This is the first of two posts I'm uploading today. First, something that was of a shock to me when I first learned of it a few weeks ago. Lucille "Lou" Bliss, the veteran cartoon voice actress who created the voice of Smurfette for the long-running Hanna-Barbera TV series The Smurfs back in the 80's, passed away last Christmas at the young age of 96 from natural causes. She was active in animation right up to the end of her life, last working on the Nickelodeon cult favorite Invader Zim as one of Zim's alien professors. Of all the characters she voiced in her career, Smurfette was Lou's personal favorite because they both shared the same feisty personality and after so many decades of bit parts here and there, it was the permanent role she finally landed and one that she was rightfully proud of.
I guess with all the flash, glam, fuss and feathers that now dominate today's world of big-budget TV cartoons with big-name celebrities that just walk in, record their parts, take their millions and walk away, the passing of Miss Lou, who was a trouper with a career spanning 70 years, wasn't considered newsworthy, and certainly not as exciting as pop star Katy Perry, who has since picked up the torch as Smurfette's new official voice. Too bad.
With the flurry of Smurf fan art I created lately, here's my tribute to the woman who not only voiced the most beloved Smurf of all, but also the outrageous stepsister Anastasia in Walt Disney's Cinderella, the original Crusader Rabbit, and numerous Hanna-Barbera characters over the decades. In it Smurfette is asleep dreaming that she's an angel, flying with a dove who likes what he sees--a reference to her catchphrase "Like what you see?" On Smurfette's bedstand is a picture of Lucille Bliss with a daisy laid before it in loving tribute. So it may not actually be herself that our little blue friend is dreaming of.
(And if you look very carefully at my signature, there is a biblical reference to the One who gives us comfort and hope in times of grief and loss.)
As they would say in Hawaii, "Mahalo Smurfy Loa", or thank you very smurfy much, Miss Lou.
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