Here’s an example of how even in a production as tight as ours, one hand doesn’t necessarily know what the other is doing. Of course I knew Tony – but as a generic studio guy. I did not realize that he timed so many of the shows, an essential part of the Rankin/Bass system and one that I had thought was Lee’s sole responsibility. Here’s Tony in his own words:
My former boss Howard Schwartz was treating me to lunch at Cafe Centro in the old Pan Am building in Grand Central Station. I started working for Howard at 24 as a messenger and quickly moved up to tape duplication, then assistant engineer, engineer and eventually studio manager. Over the years I worked for him on and off, (I actually got fired twice!) even with our ups and downs, we remained friends. I loved the people I worked with there and many remain close. Howard gave me one of life’s greatest gifts – life long friends. But now I had left a management position at his recording studio to work at one of the music studios across.
My year at that studio was fraught with drama including in-house fighting, crazy policies and nightly over-the-top celebrity client demands (try finding borsht at 2:00am even in NYC!). To add to the theatrics, a security alarm went off at least twice a week, always around 3:00 am and always triggered by the cleaner as he left the building. As the new guy, I had to take a cab from Queens to Manhattan in the middle of the night to meet the police officers who would show up every time the alarm went off. We saw each other so often we became friends! All this was happening as I was experiencing a bad break-up with my fiancée, losing my cheap apartment and inevitably crashing at my parents. I was pretty much unmoored.
My lunch meeting with Howie was focused on my personal and professional woes and an ask to keep an ear open for opportunities for new work in recording or production. Initially, my goal in becoming an engineer was to learn how to be a producer. Howard didn’t have anything for me in his studio but said he’d be happy to recommend me if something turned up. After lunch I walked him back to his studio. As I was leaving, an attractive woman was coming down the hall. We smiled at each other before she entered Howard’s office. I continued my way back across town to the job I so desperately wanted to leave. The attractive woman was Lee Dannacher, an executive producer at Rankin Bass, producers of several Christmas Specials and animated features, among them Frosty The Snowman, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and The Hobbit.
Lee was assembling a creative team to be housed at Howard’s studio for their newest project, ThunderCats. She needed an additional hire, asked Howard if he knew anyone and he recommended me. So by the time I got back t my office there was a message from Howard saying Timing Is Everything.
My interview with Lee took place in Howard’s studio A on the first day of recording of the ThunderCats one-hour pilot episode. Behind the studio glass were famous voice actors, Larry Kenny, Peter Newman, Lynn Lipton, Bob McFadden, Earl Hammond and Shakespearian actor Earl Hyman. In the control room were dialog engineer John Curcio and R/B owners Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass.
Jules, Arthur and a sleighful of bucks!
I had worked with producers every day but this was the big time and I was still green, living by the motto Fake It Till You Make It.
The first few months, a challenging learning curve. Animation production is different from the corporate advertising clients I had been used to. Rankin Bass had developed a system that was unique at the time. Most productions over-dubbed character voices then added music and sound effects after the animation was complete. R/B recorded the dialog, edited it and added music and sound effects. Lee and others timed the tracks to allow time for the action. Then the entire locked track was mixed in New York before it was sent to the animation team at Pacific Animation in Japan, who were not allowed to open the track or adjust it in any way. This system made for precise lip-synching and tighter, more powerful action scenes – and an iron grip on the process. It did, of course, mean that R/B’s timing had to be perfect. Inevitably, there were misjudgments which show up from time to time in episodes. However, by and large, the system enabled Rankin/Bass to maintain a high degree of creative control and facilitated a smoother, more predictable production process. Greater financial control too. At first, Lee wasn’t impressed with my work. She scrutinized every creative choice I made. Daily, I thought I’d be fired. Then while she was in Japan meeting with the animators, I sent my mixes to Jules Bass for approval. After he reviewed and approved a few shows, he trusted that I knew what I was doing and allowed me to send my mixes directly to Japan. Because Jules was confident in my work, Lee’s confidence grew too and for the next four years I worked at my dream job.
Each week, Mathew and Karen Malach, John Crenshaw, Chuck Hasegawa, Steve Gruskin, Heather Winters and Connie Long kept all the balls of production in the air. Head writer Peter Lawrence led a crew of talented writers, turning out stories which I would take to the next level. I loved the job so much that if Lee asked us to work all the hours that god sends when we were behind schedule, I was happy to oblige.
I was grateu to work with two great producers, Larry Franke and Michael Ungar.
The company had an outstanding music cue library composed by Bernie Hoffer 
that gave us all the elements to make every episode come alive. Everything from Jazz, to Classical to Rock. Listen to Panthro’s theme on YouTube sometime. It will blow your mind!
I must absolutely pay respects to the world class animators from Japan and the Far East.Credit goes to Masaki Iizuka,President of Pacific Animation with unparalleled contributions…
… from Tsuguyuki Kubo, Minoru Nishida, Tameo Kohanawa…
… and their international team.
One hundred and thirty ThunderCats episodes and then we went on to SilverHawks and The Comic Strip. I have so many great memories of that time. Fan letters from kids, the ThunderCats Live show at Madison Square Garden: hilarious. Outrageous outtake reels. Dinner parties. Engagements. Weddings. Babies. Birthday cakes provided by The Erotic Bakery. It was an incredible ride!
I will always be grateful to Lee Dannacher, the show and the crew for gifting stability, cherished memories and dear friends.
I’ve now changed careers. I’ve been an acupuncturist for 21 years. Although my life is far those 80s days of hectic production, I remain active creatively, developing live action shows and working on a ThunderCats follow up. I hope someday I will be living on Third Earth once more!