Showing posts with label Ron Dante. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ron Dante. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2021

Captain's Theatre: Asian Avengers AMAZING CHAN AND THE CHAN CLAN

What was the connection between the animated Amazing Chan and the 1940s Charlie Chan films?
Keye Luke, who was the voice of Charlie in the cartoon also played "Number One Son" Lee Chan in eight films of the 1930a/40s series!
When Warner Oland (seen above with Luke) died, Luke left the series.
His character wasn't recast, but replaced by "Number Two Son" Jimmy Chan and "Number Three Son" Tommy Chan!
Luke returned for the final two films, playing opposite Roland Winters as Charlie...despite the fact Roland was two years younger then Keye!
As for "The Case of the Missing Chan Child": Only Tommy, out of all the named Chan movie siblings is part of the Chan family in the cartoon, and he's a totally-different personality than the movie kid!
In an example of Six Degrees of Pop Culture Separation, Keye was also the original on-screen Kato in the two 1940s Green Hornet movie serials!
A constant guest star on TV of the 1950s and 60s (including Star Trek), he had ongoing voice roles on several other cartoons including Space Ghost (Brak) and Battle of the Planets (Zoltar)!
To Baby Boomers, though, he'll always be remembered as blind monk Master Po who trained Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu and appeared in flashbacks in almost every episode to impart wisdom to his ex-student, who would then use it to kick butt!
What's the connection between Amazing Chan, The Archies and The Amazing Spider-Man?
A singer/musician named Ron Dante!
The kids in Amazing Chan were also musicians, with the older kids performing a song in every episode as the "Chan Clan"!

Ron Dante supplied the lead singer's voice, just as he did on The Archies cartoons!
Dante was also the lead singer on the Amazing Spider-Man lp album/cassette From Beyond the Grave (1972), which we posted HERE!
And, finally, "Who was the Amazing Chan voice performer who won an Academy Award?"
Jodie Foster, who voiced tomboy Anne Chan!
Politically-Correct Note: Initially, the entire Chan family were voiced by Asian-American performers, but most of the youngsters had thick accents and their roles were recast with a mix of more experienced Asian-Americans and a couple of white performers, including Foster.
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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Rene Auberjonois (1940-2019)

Though most genre fans know the late Rene Auberjonois...
...as Odo, the metamorph from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, my first genre exposure to a very young Rene was in 1972, when the young up-and-comer played...Spider-Man!
Let me explain...
Art by John Romita Sr
LP records adapting comic strip and comic book characters into audio adventures date back to the 1940s.
The heyday was during the 1960s-70s when both brand-new adventures (often in stereo) and re-presentations of classic radio dramas competed for shelf space in record stores.
Art by John Romita Sr
But this album, from 1972, was a whole new approach to the genre...a superhero musical, loaded with genre-related talent!
Ron Dante, the voice and composer behind The Archies (remember "Sugar, Sugar"?), and his band performed the album's music as "The WebSpinners".
Besides Rene (who also voiced Dessad on both the 1980s Super Friends and 1990s Justice League animated series, and played several other characters in the Star Trek multiverse), there was Thayer David, known to genre fans as the villainous Arne Saknussenn in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), multiple evil roles on the 1960s gothic soap Dark Shadows. and the blackmailing villain in the 1977 pilot for the live-action Amazing Spider-Man tv series, as The Kingpin!
The script and music were penned by Stephen Lemberg, who not only did this album, but the Fantastic Four dramatic radio show and the infamous A MARVEL-ous Evening with Stan Lee at Carnegie Hall! (Nobody's perfect.)


Here's the album's gatefold interior, featuring art by John Romita Sr, which enabled you to follow the story...and yes, that's Dr Strange as both Steve Ditko co-creations battle the Kingpin!
Is that kool, or what?

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Captain's Theatre: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN "From Beyond the Grave"

Art by John Romita Sr
LP records adapting comic strip and comic book characters into audio adventures date back to the 1940s.
The heyday was during the 1960s when both brand-new adventures (often in stereo) and re-presentations of classic radio dramas competed for shelf space in record stores.
Art by John Romita Sr
But this album, from 1972, was a whole new approach to the genre...a superhero musical, loaded with genre-related talent!
Ron Dante, the voice and composer behind The Archies (remember "Sugar, Sugar"?), and his band performed the album's music as "The WebSpinners".
Peter Parker/Spider-Man was voiced by a young up-and-comer named Rene Auberjonois who's appeared as several different characters in the Star Trek universe, most notably as Odo on Deep Space Nine and voiced Dessad on both the Super Friends and Justice League animated series!
Kingpin was played by Thayer David, known to genre fans as the villainous Arne Saknussemm in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), multiple evil roles on the gothic soap Dark Shadows. and the blackmailing villain in the pilot for the live-action Amazing Spider-Man tv series!
The script and music were penned by Stephen Lemberg, who not only did this album, but the Fantastic Four dramatic radio show and the infamous A MARVEL-ous Evening with Stan Lee at Carnegie Hall! (Nobody's perfect.)






Here's the album's gatefold interior, featuring the art used in the videos above...
Is that kool, or what?

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