Last Sunday, my bandmates and I were seated in the green room at church during first service, sweating from the lights and the air conditioner’s inability to find victory against the 106 temps raging outside, trading music trivia as per the usual. When we came to a moment of silence, the acoustic guitarist set his chin on his hand and said, “Boris Karloff didn’t sing ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.'” This was new information.
“Is that so? Who was it?” another asked.
“Thurl Ravenscroft,” he answered with a nod.
“Thurl?” I repeated. “Does it rhyme with Burl?” I asked, thinking happily of Mr. Ives.
“Indeed.”
It was then that I knew I must share this with you. To be fair, this blog has shared his name before in wdydfae’s seasonal Merry Grinchmas poems. But today, we go just a little further with the man with the amazing name.
Surely you have never known another Thurl. In the world of men’s names that rhyme with it, even those have passed their glory days. I saw an actual photo of a child named Rivirlyn Wyld Jaymes today. (Feel free to Google it.) This generation does not name children Burl, Merle, or Thurl. They pepper names with Y’s the way I pepper a Caesar salad.
It’s a great name. Short and to the point. Not a nickname for something longer. No Thurlson or Thurling. And even those with lisps can say it just fine. I thoroughly enjoy saying it myself.
Now, from the title of this post, you may have gathered Mr. Ravenscroft (a surname that could evoke Gothic literature) was the voice of Tony the Tiger. Yessireee, Bob. It’s his booming bass voice you hear in your head right now. In fact, he lived into his 90s and played Tony for longer than I’ve been alive.
He was also the voice behind “No Dogs Allowed” in Snoopy, Come Home! Such a voice of authority against poor Snoopy. I don’t think his booming bass could get any lower.
So you may be thinking, “Why haven’t I heard of Thurl? He’s clearly amazing.” Well, it turns out that they accidentally omitted his name from the credits on How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Understandably, folks assumed Karloff, the narrator, sang. Others guessed Tennessee Ernie Ford. But no dice. Now, as America begins to right all its wrongs, Ravenscroft has gotten his due credit. In fact, the song hit number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021, making Ravenscroft a post-mortem Top 40 artist.
Now he can add that credit to his long list of Disney voices, in films from 1939 to 1999, from Pinocchio‘s Monstro the Whale to Kirby (now that’s a great name!) in The Brave Little Toaster. Kind of makes you want to be a kid again. Perhaps a Toys R Us kid? Wait, what’s that? Ravenscroft was also the voice of the Toys R Us Geoffrey the Giraffe? Yep, for several years.
So the next time you hear that low, bass voice booming from his chest, think of Thurl Ravenscroft, the man with the pencil mustache and the awesome name.
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Kerbey, this post is Gr-r-reat!
And little known trivia, my mother’s name rhymed with Thurl, but her mother spelled it Beryl. And in no way would she answer to “barrel” as many folks say it today.
Ah, like Beryl Reid. That’s cool!
I think so too. They only 9 years apart in age.
“What the . . . !?”
“Uhhh . . . we got a situation here . . .”
“BoFN’s back, and with Kerb at the helm, you better believe it’s better ‘n ever!”
“Some people call this BoFN’s resurrection. Others call it cardio pulmonary resuscitation. Either way, with BoFN off life support and Kerb leading the charge, it’s one heckuva recitation!”
“Kerb’s come-back post revives those ancient words of sacred BoFN lore:
Thus Diddy expounded, his arms stretched aloft.
‘Oh, and Grinch had a song sung by Thurl Ravenscroft!'”
“This one caught us all by surprise, but nothing surprised us more than Thurl doing a Max Headroom impression . . .”
“BoFN’s been inactive so long, I couldn’t even remember how to do italics . . .”
Your comments alone are always inspired and worthy of a post unto themselves.
You are one of the few already familiar with the name, so no enlightenment for you, but it’s always good when Diddy expounds.
Aw, garsh, Kerb. Wull, right back atcha!
Hey, changing the subject, did you notice that BoFN was (is?) hidden from view? For a while I had to use the way back machine to see our posts. I think maintenance is slowly unravelling. But viewership on the view bars was way down after that.
We’re Schrodiger’s blog. We’re here, and we’re also not here.
Goodness, no. But I know what you mean about trying to figure WP out again. I don’t have any Good Witch powers to do maintenance, add a header, etc. Perhaps the Good Doctor is successful and thriving, which would be a good thing, and the blog sits unwatered in the garden.
Also, I cannot abide being referenced to cats in any manner, even potentially dead ones.
Did you hear that King Dave got married?!? There’s a Queen Dave now. He dropped the news in the Vangelis post comments. Hurray for the King and Queen and the Davidean Dynasty!
Anyway, pretty shabby, huh? Focussing on this “marriage” thing instead of attending to WordPress maintenance as any BoFN diehard should. Hmph.
LOL, no, I hadn’t! Congrats to Dave and the Queen. I wish them decades of good luck!
it’s like going home again to see such incredible name action, and this is a doozy. well done and his name rolls right off the tongue.
Thanks, Beth!
Whoa! Thurl did the voice of Shere Kahn in The Jungle Book?!?! I loved that movie so much as a kid that I went to see it again and again–and that was when you had to go to the movie theater.
Is that so? I bought the soundtrack album as a child and memorized all the songs, even “I will go and fetch the water” (I promise I haven’t googled anything). An early 90s flood submerged all my albums on a bottom floor apt, and yet I have it still. Who could part with her?
I fell in love with that village girl. Arguably, my first love. I wanted to be Mowgli.
Of course!
Forgot one:
“It’s not just the basso that’s profundo in this amazingly in-depth Ravenscroft thumbnail . . .”
Nice! No one has a way with words like you.
I can think of one person . . .