IT'S PAUL WINCHELL'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Paul was - - in my opinion - - the GREATEST VENTRILOQUIST of the 20th Century!

The characters he created - - JERRY MAHONEY, KNUCKLEHEAD SMIFF, and his own PAUL WINCHELL persona, were vividly alive and magically manipulated.

This book is STILL the best written tome on the subject. When I was a kid I would take it out of the library, return it, wait until they restocked it on the shelf and then took it out again. As my birthday approached my dad & mom wanted to get me the book, but they couldn't find one. So he wrote to Paul at the Little Little Theater off Times Square (currently the Helen Hayes) where he did his HARTZ MOUNTAIN SHOW and a few days later the copy above arrived in the mail. Autographed! What a way to encourage a young boy with stars in his eyes (and dummies on his knees).
This picture is from his first TV series for kids "WINCHELL/MAHONEY TIME". He would begin the show coming down on a slide with Jerry by his side. I was 3 years old and remember thinking that the kid is make believe, but he's also alive! Something kicked into my consciousness because right then I said to myself "I want to make other kids feel the way he makes me feel right now."
Paul was also profoundly inventive - - adding moving arms and things to his dummies. He also invented an upside-down chin face he called OSWALD.
Now get this: he was working Jerry, performing his voice without moving his lips while lying upside down on an inverted camera/split screen shot in extreme close-up on national television.
This shot is from his KTTV-11 series. The little girl is his feisty daughter APRIL WINCHELL (today a very funny, biting, voice-over artist.)
How did Paul bring the dummies arms to life? With the help of two talented "PUPPET COORDINATORS" JAY LLOYD (l) & SKIP LUDWIG, pictured below in this ultra rare shot with Paul's wife and April's mother NINA RUSSELL.
Along the way, Paul invented the artificial heart and did the voice of GARGAMEL on the Smurfs and TIGGER in Disney's Winnie The Pooh. But the dummies would continue to make furtive appearances in his life.

The last time we saw Paul was at a party thrown for him by his friend and confidant, producer Burt Dubrow. As he was giving a speech, Burt (an avid puppet collector) reached around the corner with a Jerry Mahoney replica. Winch went "Ohhhhh" like he was seeing an old friend, took him from Burt and launched into an hysterical, impromtu act. Unbelieveable and unforgettable.

Right after this picture was taken of Olga and me giving Winch the hug he deserves, I put my hands on his shoulders and we looked each other in the eyes. I say "Paul, you're the reason." And he said "Craig, you're the result."

WINCHELL WONDERMENT

Now THAT's joyful!

Winch had a spooky life, bless his spirit.

(Innovating on the Perry Como Show 1950's)

VENTRILOQUIST UNCOVERED!

PAUL WINCHELL was the first artist to get me to fall in love with puppetry. I learned to talk without moving my mouth when I learned to talk.
There have been ventriloquists since the beginning of time. It was vents who were the SHAMANS that made the STONE IDOLS talk. Great trick that.
My friend and legendary Kids-TV Producer CHET DOWLING (Chuck McCann Show, Let's Have Fun, Zacherle) has recently sent me some WOW from his collection of memorablilia. Below is a ventriloquist I never heard of. . .

Here's CHET:
(This is) a very rare Vaudeville ad from around 1900. It is for a Vent named Ver Valin. His specialty was Animatrons. His Father was a Clock Maker and built these life-size characters that were used in the Act. The pictures are amazing when you zoom in on them. I understand they actually got wound up and walked onstage. It must have been incredible back at the turn of the (last) Century to have a five foot four figure walk out on stage with one leg and a pair of crutches. I've been checking to see if any other collector has further info on old Ver Valin.

If anyone has any fill-in-the-blank stuff, please let us know.

Chet sent some other great "ventamabilia" which I'll post soon.

WONDERAMA (Part I)

Back in the day, WONDERAMA was the go-to show in the New York Tri-State area for fun & games & comedy & guests. It was on for fours on Sunday hosted by SONNY FOX, though it began as a 6 hour(!) program starring SANDY BECKER.I, of course, preferred LET'S HAVE FUN which was on opposite Wonderama but starred CHUCK McCANN with the PAUL ASHLEY PUPPETS as all of the above.
Here's how my trek to appearing on Wonderama began. . .

I get dragged to a CAR SHOW at the Coliseum on 59th & Columbus Circle here in NYC by a new friend I had just met in school. Never had much interest in cars (still don't) but oh well what de hell I went. Fenders, bumpers, engines = meh.
Then suddenly my eyes fell upon an oasis in a desert of tin. There was a poster bellowing:

VENTRILOQUIST JIMMY NELSON PERFORMING LIVE!

Right there! So I was right there. Like clockwork Jimmy appeared on the stage and from beneath a lecturn he produced his partners DANNY O'DAY & FARFEL THE DOG.
For those of you who don't know who he is, Jimmy Nelson was in the Top Tier of Classy Vents in the 50's and 60's.

There was EDGAR BERGEN

. . . PAUL WINCHELL. . .
. . . and JIMMY NELSON.

He will forever (how long is "forever" in a culture that goes POP?) be remembered for his classic NESTLES QUIK COMMERCIALS.

Well, his act was GREAT and afterwards I wended my way backstage and met his eyes and told him "I can talk without moving my mouth" which I said without moving my mouth. He told me "Hey, you're good. Do you want to see my dummies?" It wasn't an etching but I couldn't say no. In fact I FLIPPED!!! So we go on the stage and - - I still think this memory is beyond cool - - he unlocks a door on the back of the lecturn and there sat Danny & Farfel. And he let me manipulate them! That was the first time I ever worked a professional dummy with a hole in the back and it's head on a stick.

After a while he said to me "why don't you call my friend Norman Berger . . . (Norman! If you're reading this? THANX!) . . . he's the producer of WONDERAMA. I'll tell him to expect your call, then you can set-up a time to audition." That was heaven. Yes it was (except it meant if I got on I'd have to miss LET'S HAVE FUN. What a choice!)

It's telling that all these people I admired that I met as a child:

JIMMY NELSON

CHUCK McCANN

PAUL ASHLEY

SANDY BECKER

. . . they all gave me a real-life boost in this make-believe art. THANKS GUYS!!!

A few weeks later, I was on WONDERAMA.

COMING: PART II

MAD MEN TONIGHT

A POTPOUREE OF POWERFUL PUPPETS

"LET'S HAVE FUN"

with

CHUCK McCANN

(my former partner) Holly Smith, Me, Steve Stegman and

PAUL ASHLEY

Backstage in Warwick, R.I. 1974

PAUL ASHLEY'S VARIETY SHOW PUPPETS


BIL BAIRD & SLUGGER RYAN


BIL & CORA
On The Bridge


DISHONEST JOHN & CECIL
from
"TIME FOR BEANY"
(1949)


BOB CLAMPETT & CECIL


GEORGE PAL
He of the
PUPPETOONS


WINCHELL/MAHONEY TIME

SHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Secret shot. . .

KUKLA FRAN & OLLIE & JERRY & PAUL

BURR'S EYE VIEW

(Burr Tillstrom)

POOKIE THE LION . . .

. . . courtesy of

FRANK NASTASI