Janet Waldo, R.I.P.

I posted her death notice on the FB page earlier, but I wanted to say a little more about her here.

I have always loved cartoons and Janet Waldo did voices in many of my favorites. Besides Judy Jetson, she was Lana Lang in the 1960s Superman cartoons, Granny Sweet in The Atom Ant Show, Penelope Pitstop in Wacky Races, Josie in Josie and the Pussycats, Morticia in The Addams Family cartoon, Princess in Battle of the Planets, Hogatha in The Smurfs, and so many more. Rest in peace Ms. Waldo. I will miss your voice.

From ew.com --

Janet Waldo, the prolific voice actress best known for her role as The Jetsons’  eldest daughter Judy, has died, her daughter confirms to ABC News. Waldo was 96.

In addition to her work as the animated teen of the future, Waldo voiced a number of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, ranging from Penelope Pitstop to Josie and the Pussycats’ Josie. Her last credited voice work came in 2000, when she reprised Pitstop in a Wacky Races video game.

Waldo, who passed away on Sunday morning, was diagnosed with a benign but inoperable brain tumor five years ago, says daughter Lucy Lee.

Born in Washington in 1920, Waldo began her career with an uncredited role in the 1938 film Cocoanut Grove, going on to do steady work in radio. In 1952, she appeared in an episode of I Love Lucy and went on to make television appearances on programs like The Andy Griffith Show, Get Smart, and Petticoat Junction before transitioning to animation. The Jetsons ran from 1962-1987.

Mars Attacks My Birthday!

My birthday is Sunday July 29, but I celebrated a day early. My wife took me to The Toys Time Forgot ( a local vintage toy store; see some pics I took there a few months ago here). She gave me some money and said "buy whatever you want". Wow, was that tough. I wanted everything! Here's what I ended up with --

An unopened box of the new Mars Attacks Heritage trading cards from Topps. This card set is beautiful. It reprints the original 55 Mars Attacks cards from 50 years ago plus has some new cards called Deleted Scenes and New Universe. I got a full set of base cards, some of the inserts (the 3-D cards are great) and this one-of-a-kind sketch card by artist Ingrid Hardy.

I also bought a vintage Marx Hulk figure from 1967.

And six packs of Battle of the Planets trading cards by Dynamic Forces from 2002. I pulled this wonderful sketch of Keyop by Dan Parsons.

We went to breakfast at IHOP and dinner at The Brick House. Not too bad of a day. A great big thank you to my wonderful wife for making this all happen. She's a keeper :)

Last weekend I went to the North Coast Comic Con here in Akron (it sucked), but I did commission artist Don Pedicini Jr. to draw me a Hulk sketch card. I got it in the mail Friday.