Men aren’t generally as celebrated for having a wide vocal range as women are. A woman who has a four-octave range is talked about, because versatility in women is important. We admire Mel Blanc for being able to do a lot of different voices, it’s true, but most of those voices were within the same perhaps octave in pitch. Jonathan Joseph Candido didn’t have the same array of characters as Blanc. However, he was a natural tenor who could speak in a voice anywhere from a soprano to a bass—a four-octave range.
Candido is one of those people whose career is difficult to trace fully using easily accessible sources; as I’ve mentioned before, there’s not a lot of detail available when it comes to radio. He was on Jimmy Durante’s radio show, but much beyond that and working for Ted Fio Rito’s band, there’s not a lot you can put together. Honestly, for all I know, that’s it, but you can’t be sure. A lot of the history of radio is just gone, as it wasn’t initially considered something worth documenting.
Where we’re more definitively able to trace Candido’s career is in animation. The skills that are useful in radio are also useful in animation. No few people made the transition as radio faded away in popularity. Candido was fortunate enough to have been hired on at Disney. Now, he didn’t do a lot of shorts. However, mostly what he did was minor voices. The Weasels, in Ichabod and Mr. Toad. A goon in Sleeping Beauty. And, sigh, the Indian Chief in Peter Pan. He did some work for Ralph Bakshi, too.
Still, working at Disney also immortalized him, so to speak, in the Haunted Mansion. He plays “Gus,” the prisoner Hitchhiking Ghost. Apparently, he also did the laugh at the end of the ride, where the Ghost Host tells you that they will follow you home. Meaning he was one of Child Gillian’s greatest fears; I have similarly found a delightful story about some children of his acquaintance who called him “Uncle Candy” and didn’t like hearing him as Fidget in The Great Mouse Detective, because “he wasn’t nice.”
He did some live action, but the only one I think I’ve seen is Herbie Rides Again. He is, to be honest, playing one of those characters that Disney put into that sort of movie to let their long-time players appear and let those of us who recognize them feel smug. I mean, also, it’s probably intended to give them a paycheck—goodness knows Disney is far from a perfect company (stop supporting bigots, Disney), but one thing they’ve always been very good at since the Bobby Driscoll fiasco (and I promise you we’re getting to that) is taking care of their people to the best of their ability.
