Where’s Waldo?

(An epitaphany shared with Monty)

Janet Waldo, best remembered as Mrs. Slaghoople from The Flintstones, has died at the age of 96. Impressive enough in student theater at the University of Washington to get noticed by Bing Crosby, Waldo had roles in several nondescript movies and TV shows as well as an 8-year run starring in the radio program Meet Corliss Archer. That radio experience laid the groundwork for the unseen, but oft-heard majority of her career – long-time roles as Granny Sweet in The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show; Josie, of and the Pussycats fame; and Penelope Pitstop in The Perils of same and Wacky Races. And of course, most notably, Waldo voiced Judy Jetson from 1962 up to, but not including, the terrible 1990 feature film, and was the last surviving original cast member. Waldo had actually completed her work on the 1990 release when bosses at Universal decided to have fading pop star Tiffany re-record the lines. The decision led the casting director to have her name removed from the credits, the voice director to tell Tiffany to sound more like Waldo and critics to add Tiffany’s acting to the long list of problems with the movie.