Adapted from the Program Book for AnimEast 1995
At the heart of the magic of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion are the people who made it possible. Most naturally speak of Dr. Tezuka and his wonderful staff of artists and writers, but there was another talented group of people, who gave life to these series for the English-speaking audience. The names of these individuals deserve to be enshrined in an anime Hall of Fame: names like Fred Ladd, Gilbert Mack, Ray Owens and, of course, Billie Lou Watt.
Billie Lou Watt, the original English voice of Kimba the white lion, and Astro Boy, began her career in theater at the age of 12, when she starred as Becky in a St. Louis production of Tom Sawyer. From community theater, she went into radio, performing on The Land We Live In on station KMOX.
She eventually went to New York, where theater legend George Abbott picked her to star in the musical Barefoot Boy With Cheek on Broadway.
This wonderful woman has delighted the world with her charm and presence, from soap operas (From These Roots, Search for Tomorrow) to commercials (the voice of Elsie the cow for Borden).
I had the chance to speak to her in her home to ask her about her participation in the making of a classic.
MK:
How did you first become involved in Astro Boy?
BLW:
Through my dear friend, Ray Owens. Ray was, and always will be, the dearest man.
[Ray Owens was the voice of Dr. Elefun on Astro Boy and Dan'l Baboon on Kimba. He was one of the driving forces behind these early classics. He died in 1995, shortly before this interview was conducted. He will be greatly missed.]Ray got to know Fred Ladd through commercials. When Fred got into animation, he called Ray. He told Ray that he needed more actors, and Ray suggested my husband Hal [Studer] and me for parts.
In the beginning, Hal did all the prince-like roles, because he had this great voice. Ray's wife Sonia did the princess parts and I did the children and witches because of my low voice. (Laughs) We did all kings of children's stories. And then came Astro Boy. Fred produced and wrote most of the scripts. In the first episode, they only had the three of us there: Fred, Ray, and myself. Gil Mack came in on the second episode. But it was just really the three of us. Gil, Ray, and I did all the voices in all the episodes. I was Astro Boy and all the children and female parts, Gil played Mr. Pompous and other crazy voices, Ray was Dr. Elefun and anyone else. It was usually just the three of us. Fred later trained me and Ray to write scripts so that he could be free to get more programs. Then we did Kimba, Gigantor, and other shows, but always together.
When we did Kimba, Sonia did Kitty, Kimba's girlfriend, and Hedda, an ugly warthog that Kimba helps to feel better about herself. Hal played Roger Ranger and any leading men who were needed. Peter Selmo directed Kimba in place of Fred. Peter Fernandez joined when we did Gigantor, but most of the time it was Ray, Gil, and me.
MK:
What did you feel when you first looked at Astro Boy?
BLW:
I loved him! (Laughs) I loved him the first time I saw him. What's not to like? As time went on I started to identify with the character. I would tell Fred, "No, Astro Boy wouldn't say that," and things like that. Fred would listen, but would direct me by saying, "More balls, more balls!" (Laughs) That was because sometimes my reading would be a little girlish. Astro Boy could get very tender; that's part of his magic, but sometimes my female side would take over and that's when Fred would yell about the balls.
MK:
What did you think about the 1980s version of Astro Boy?
BLW:
I never got a chance to see it. However, I did see the adult Kimba [the series known in the US as Leo the Lion], and I thought it was a little crazy. I felt it wasn't truly aimed at children. The stories were a bit adult.
MK:
Unlike the original Kimba, Leo the Lion was not a co-production. No Americans were involved in the development of the story. It was aimed at Japanese children who are more accustomed to mature storylines. It's ironic that the usually conservative Christian Broadcasting Network were the ones that aired Leo.
BLW:
We did Superbook for CBN. I felt that the interpretation of the Bible stories by the Japanese was great. It was very beautiful. The animation, though, while good, was not as good as Tezuka's.Ray played in the soap operas that were being produced on CBN. It was when Ray flew down to Florida to do a week's worth of soaps that he found out about Superbook.
MK:
What was a typical day like, working on Astro Boy and Kimba?
BLW:
Long. (Laughs) We did a script a day. Everything was rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. We had to work fast. One loop of tape after another. Sometimes we had to do 100 loops a day! We didn't have the fancy machines that are used today. We had huge reels that when one finished the next one was put in place. But we loved it, we had a great time. That's why it's so hard to accept Ray's death. We became a real team. After you do 500 half hours together, you have to become a team. (Laughs)
MK:
How much input did you have in Astro Boy?
BLW:
Well, like I said, Fred taught us to write so he could look for other shows. So we became writers. I loved the writing. I loved the writing and acting for cartoons equally. But I loved writing sometimes more because I got to play all the parts! (Laughs) I had to act out each role to see of the voiced lines would fit. Sometimes I would try to think like Gil or Ray, to do lines they would like or find funny. It was great!
MK:
What was your favorite part about working on Astro Boy and Kimba?
BLW:
The ability to go back and be a child. Voice work is still an acting job. To do your best you have to get into the character on the screen. We would do the craziest things on the set. We'd talk into waste cans and cups, speak behind a drape to get a filter effect. One thing that was difficult but fun was the fact that some episodes had songs in Japanese. So we would be in the booth with headphones on and sing new songs over the tracks. Gil could sing, he was from radio where he used to do a hillbilly bit--that's where he learned to yodel--but Ray couldn't sing a note! He was always off key and so he never sang with us...on screen (Laughs)
MK:
Did you ever meet Dr. Tezuka?
BLW:
Dr. Tezuka came to New York once, to the studios, and he was very pleased. He spoke almost no English and I spoke absolutely no Japanese, so please don't expect me to recall any conversations we might have had. (Laughs) It seems when they saw the dubs back in Japan they were very happy. Actually, we were told they flipped! I was very taken with the man. He was soft-spoken and very stately. He was a doctor and loved all living things. I found out that when he did Kimba he went to Africa to research the animals. This gave me a longing to go to Africa. When my friends found out that I wanted to go on a picture safari of Africa they wanted to join me. But, one by one, they backed out. So I went myself. I loved it. I saw the Serengeti, Kenya... I saw all the beauty of Africa. They have white lions there for real. Unfortunately, they are in South Africa, and I refused to aid in their tourism for obvious reasons. But now that things are changing, I may go and see the lions. Tezuka imbued me with the desire to go to Africa.
MK:
I am loathe to bring this up but, what did you think about The Lion King?
BLW:
There is no doubt in my mind that The Lion King is a copy of Kimba. I believe that someone may have, as a child, seen Kimba and innocently tucked that thought away. But there are too many similarities. The baboon is Dan'l Baboon, his father in the sky watching over him... you know, Kimba's original name was Simba, but we changed it. What made me angry was when I saw Roy Disney, who said that he was so proud that The Lion King was their first original story, not based on a fairy tale or other material. It made me mad.
MK:
Moving from that tense subject (laughter), who was your favorite character?
BLW:
Kimba. Kimba was my favorite. I always had an interest in animals, but you know, really the stories weren't about animals, they were really about people and how they should get along. The animals were just symbols.
MK:
What was your favorite episode?
BLW:
What was yours?
MK:
I have a few. "The Nightmare Narcissus" scared the bejeesus out of me when I was a kid. It still chills me. I also liked "The Destroyers from the Desert". The image of the woolly mammoth, the jackal, and the mandrill coming out of the fog of legend to destroy everything, then fade leaving nothing, shook me up as well.
BLW:
Oh, you like the spooky stuff. (Laughs)
MK:
I like some of the other stories as well. (Laughs) My sister and I love the story about the mixed up eggs. She used to sing the baby egg song to her daughter when she was born.
BLW:
That story, "Scrambled Eggs", is my favorite. I wrote that episode and I wrote and sang the song.The Astro Boy stories were good, too. It was as we really got into doing the stories that we noticed just how complex some of the issues were that we were dealing with. Astro Boy got into world problems, but I feel that the Kimba stories had a wider range.