Some careers cannot be categorized in a few words. Almy Purves Pullen (1909-92) imitated birds and animals. But he did it in the most impressive way possible.
After various jobs, including a stint as a radio presenter, Pullen started as a voice actor, providing bird and animal noises for Walt Disney, in 1931. He whistled for Cock Robin in Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935), and worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). As a change of pace, he played a whistling saw in Pinocchio (1940), and was back to birds for Sleeping Beauty (1959). During this period, as well as providing sounds for Disney shorts, he also worked for Max Fleischer on Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons.
Pullen provided the voice of Cheeta in Tarzan pictures and was a coyote in DeMille’s The Crusades (1935).
In 1945, Pullen began working with Spike Jones and his City Slickers, and was renamed Dr Horatio Q Birdbath (the ‘Q’ stood for quinine, because he was hard to take). And on the side, Pullen had a nightclub act as a ventriloquist, with a dummy named Johnny and an invisible dog.
Purv Pullen’s connection with MGM musicals is that, in 1931, he provided monkey noises for The Cuban Love Song.
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