Origin of Speciousness

 

OK, OK, let's all try to keep an open mind about this.

Hmm...They don't look like apes to me. Do they look like apes to you?

Not that there aren't apes in our future. After all, this remains a distinct possibility:

The Obamas just won't be the ones who bring it about.

Under the Radar: Thurl Ravenscroft

 

Actor and singer Thurl Ravenscroft was born on this day in 1914 (he died in 2005.) What, you never heard of him?

How 'bout this guy?

Yes, that's Ravenscroft's voice coming out of Tony's mouth. As for his vocals being "augmented", well, watch, and especially listen to, him in 1980s interview:

I sense not all that augmentation was needed.

One notable credit was oddly missing in that interview (perhaps because for years it went, again oddly, uncredited), so I'll include it here. First, some background: 

You see, when Chuck Jones (right) set out to turn a book by Dr. Suess (left) into a TV Christmas special, he wasn't content merely to have top-notch animation. He wanted it to be musically top-notch too, and so to that end hired Thurl to sing this now iconic song:

Sounds like he's describing an ICE agent.