Bugs Bunny + The Beach Boys + Jan & Dean = Dead Man’s Curve

“Myeeeeh, what’s up, Doc?” This phrase should bring back memories of Warner Brothers’ most famous cartoon character, Bugs Bunny. Voiced by Mel Blanc, this wascally wabbit inspired hi-jinks and sass in homes all across America. So, what do Mel Blanc, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, and a Chevrolet Corvette have to do with a classic surf tune? A lot, actually.

On January 24, 1961, Blanc was driving an Aston Martin down Sunset Boulevard on his way to a studio when an 18-year-old named Arthur Rolston failed to properly approach a curve and slammed head-on into Blanc’s vehicle, sending him into a coma with multiple fractures. Estelle and Noel Blanc, Mel’s wife and son, would spend two weeks by his side, desperately hoping to bring him back.

Then, one of Mel’s neurologists had an idea. He went beside Mel’s bed and asked, “Bugs Bunny, how are you doing today?” The room fell silent. Then, something magical occurred: a weak voice broke the silence with, “Myeeeeh, what’s up, Doc?” The doctor then asked if Tweety was around, to which Mel replied in that iconic voice, “I tawt I taw a puddy tat.” It would take another seven months for Mel to fully recover.

Blanc’s accident inspired four men — Jan Berry (of Jan & Dean), Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys), and songwriters Roger Christian and Artie Kornfield — to produce a song about “Dead Man’s Curve,” the location of the accident. It told the tale of a drag race between a Corvette Stingray and a Jaguar XKE (Berry and Christian owned a Corvette and Jaguar, respectively) that started at Sunset and Vine. The light turns green, both pop the clutch, and the song then has the following spoken word bridge.

Well, the last thing I remember, Doc, I started to swerve
And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve
I know I’ll never forget that horrible sight
I guess I found out for myself that everyone was right

The hit and accident would inspire a 1978 biopic titled “Deadman’s Curve: The Story of Jan & Dean.”

The liner notes for “The Complete Liberty Singles” box set mentions that Christian lobbied for the wreck at the end of the song to be less deadly. Jan pushed back and insisted that the ending of the song must be “catastrophic.”

A little more than two years after “Dead Man’s Curve” hit the airwaves, Jan slammed into a parked landscaping truck while driving his Corvette. The location of his crash was eerily close to the part of Sunset Boulevard where “Dead Man’s Curve” took place. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they believed that Jan was dead, but they checked his pulse and found a very faint echo of a heartbeat — he had escaped death.

Jan would undergo numerous brain operations and spend six weeks in a coma. Once awake, it was determined he suffered severe brain damage, was completely paralyzed on the right side of his body, and was unable to speak. Eventually, he would make a full recovery, and Jan & Dean would occasionally tour with The Beach Boys from the mid-1970s until Jan’s death in 2004.

As you can see above, you can visit “Dead Man’s Curve” today if you wanted. However, a quick word of advice: Even if you have a new Corvette, maybe you should refrain from racing late at night, even with all its modern safety features. Or, at least, make sure that your opponent isn’t a Jaguar. That’s all folks!