this way, you
want to try it that way? And I mean, of course I'm having

(49:02):
a grand time, but poor Larry's looking at the clock and knowing
Will has to pay. That part wasn't so.
Speaking of the marketing. There was an impressive line of
Biffel and Schuster products as well as Elmo Aardvark products.
You sometimes had to go to one of the live shows to get the
comic books, The guide to life and stuff.

(49:22):
You can watch Elmo Aardvark short to this day on YouTube,
The Comic Book Compendium. Which is all the comic books in
one. That's still for sale on Amazon
I believe, so you can access that.
But there was a Eugene Sings CD.There was a Christmas Odyssey 1,
apparently there was a vinyl album, which I have no idea

(49:42):
where that is, but a lot of those things can still be
accessed. The Elmo Aardvark products, Good
luck. And then the Soiro Sisters and
Will Ryan and the Cactus County Cowboys.
Those CD's, I don't know if Nancy Naparko, who's his widow,
if she still is making them available, but they're so good.
All of these CD's, they're not just all, they're excellent and

(50:04):
they're all and. They're original our.
Book adventures in. Oddity you can get on Amazon and
I still have a couple autographed ones with his
autograph to sell. But the audio version of
Adventures in Oddity, the book we did, is available and Will
would say, but get the MP3, it has more music than the book and

(50:25):
we're not really exactly following it word for word, so
it's kind of fun to listen to. So I'll do the Peter Marshall.
Thing from Hollywood Squares andsum up everybody's thing and
then you can augment that. OK, Nick, you're doing the not
missable Abaddam Costello meet the podcast.
You also have the annotated Abbott and Costello book, which
is so fun to read, especially ifyou watch the movie and read the

(50:48):
chapters. But even if you never saw these
films, terrific book and also teaching keep on his page
because you'll find out where he's teaching online classes
about every aspect of comedy. Katie, you have tell you later,
which is still going strong and the scrubulators, I'll tell you
we use them every day. Will came up with that.

(51:09):
Kitchen scrubbies, I crochet called them scrubulators.
They work beautifully. Seriously.
And Diane, what can you talk about the Elmo?
Aardvark that's. Available on Amazon and I think
even on his website. And then if you feel like
checking out what else, then I'msure the Vavo Lavoom album is
out there available as well. Are you performing still?

(51:32):
Yeah, actually going to. Norway at the end of this month
to sing in Saagvog, Norway. Wow, song of.
Norway, it's my way. Or Norway.
It's a long way. Thanks.
For asking and I do jazz, so go to dianemichelle.com you'll see
it. Got a Diane?
I love your voice. By the way, Will gave me your CD

(51:53):
years ago and it stayed in my CDplayer for a long time.
She did like an. Andrew Sisters.
Yeah, the group called the Goyles.
Yeah, and. Then my daughter, I was going.
To give one little more plug to Will for the When she was three,
he had her singing ishtas. Nick Thine Elmo.
Yeah. Elmo, Yeah.
She had to. Learn that German, he just

(52:16):
championed her and she got into voice over at an early age.
Champion manipulated. Coerced.
Manifested, yeah. A life well.
Lived is somebody who who has touched so many souls and tried
to add more to that. You said something to me, Katie
that I repeat, you talked about circulating in the business and

(52:37):
things happening. You said make a friend, be a
friend. That's the formula.
Don't run up to people you know like they were doing with will
just know people and be nice andall that and it's just the most
perfect perfect rule and that was will and each one of you has
done such marvelous marvelous. I'm going to get verklempt and
I'm so, so glad that we, I'm telling you, I still think of

(53:01):
Will all the time and I know youguys do every so often.
He's with me every day. Exactly and.
So thank you all and we'll all be talking again.
And will, I know, you know, a shout out to Nancy Michael
Schlesinger and to Phil Barron. And if I missed anyone, as Red
Skeleton would say, good night in the globe.

(53:25):
Thank you. Thank.
You. Greg.
Thank you all for listening. But until next time, bye bye.
We hope you enjoyed the. Fantastic world of Hannah and
Barbera with Greg Airborne. Please join us again and Many
thanks for listening.