Mel Leven

Mel Leven (1914-2007) was a songwriter, singer, composer, and occasional voice actor who worked extensively for UPA in the 1950s and then for Disney for years. On Sesame Street, he lent his voice to a few animated inserts produced by Fred Crippen's Pantomime Pictures.Documents provided by trusted source
Leven began writing songs in the late 1940s, usually comedy or novelty numbers recorded by the likes of Dennis Day, Molly Bee, and Jerry Lewis. He wrote lyrics for fifties films including the title song for The Lady Says No and numbers in Frank Tashlin movies. He worked for UPA near the end of the studio's life, writing and singing songs for the Ham and Hattie theatrical shorts, and doing the same for segments of The Boing-Boing Show (often directed by Crippen). 
Starting with lyrics for the 1959 stop-motion short Noah's Ark, Leven began working for Disney, writing all of the lyrics for Babes in Toyland and music and lyrics for "Cruella De Vil" in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (as well as the Kanine Krunchies commercial jingle). He wrote songs for more shorts and featurettes (including "When the Buzzards Return to Hinckley Ridge" sung by Ruth Buzzi in It's Tough to Be a Bird), theme lyrics to The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, songs for educational films, and material for albums (such as More Jungle Book). For the Disney TV series, he wrote songs but also scripted narration for a few installments combining nature footage and animated hosts (including the only animated appearance by Donald Duck's comic book relative Moby Duck). 
Beyond Disney, Leven later wrote songs for educational children's series The Big Blue Marble. He lent his voice to commercials (speaking and singing), including a stint as Crackle for Kellogg's Rice Krispies.
==Sesame Street segments==
Yellowyahoo.jpg|Yellow YahooNarrator/Yahoo
2682zc.jpg|"Nut and Bolt Coop"Bolt
CatBark.jpg|"Can a Cat Bark-No."Cat
==Sources==
==External links==
*IMDb
*Discogs.com listing
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Category:Animated Voice Actors