Looking for a job in showbiz but can’t sing or act? How about voice-overs. Voice-meister Jim Cummings tells just how much fun this behind-the-scenes-job really is.
Jim Cummings, quite possibly, has the world’s best job. He’s the voice of two of the worlds most beloved cartoon characters, Winnie the Pooh and his pal Tigger. He talked to Classroom Extra about how he got started.
“I was about 4 or 5 when I saw Mel Blanc on the old Jack Benny TV show and saw how much fun he was having making funny voices. I decided I wanted to do that,” he said.
At school, Cummings learned how to use his voice skillfully. “It was a way to keep out of trouble in class. I was always in the speech club and in plays, but I never wanted to be the prince. I always wanted to be the wizard. I was unconsciously training myself to do voiceovers,” he said.
His big break came in 1984. He was working in a video store and decided to get serious about doing voice work. Animation was expanding. Cummings made a tape of himself doing voices and sent it around for people in the business to listen to.
“A customer at the video store gave me a name of someone to send my tape to. Two months later, I got a call about doing Dumbo Circus for the Disney Channel. I was the voice of Dumbo’s pal Lionel the Lion. The two shows took six hours to do. I made more money in those six hours than I did working 40 hours in the video store. It was time for a career change,” he laughed.
Mel Blanc, the famous voice of Bugs Bunny, heard Cummings’ tape and gave his blessing. “Blanc smiled and said, ‘The kid’s got it,'” Cummings recalled.
Blanc was right because today, Cummings is one of the most sought after voices in the business. In his 21-year career, he’s done hundreds of voices, including Smokey the Bear. He won two Emmy Awards for his Winnie the Pooh and Tigger voices, and has worked on a host of animation shows, including “Captain Planet,” “Johnny Quest,” “Mighty Max” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Cummings was a lead singer in the California Raisins commercials, “I wanted to have a famous face, but I settled for the voice,” he told Classroom Extra.
He has a reputation as one of the best “stunt singers,” dubbing songs for actors who don’t sing.
Cummings’ heart is a big as his talent. He works with the Make-a-Wish-Foundation to help terminally ill kids. “They want Pooh and Tigger to call them up. It’s so rewarding,” he said.
Cummings also reads to schoolkids. “Kids love when I break into voices. They instantly recognize the voice but they look at me and think, ‘This isn’t what Tigger looks like. Where’s the tail?'”
“I used to read to my daughters in the voices. One day, my daughter Livia said, ‘Dad can you just read the story? ‘” he recalled with a laugh.
Cummings’ career advice to kids is simple genius: “I always tell kids to make a list of things that you’d do for free because you love it and then do it so well that they’ll pay you for it.”
As for breaking into voiceover, he said “Be a vocal sponge. Do impressions of everybody you know. Even if you do it badly and it doesn’t sound a bit like them, it’s OK. You created a whole new character.”
Jim was Pooh and Tigger in the latest Huffalump movie. He’s currently working on “The Fox and the Hound 2” and “The Little Mermaid 3” in which he’s the voice of King Triton.
Today’s lesson fulfills the following New York standards: E1c, E2b, E3c, E3d, E5a.
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New York Post activities
* Make a list of your favorite characters and practice imitating their voices.
* Try out your voices on each other in class and see if you can guess the characters being imitated.
* It’s important to share your talent for good causes. Have a class discussion on how you can take something that you are good at and use it to help others. Put your plans into action.
