AS SEEN ON TV: HIP HIP FORAY!

Published: Monday, June 18, 2012

By Ray Kelly, The Republican

[masslive.com]
Voice legend June L. Foray took home an Emmy for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program at the Creative Arts portion of the Daytime Emmys at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles on Sunday night [June 17].

The Springfield native was honored for voicing the role of Mrs. Cauldron on “The Garfield Show” on Cartoon Network.

It is hardly her best known work. Foray is responsible for the voices for Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on “The Bullwinkle Show,” Nell Fenwick on “The Dudley Do-Right Show,” Cindy Lou Who in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Granny on “The Bugs Bunny Show,” Grandmother Fa in “Mulan,” Grammi on “Gummi Bears,” Jokey Smurf on “The Smurfs” and Talky Tina in “The Twilight Zone.”

Inner Toob salutes June Foray today with three characters to whom she gave voice in the 1975 TV special "Rikki Tikki Tavi":

NAGAINA

Nagaina is the wife of Nag. She is extremely smart & cunning. She has given 25 eggs & they are about to hatch. She wants to kill rikki-tikki as he posses a great threat to her and her family.

Nagaina corners the family at the breakfast table on the garden verandah ("they sat stone-still, and their faces were white") and threatens to kill Teddy with her venomous bite. Rikki races to the veranda with the last egg in his mouth. His appearance distracts Nagaina long enough for the man to pull the boy to safety. Rikki Tikki provokes Nagaina into a final fight with neither opponent gaining the upper hand until Nagaina snatches the egg and flees to her hole, with Rikki in pursuit. The underground fight is not described, but after an agonizingly long time, Rikki comes out of the hole in triumph, having killed Nagaina.

Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy striking distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro, singing a song of triumph.

"Son of the big man that killed Nag," she hissed, "stay still. I am not ready yet. Wait a little. Keep very still, all you three! If you move I strike, and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, who killed my Nag!" 

Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried, "Turn round, Nagaina. Turn and fight!" 

"All in good time," said she, without moving her eyes. "I will settle my account with you presently. Look at your friends, Rikki-tikki. They are still and white. They are afraid. They dare not move, and if you come a step nearer I strike."

TEDDY'S MOTHER ALICE

A 19th-century English family — who have moved to a bungalow in the jungles of Sugauli cantonment in Bihar State, India — discover a young mongoose half drowned from a flood. They revive it and decide to keep it as a pet.

Teddy's mother picked him up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved Teddy from death, and Teddy's father said that he was a providence, and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. Teddy's mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in the dust.

DARZEE'S WIFE

Rikki, well aware of the threat, tries to enlist the tailor bird Darzee, a "feather-brained little fellow", to distract Nagina while he searches for her eggs, but is instead aided by Darzee's sensible wife.

His wife was a sensible bird, and she knew that cobra's eggs meant young cobras later on. So she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a man in some ways. She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish heap and cried out, "Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it." Then she fluttered more desperately than ever.

"What is the use of running away? I am sure to catch you. Little fool, look at me!" Darzee's wife knew better than to do that, for a bird who looks at a snake's eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move. Darzee's wife fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and Nagaina quickened her pace.

Congratulations from all of me at Toobworld Central! One of the prized possessions here in the library of Toobworld Central is an autographed copy of Ms. Foray's autobiography.

Click to read the original story by Rudyard Kipling.

BCnU!