Mel Blanc was one of the great voice actors of his day. They called him the man of a thousand voices. He's famous for being the voice of the likes of Barney Rubble, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird...

And Bugs Bunny.

But where would "What's up, Doc" be without the sound of a crunching carrot?

In his memoir, Mel Blanc says: "Bugs Bunny did for carrots what Popeye the Sailor did for spinach. How many lip-locked, head-swiveling children were coerced into eating their carrots by mothers cooing, '...but Bugs Bunny eats his carrots.'  If only they had known..."

What those mamas didn't know is that Bugs Bunny hated carrots. Or rather, Mel Blanc didn't like them. In fact, he tried other veggies, but it didn't sound quite right. (According to Mel, the crunch of carrots is a unique sound. But that might also be because he was a bit of a method actor.)

So, what did Mel Blanc do? He suffered for his craft and ate the carrots. Sort of.

He actually had a wastebasket waiting right next to him. As he sat in the recording studio, he would say his line into the mic, bite into a carrot and chew. Then they would stop recording so he could spit it all out. During one recording session, Bugs would go through several full wastebaskets.

Oh, the stories that go on behind the scenes...

[Photo by color line]