WOODY WOODPECKER VOICE DIES

Harry Babbitt, who did the distinctive laugh of Woody Woodpecker in the 1948 Kay Kyser hit record “The Woody Woodpecker Song”, has died at age 90 in California. Babbitt was a member of the Kyser’s band from 1938 to about 1949 and appeared in seven movies alongside the bandleader. This BBC News article exaggerates Babbit’s role in relation to Woody, but Babbit’s laugh is indeed heard in the Lantz cartoon WET BLANKET POLICY (1948).