This image is from the wonderful new exhibit, That’s All Folks! The Mel Blanc Story, which opened at the Oregon Jewish Museum earlier this month.
Portland is a city Jewish pioneers helped found and govern. Mel Blanc’s family moved here from San Francisco — what drew them? What did it mean to be Jewish in Portland during Mel Blanc’s growing years? Who else lived in South Portland? Mel Blanc ascribed his astounding ear for dialect and accent to the multi-lingual environment of South Portland. What was the neighborhood like?
Guest speakers: For this lecture we are partnering with the Oregon Jewish Museum. Judy Margles, Oregon Jewish Museum director, will bring to life the immigrant neighborhood in which Mel Blanc grew up, the Portland Public Schools he attended, the many languages he heard spoken around him, and the role of Neighborhood House, in his development as an artist. Neighborhood House, a building which still stands, is where Mel Blanc first learned to play a musical instrument and began his career as a performer.
The Mel Blanc Project is a series of public history/art education events made possible in part by a grant from the Kinsman Foundation and by a grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.
For more information about Mel Blanc, see the Archives of this website.
Another recommended method of deepening your knowledge is to attend the entire lecture series, Mel Blanc: The Portland Years.
