Talk:Gary Owens

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Biography assessment rating comment[edit]

WikiProject Biography Assessment Drive

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- 98.6.77.134 17:00, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

[edit]

I believe that Gary Owens did the voice for Mendoza in The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Can anyone back this up?

IMDB only lists the Japanese and French voices for Mendoza, so no leads there unfortunately.

A run for his money?[edit]

I added a {{Fact}} to the phrase, "Gary certainly gave comedian Stan Freberg, a popular record album comic, a run for his money." Not because I want an actual citation, but more because someone forgot to explain to people who haven't heard the album just how he gave him this proverbial financial jog. µ TorbenFrost 23:50, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cupped hand over ear[edit]

I always thought that Gary Owens' cupped hand over the ear on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was in imitation of an announcer or radio performer holding a single-speaker earphone over his ear. Singers and narrators usually wear earphones in recording studios so they can hear instructions from the engineer or program director. Can anyone provide a citation or evidence that this was done for "acoustic feedback"? —Quicksilver^{T @} 17:41, 13 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It was, and I initially presumed that he did have an earphone, the wire out of view. After reviewing better res uploads than what we saw back in the day, it's clear there was nothing there. That said, announcers more often used ordinary headsets; and it is exceptionally hard to find photos of hand-on-ear speakers and announcers. Here's one:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Broadcasting_Freedom/3msFg6XouxAC?hl=en&kptab=editions&gbpv=1

Cover. Radio, War, and the Politics of Race, 1938-1948 Barbara Dianne Savage.

An announcer couldn't conveniently look up from his copy and follow hand-signals, he would cup the earpiece to both hear the cues from the engineer or director well and to shield its output from reaching his own mic.

Owens was simply miming the arrangement, and the effect really did impart a sense of immediacy and realism, and as I thought he had an earpiece the whole impression was that he was actually doing the announcing in real time: that we were getting a back-room view of a little slice of the R&M production-end operations, informalizing the show a tad, breaking the fourth wall. JohndanR (talk) 23:29, 5 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It actually is for acoustic feedback, which is a way of saying “making it so you can hear yourself better”. There were no hidden ear pieces in the 40s, which was the era that Owens was miming. Simply a classical vocalists trick that radio announcers copied. [1] - LuckyLouie (talk) 12:15, 6 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Friend of those who have no friends[edit]

Uh, that wasn't the Shadow, that was Boston Blackie. Since I'm not sure of the source that attributes it to the Shadow, and because I wouldn't know if the Shadow was Owens' hero or Boston Blackie was, I haven't edited it.

Anyone know which is correct?

Burbank[edit]

FWIW, for many years, the telephone operator for the City of Burbank answered incoming calls with "Beautiful downtown Burbank" LorenzoB 04:24, 9 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Greyhound?[edit]

Was Gary Owens the recorded voice you heard over the P.A. system in Greyhound stations throughout the U.S.? ("Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please? Greyhound service to..."). As you travelled westward, many of the announcements would be in English and Spanish.45750born (talk) 13:08, 8 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

VideoSaurus[edit]

It probably isn't that important but I thought I'd mention it, since there is little to no other information on Wikipedia about this, but Gary Owens did a Half Hour special called More Dinosaurs along with Co-Host Eric Boardman. Not quite sure when it was produced, but the earliest date on the VHS is 1986. 98.86.30.148 (talk) 05:09, 4 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Famous For Pizza[edit]

Are the current (Summer 2014) TV ads for Casey's General Stores voiced by Owens or an Owens imitator? Anybody know?76.199.5.42 (talk) 15:21, 31 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Supertracks[edit]

Is there no information anywhere to be found about the show that Gary did for many years, titled "Supertracks"? 170.141.177.31 (talk) 20:05, 25 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Gary Burbank[edit]

I barely remember Burbank's syndicated show back in the 1990s, but wasn't Gary Owens the voice one heard leading into the commercials, saying "This is the Broadbank Burbcasting System" in a rather droll tone of voice? RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 06:10, 19 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Space Quest IV[edit]

Owens narrated Space Quest VI, as is already mentioned, but he also narrated Space Quest IV, with lines like "Roger Jr. - Brain Tools - Stunt Flyer". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.168.118.28 (talk) 20:25, 3 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]