a retake… Disney wasn't DISNEY
yet!
SL: Exactly! But it paid off
ultimately, I think… What were
some of the early shows that
you did (at Hanna-Barbera)? I
remember you had a cel from
Captain Caveman up in your office
for the longest time. Was that your
first supervisory job there?
MM: You know, it was an unusual
process at Hanna-Barbera. I became
a sound effects editor without
any formal training. I progressed
from apprentice, to track-reader,
to assistant, to sound editor by
simply watching others. And once
you became a sound editor, you
were on an assembly line. Usually,
two episodes a week. When an
episode came in from animation
ready for sound, it was just handed
to you. Though we all were assigned
specific shows to maintain sonic
continuity. Captain Caveman,
watching Superfriends! And all
those sound effects. The transition
effects, the wipes, especially. I
remember all those sounds.
MM: I loved those sounds and
used them over and over and over
and over … but I was determined
to always do something a little
bit different but always within the
confines of the library we had. If
we had any recording equipment, I
didn't know about it. If we wanted
a new sound, we just didn't do it.
We didn't have the time nor was
it part of the ethos. We'd just use
something that sounded like the
sound we didn't have. Much like
the Looney Tunes shorts, Hanna-
Barbera is branded and easily
identified by those sounds and that
sound library—in a very positive way.
We can argue about the goofiness of
those cartoon sounds, but you could
hear a unique perspective and soul
in them. I did a sound experiment
for an Academy lecture I did on
however, was different. It was one
of the few times they worked with
Mel Blanc, a premier voice talent for
Hanna-Barbera and that was special
to the studio. My boss assigned that
series specifically to me and asked
me to design the Captain Caveman
logo. So that was something that
actually—the first time in my
career—had a design and review
process. I was tasked to choose the
best vocal performances and decide
(not record!) what sounds from the
library to add to it. That was exciting.
I'm glad you brought that up, I
hadn't thought of that in 46 years!
That was my first design experience;
create the "Captain Caveman logo."
I also worked on The Flintstones,
Huckleberry Hound, Superfriends,
and the Scooby-Doo series.
SL: That's around the time I was
watching. I was growing out of it
in the late seventies, I was getting
into other things. But I remember
40 M PS E . O R G
I first met Mark Mangini
when I was supervising
the sound editing on the
first Star Trek feature in
1979. At the time, he was
one of Paramount's staff
ADR editors, who worked
on both my film and
Here's Boomer TV show
when we bogged down
waiting for the optical
shots to arrive. I could
see that he was a real
go-getter, so after putting
the starship Enterprise to
bed, I asked him to work
with Stephen Flick and me
on a little indie film. He
was reluctant to leave the
security of a major studio,
but to my great delight,
he finally agreed and a
partnership was born that
has lasted now for 44
years.
While initially "the
dialogue guy," I found
that he was equally great
with sound effects and a
year or so later, he was
cutting the great Nepal
Bar shootout scene in
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Later of course, Mark
started supervising his
own shows and really
blossomed then into one
of Hollywood's great sonic
creators, winning two
Oscars and many Golden
Reel Awards as proof. The
sounds that he comes up
with consistently amaze
me.
I've retired from
making noise for a living,
but we are still partners
in our library, which we
developed over a lifetime
of making soundtracks
and now license copies
to the world. But most of
all, I enjoy hanging with
Mark, who is so diverse in
his interests and a really
funny guy. I still seek his
advice on the films that
I am now producing and
directing, but most of all,
I am proud to call him my
friend.
—RICHARD ANDERSON
Director & Supervising
Sound Editor
