Allen Swift

Acting

Allen Swift

Born 1924-01-16 · New York City, New York, USA

Ira Stadlen (January 16, 1924 – April 18, 2010 ), known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American voice actor,  known for playing characters including Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the Underdog cartoon show. He provided the voices of many of the characters in The Bluffers, most of the voices for the 1960s underwater puppet show Diver Dan, and the voices in Gene Deitch's 1960–1962 group of Tom and Jerry cartoons. Swift was a children's television show host on WPIX in New York City as "Captain Allen". He took his professional name from radio comedian Fred Allen and 18th century satirist Jonathan Swift. Swift was an early television star who hosted The Popeye Show from September 10, 1956 to September 23, 1960, until he was forced to leave the program. The reason for his dismissal from "The Popeye Show" was creative differences with station management.(Info can be found in"The Popeye Show"aticle in The NYC Kids Shows Round Up"section of"TV Party.Com") Swift did the majority of the voices in Rankin/Bass's Mad Monster Party?, credited as Alan (sic) Swift in the movie's credits.  He supplied most of the character voices for the NBC Howdy Doody Show, and when Buffalo Bob Smith, who himself did the voice of the lead puppet character Howdy Doody and had many times proclaimed that "nobody else could do Howdy" suffered a heart attack, Swift took home some recordings over the weekend, came back on Monday and did Howdy's voice for more than a year.(Info can be found in Tv Bloq section of TV Party.Com) Swift also served as the second comedy writer for "Howdy Doody." He took on the job, following the abrupt departure of the series' first comedy writer and songwriter, Edward Kean.(info at "TV Bloq"/Past entry #168 at "TV Party.Com") He also wrote the play Checking Out. Swift was married to actress Lenore Loveman, and is the father of character actor, mimic and singer Lewis J. Stadlen, holistic health practitioner, Maxime Stadlen and psychotherapist, Clare A. Stadlen. He lived in Manhattan. Allen had been "suffering with a series of health calamities for several years, since he fell and broke his hip while walking his dog. From that moment, one thing led to another," said personal friend and director Gene Deitch. "Even though [I've been] here for 50 years, hardly a year went by without a visit to his 57th Street apartment, nor a day go by without e-mail and most recently Skype visits," added Deitch, an American expatriate living in the Czech Republic. ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acting credits

Safe Men poster
5.5

Two untalented singers are mistaken for a pair of major league safe crackers in Providence, Rhode Island. The two are pressed into service by the local hoodlums and quickly find themselves in conflict with their professional colleagues. Romantic interest is added by the daughter of the underworld leader who won't date the men she knows are gangsters.

Safe Men

1998

Crazytown poster
7.5

The story of a town where everything is topsy-turvy.

Crazytown

1954

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure poster
7.0

Raggedy Ann and Andy, along with other toys, reside in the nursery of a little girl named Marcella. During Marcella's seventh birthday, Babette, from France, is introduced as the new doll from a large package. When the lecherous Captain Contagious kidnaps Babette and escapes from the nursery, Ann and Andy must navigate the Deep Deep Woods to save her.

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure

1977

Mad Monster Party? poster
6.5

When Dr Frankenstein decides to retire from the monster-making business, he calls an international roster of monsters to a creepy convention to elect his successor. Everyone is there including Dracula, The Werewolf, The Creature, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and many more. But Frankenstein's title is not all that is at stake. The famous doctor has also discovered the secret of total destruction that must not fall into the wrong hands!

Mad Monster Party?

1967

Seize the Day poster
5.0

Tommy Wilhelm is a salesman. An honest, hard-working guy who has lost his job, his girlfriend, and left part of his sanity behind as he heads to New York to pick up the pieces of his life. He's always been able to sell, but caught in a downward spiral, he must, in addition, face the father who never really understood him, while trying to balance his newly precarious existence.

Seize the Day

1986

3-D Rarities poster
6.0

Selections include Kelley's Plasticon Pictures, the earliest extant 3-D demonstration film from 1922 with incredible footage of Washington and New York City; New Dimensions, the first domestic full color 3-D film originally shown at the World’s Fair in 1940; Thrills for You, a promotional film for the Pennsylvania Railroad; Stardust in Your Eyes, a hilarious standup routine by Slick Slavin; trailer for The Maze, with fantastic production design by William Cameron Menzies; Doom Town, a controversial anti-atomic testing film mysteriously pulled from release; puppet cartoon The Adventures of Sam Space, presented in widescreen; I’ll Sell My Shirt, a burlesque comedy unseen in 3-D for over 60 years; Boo Moon, an excellent example of color stereoscopic animation…and more!

3-D Rarities

2015

The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town poster
5.3

The Mailman decides to stop another deluge of letters by answering questions about the Easter Bunny: Sunny, a baby rabbit found and adopted by Kidville (a town of only kids--even a kid mailman). And when Sunny goes delivering eggs to the nearby town (which he has to dye to fool Gadzooks, the mean bear on the mountain), he discovers that there are no kids in the town, and that the rightful (kid) ruler is being suppressed by his aunt. But the young king likes Sunny's dyed eggs and jelly beans. So Kidsville, with the help of an old train engine, makes a few plans (and a decoy chocolate rabbit) to distribute them.

The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town

1977

High Steaks poster
4.6

Tom's owner, Clint Clobber, is grilling steaks in his backyard. The steak's scent reaches Jerry, who is aroused by it and is led to the steak.

High Steaks

1962

No artwork available
7.0

The apartment house superintendent, Clint Clobber, a turkey if there ever was one, is constantly pestered by an old retired Army general, who keeps the tenants in a dither and uproar with his hard-nosed and disciplined military habits. Clint finally finds a way to rid the house of the undesirable tenant.

Camp Clobber

1958

Anatole poster
10.0

The adventures of Anatole, a suave and debonair French mouse, in a cheese factory.

Anatole

1962

Sorry Safari poster
4.9

Tom joins his owner on a hunting safari in Kenya. Jerry has hidden himself in the Clint's luggage, and Tom quickly sees him and attempts to get rid of him.

Sorry Safari

1962

Alice of Wonderland in Paris poster
5.4

Alice travels to Paris and hears five stories adapted from children's picture books in this anthology film. The books adapted include: "Anatole," "Madeline and the Bad Hat," "The Frowning Prince," "Many Moons," and "Madeline and the Gypsies."

Alice of Wonderland in Paris

1966

The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit poster
5.3

A demonstration of how to make a "Tom & Jerry" cartoon.

The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit

1962

Boo Moon poster
6.0

Casper the Friendly Ghost comes to the aid of King Luna and his people after being attacked by invading Tree Men.

Boo Moon

1954

It's Greek to Me-ow! poster
6.2

This cartoon opens with a narrator introducing the ancient Greek Acropolis, describing its wealth and beautiful architecture. Tom is depicted as one of these inhabitants, an alley cat who lives in the shadows of Athens searching for food.

It's Greek to Me-ow!

1961

'Twas the Night Before Christmas poster
6.7

When a town learns that Santa Claus has struck it off his delivery schedule due to an insulting letter, a way must be found to change his mind.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

1974

The Emperor's New Clothes poster
6.5

Two con men convince a king that they have woven for him a suit made of magical cloth that only stupid or incompetent people are unable to see. Not wanting to seem dull, everyone pretends to admire the king's new clothes although he is completely naked.

The Emperor's New Clothes

1972

Popeye's 20th Anniversary poster
6.6

Popeye is being honored for his 20 years of films, in a dinner hosted by 'Bob Hope' (several other celebrities are present, like Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby, 'Jerry Lewis' and 'Dean Martin').

Popeye's 20th Anniversary

1954

It's a Living poster
8.0

Dinky quits the cartoon business and gets a job as a spokes-duck for TV commercials.

It's a Living

1957

It Happened in Hualfin poster
7.4

This three-part documentary on Indian peasant life in the Catamarca region of Argentina is an emotionally moving examination of the generational cycle of poverty in underdeveloped countries.

It Happened in Hualfin

1965

The Little Drummer Boy: Book II poster
6.1

Aaron, the drummer boy, struggles to protect a bellmaker's great silver bells from seizure by Roman soldiers

The Little Drummer Boy: Book II

1976

Slave Trade in the World Today poster
4.9

The film documents modern slave trade through a number of African countries, under dictatorship rule. The filming was conducted both in public places, and sometimes with the use of hidden cameras, for high impact scenes of nudity, sex, and violence - and a few surprises, as slaves made out of peregrins to Asia, and slave traders paid in traveller checks.

Slave Trade in the World Today

1964

Tall in the Trap poster
5.3

When Jerry rustles cheese from the Dry Gulch General Store, Sheriff Mutt Dillin hires Tom, the fastest trap in the West.

Tall in the Trap

1962

No artwork available
7.0

Sir Blur stumbles into a kingdom. A king is having trouble getting someone to marry his daughter because she's, to put it mildly, ugly. Guess who stumbles into the contest? Sir Blur was Famous Studios' answer to Mr. Magoo in that he was another nearsighted fellow who mistakes something or someone for something else.

A Wedding Knight

1966

Behind the camera