The Simpsons are going to turn 35 this year. The cast are all bazillionaires who are treated like royalty when they record their episodes today. However, it was not always that way.
Nancy Cartwright, who has been voicing Bart Simpson since 1987, talked about how primitive things were when they were part of The Tracy Ullman Show and the early years of The Simpsons.
The voice actress said, “We were finding our own. We were learning how to record in a booth that wasn’t meant for recording in. I was way pregnant. We were sharing one microphone. It was taking two hours to record 30 seconds. I’m like, ‘Do these people have any idea what they are doing?'”
Did the cast mind? Nope because they were having fun. And, for Cartwright, who was the only professional voiceover artist in the cast, she was looking forward to seeing how animation would play during primetime. While the genre was popular in the ’60s, only three new nighttime cartoons launched between 1970 and The Simpsons.
Did she, in her wildest dreams, think it would still be going strong over 30 years later? All she has to say to that is, “Thank you! Thank you, the fans. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” Nice to see someone acknowledge us!
I love hearing stories like this. I am so happy she shared it with us, the loyal fans of more years than we want to admit, because that would make us old. Something her characters like Bart Simpson, Maggie, and Nelson Muntz never get.
