Paul Winchell

Paul Winchell (born Paul Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice actor, singer, musician, impressionist, disc jockey, radio personality, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted The Paul Winchell Show, which also used two other titles during its prime time run on NBC, The Speidel Show, and What's My Name?. From 1965–1968, Winchell hosted the children's television series, Winchell-Mahoney Time.
Winchell made guest appearances on Emmy Award-winning television series from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, such as Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, McMillan & Wife, The Donna Reed Show, and two appearances as Homer Winch on The Beverly Hillbillies in 1962. In animation, he was the original voice of Tigger, Dick Dastardly, Gargamel, and other characters.
Winchell, who had medical training, was also an inventor, becoming the first person to build and patent a mechanical artificial heart, implantable in the chest cavity (US Patent #3097366). He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television.
== Early life ==
Winchell was born Paul Wilchinsky in New York City on December 21, 1922, to Solomon Wilchinsky and Clara Fuchs. His father was a tailor; his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russian Poland and Austria-Hungary.1930 US Census, Brooklyn, NY, enumerators district 24-1447, sheet 19Ahttp://www.filmreference.com/film/62/Paul-Winchell.html Winchell's initial ambition was to become a doctor, but the Depression wiped out any chance of his family's ability to afford medical school tuition. At age 13, he contracted polio; while recovering, he happened upon a magazine advertisement offering a ventriloquism kit for ten cents. Back at school, he asked his art teacher, Jero Magon, if he could receive class credit for creating a ventriloquist's dummy. Mr. Magon was agreeable, and Winchell named his creation Jerry Mahoney, by way of thanks. Winchell went back to reading magazines, gathering jokes from them and putting together a comedy routine, which he then took to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1938, winning first prize. A touring offer, playing various theaters with the Major Bowes Review, was part of the prize. Bandleader Ted Weems saw the young Winchell while on tour; he visited Winchell and made him an offer of employment. Winchell accepted and became a professional at age 14.
== Entertainment career ==
=== Ventriloquist work ===
thumb|180px|Winchell with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff (right) in 1958.
Winchell's best-known ventriloquist dummies were Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Mahoney was carved by Chicago-based figure maker Frank Marshall. Sometime later Winchell had basswood copies of Jerry's head made by a commercial duplicating service. One became the upgraded Jerry Mahoney that is seen primarily throughout Winchell's television career. The television versions of Jerry and Knucklehead also featured Winchell's innovation of actors slipping their hands into the sleeves of the dummies, giving the visual effect of gesturing with their hands while "conversing" with each other. He modified two other copies to create Knucklehead Smiff. The original Marshall Jerry Mahoney and one copy of Knucklehead Smiff are in storage at the Smithsonian Institution. The other two figures are in the collection of illusionist David Copperfield.
Winchell's first show as a ventriloquist was on radio with Jerry Mahoney in 1943. The program was short-lived, however, as he was overshadowed by Edgar Bergen. Winchell also created Ozwald, a character that resembled Humpty Dumpty. The effect was accomplished by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, then adding a "body" covering the rest of his face, and finally electronically turning the camera image upside down. In 1961, Berwin Novelties introduced a home version of the character that included an Oswald body, creative pencils to draw the eyes and nose and a "magic mirror" that automatically turned a reflection upside down.
In 1948, Winchell and Joseph Dunninger were featured on Floor Show on NBC. Recorded via kinescope and replayed on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois, the 8:30-9 p.m. Central Time show on Thursdays was the station's first mid-week program.
During the 1950s, Winchell hosted children's and adult programs with his figures for NBC Television, and later for syndication. The NBC Saturday morning program, sponsored by Tootsie Roll, featured a clubhouse motif and a theme song co-written by Winchell and his longtime bandleader and on-air sidekick, Milton DeLugg. The theme song was entitled "HOORAY, HOORAH" which featured the secret password "SCOLLY WALLY DOO DOO". An ending song entitled "Friends, Friends, Friends" was sung by the children in the audience. On one episode, The Three Stooges appeared on the show to promote their joint feature film venture, Stop, Look, and Laugh, in late 1959. He made an appearance on Nanny and the Professor (Season 2, Episode 13) as a "mean old man" (a puppeteer who had retired into seclusion after losing his wife in an accident). In 1996, Winchell contracted with figure maker Tim Selberg to construct a more contemporary version of Jerry Mahoney, which Winch described as "Disney-esque". Winchell used the new figure version to pitch a new TV series idea to Michael Eisner. In 2009 Winchell was featured in the comedy documentary I'm No Dummy, Internet Movie Database: I'm No Dummy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926091/ Digital Cinema Report http://digitalcinemareport.com/node/1165 directed by Bryan W. Simon.
=== Voice acting ===
Winchell's career after 1968 included various voice roles for animated television series. For Hanna-Barbera, he played the character Dick Dastardly in multiple series (including Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines); Clyde and Softy on Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop; and Fleegle on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, and Gargamel on The Smurfs.
He also provided the voice of Bubi Bear in Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! in 1971, the voice of Revs on Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, as Moe on The Robonic Stooges (a role he previously played on The New Scooby Doo Movies), and Shake on The CB Bears. In 1973, he did the voice of Goober the Dog on the H-B show Goober and the Ghost Chasers and also guest starred as the rain-making villain on an episode of Hong Kong Phooey. For Disney, Winchell voiced Tigger in Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes, and won a Grammy Award for his performance in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.
Beginning with the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, he alternated in the role with Jim Cummings, the current voice of Pooh. Winchell's final performances as Tigger were in 1999 for Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction at Walt Disney World. Following his retirement, Cummings permanently took over the role of Tigger starting with Sing a Song with Pooh Bear in 1999 (though some of Winchell's vocals from previous Pooh animations were included). Other Disney roles included parts in The Aristocats as a Siamese cat named Shun Gon, and The Fox and the Hound as Boomer the woodpecker. He was also the original voice of Zummi Gummi on the TV series Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears for seasons 1–5; Jim Cummings took over for the final season in 1990.
Winchell provided the voices of Sam-I-Am and the unnamed character Sam pesters in Green Eggs and Ham from the animated television special Dr. Seuss on the Loose in 1973. He played Fleabag on The Oddball Couple, Fearless Freddy the Shark Hunter on the Pink Panther spin-off Misterjaw in 1976, as well as a number of one-shot characters in The Blue Racer series. In commercials, he voiced the character of Burger Chef for the fast food chain of the same name, the Scrubbing Bubbles for Dow Chemicals and Mr. Owl for Tootsie Roll Pops.
From 1981–89, Winchell voiced Gargamel on The Smurfs as well as on several Smurfs television movies. During the 1980s, he was called upon by Hanna-Barbera to reprise his role of Dick Dastardly on Yogi's Treasure Hunt (which was a tour-de-force featuring all of the H-B characters) and later on Wake, Rattle and Roll (which was a Wacky Races spin-off). Also on the animated movie Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose, he did the voice of the Dread Baron, who was previously voiced by John Stephenson on the Laugh-a-Lympics.
=== Live action work ===
Winchell (often with Jerry Mahoney) was a frequent guest panelist on What's My Line? in 1956. Other work included on-camera guest appearances on such series as The Polly Bergen Show, as Homer Winch on The Beverly Hillbillies, The Virginian, The Lucy Show, The Donna Reed Show, Claude Wilbur on The Dick Van Dyke Show, Dan Raven, and The Brady Bunch, as well as a 1960 movie that included a compilation of Three Stooges shorts (Stop!, Look and Laugh), and a part in the Jerry Lewis movie Which Way to the Front?.
Winchell appeared as himself in 1963 in the NBC game show Your First Impression. He appeared in the late 1960s in a sketch on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in as a French ventriloquist named Lucky Pierre, who has the misfortune of having his elderly dummy die of a heart attack in the middle of his act. On Love, American Style, he appeared with fellow ventriloquist Shari Lewis in a sketch about two shy people in a waiting room who choose to introduce themselves to each other through their dummies.
=== Winchell-Mahoney Time ===
Winchell's most successful TV show was Winchell-Mahoney Time (1965–1968), a children's show written by his then wife, actress Nina Russel. Winchell played several onscreen characters, including Knucklehead Smiff's father, Bonehead Smiff. He also played himself as friend and adult advisor to Mahoney and Smiff. He also created "Mr. Goody-good," a surreal character, by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, covering his face with a small costume, then having the camera image inverted. The resulting pinheaded character seemed to have an immensely wide mouth and a highly mobile head. Winchell created this illusion by moving his chin back and forth. The show was produced at KTTV in Los Angeles, which was owned by Metromedia.
Winchell started "negotiating with Metromedia in 1970 to syndicate the 305 color segments of the show" but nothing came of it. Finally, "Winchell offered to purchase the tapes outright for $100,000. Metromedia responded with an ultimatum...: Agree on a syndication plan or the tapes will be destroyed." When Winchell did not agree, Metromedia carried out with its threat and the tapes were erased and destroyed. Winchell sued Metromedia and in 1986 a jury awarded him "$3.8 million for the value of the tapes and $14 million in punitive damages against Metromedia." Metromedia appealed the award all the way to the Supreme Court but was unsuccessful."Paul Winchell Gets Last Word and $17.8 Million." "LA Times", July 3, 1986
Winchell's last regular on-camera TV appearances working with his puppets were Storybook Squares, a children's version of the adult celebrity game show Hollywood Squares which was seen Saturday mornings on NBC during the 1969 TV season, and Runaround, another children's TV game show seen Saturday mornings on NBC from September 1972 to September 1973.
== Other pursuits ==
=== Medical and patents ===
Winchell was a pre-med student at Columbia University. He graduated from The Acupuncture Research College of Los Angeles in 1974, and became an acupuncturist. He also worked as a medical hypnotist at the Gibbs Institute in Hollywood. He developed over 30 patents in his lifetime. He invented an artificial heart with the assistance of Dr. Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver, and held an early but not the first U.S. patent for such a device. The University of Utah developed a similar apparatus around the same time, but when they tried to patent it, Winchell's heart was cited as prior art. The university requested that Winchell donate the heart to the University of Utah, which he did.
There is some debate as to how much of Winchell's design Dr. Robert Jarvik used in creating Jarvik's artificial heart. Dr. Heimlich states, "I saw the heart, I saw the patent and I saw the letters. The basic principle used in Winchell's heart and Jarvik's heart is exactly the same."
Jarvik denies that any of Winchell's design elements were incorporated into the device he fabricated for humans — the Jarvik-7, which was successfully implanted into Barney Clark in 1982.U.S. Patent 3,097,366, U.S. Patent 2,917,751
Winchell established more medical patents while working on projects for the Leukemia Society (now known as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) and the American Red Cross. Other devices which he invented and patented include a disposable razor, a blood plasma defroster, a flameless cigarette lighter, an "invisible" garter belt, a fountain pen with a retractable tip, and battery-heated gloves.
=== Humanitarian efforts ===
In the 1980s Winchell, concerned about the starvation in Africa, developed a method to cultivate tilapia fish in tribal villages and small communities. The fish thrives in brackish waters, which made it particularly well suited for sub-Saharan Africa. Winchell appeared before a Congressional Committee with several other celebrities, including actors Richard Dreyfuss and Ed Asner, and Dr. Henry Heimlich. The Committee declined to finance a pilot program for the tilapia aquaculture project (in Africa) because it required digging a well into non-potable water, which the Committee deemed to be inadvisable.
== Personal life ==
thumb|Winchell with his older daughter and Jerry Mahoney in the Howdy Doody studio audience, circa 1948.
Winchell had three children: a son, Stacy Paul Winchell; a daughter, Stephanie, from his first marriage to Dorothy (Dottie) Movitz; and a daughter, April Winchell (the current voice of Clarabelle Cow), who is a comedian and voice actress, from his second marriage to actress Nina Russel. His third wife was the former Jean Freeman. Winchell's autobiography, Winch (2004), exposed many dark areas of Winchell's life, which had hitherto been kept private, including early stories of an abused childhood, a long history of depression and at least one mental breakdown and a short stint in an institution."Winch," New York: Authorhouse, 2004 The autobiography opened old wounds within the Winchell family, prompting daughter April to publicly defend her mother who was negatively portrayed in the book. Winchell was estranged from his children, and thus they were not immediately informed of his death. A message on April's website stated:
I got a phone call a few minutes ago, telling me that my father passed away yesterday. A source close to my dad, or at least, closer than I was, decided to tell me himself, instead of letting me find out on the news, which I appreciate. Apparently a decision had been made not to tell me, or my father's other children. My father was a very troubled and unhappy man. If there is another place after this one, it is my hope that he now has the peace that eluded him on earth.
Winchell was interested and involved in technology right up to the time of his death. He created and maintained a personal website until 2004. For a short time, he operated the now-defunct website ProtectGod.com, which discussed the theology of the latter years of his life.
== Death ==
Winchell retired from his role of Tigger in 1999 after the release of A Valentine for You, before dying of natural causes six years later on June 24, 2005 at age 82. Since Winchell's death and retirement, Jim Cummings, who also supplies the voice of Pooh Bear, took over as Tigger.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1960	Stop! Look! and Laugh 	Himself – The Ventriloquist	Live action
1968	Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day 	Tigger 	
1970	The Aristocats 	Shun Gon – Siamese Cat 	
1970	Which Way to the Front? 	Schroeder 	Live action
1977	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 	Tigger 	
1981	The Fox and the Hound 	Boomer – Woodpecker 	
1983	Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore 	Tigger 	
1997	Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin 	Tigger 	Direct-to-Video
1999	Seasons of Giving 	Tigger (flashback voice) 	Direct-To-Video; Archive Footage
2002	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece	Himself – Voice of 'Tigger'	Video documentary short
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1950–1954 	The Paul Winchell Show 	Host, Jerry Mahoney 	Live action
1953 	Season's Greetings 	Himself 	TV special
1956 	What's My Line? 	Himself – Panelist 	
1962 	Saints and Sinners 	The Promoter 	Live action, "Dear George, The Siamese Cat is Missing"
1962 	The Beverly Hillbillies 	Homer Winch 	Live action
1963 	77 Sunset Strip 	Skeets Riley 	Live action, "Falling Stars"
1964 	Perry Mason 	Henry Clement 	Live action, "The Case of the Nervous Neighbor"
1965–1968 	Winchell-Mahoney Time 	Himself, Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead Smiff, Bonehead Smiff, Mr. Goody-good 	Live action
1966 	Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles 	Diabolical Dauber, Aquator, Devilish Dragster 	The Impossibles segments
1966 	The Dick Van Dyke Show 	Claude Wilbur 	Live action, "Talk to the Snail"
1967 	The Lucy Show 	Himself, Doc Putman 	Live action, "Lucy and Paul Winchell"
1967 	The Dean Martin Show 	Himself 	"Episode #2.29"
1968 	The Virginian 	Jingo 	Live action, "Dark Corridor"
1968–1969 	Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In 	Lucky Pierre 	Live-Action
1968–1970 	Wacky Races 	Dick Dastardly, Clyde, Private Meekly, Sawtooth 	
1968–1970 	The Banana Splits 	Fleegle Beagle 	
1969 	The Flying Nun 	Claudio 	Live action, "My Sister the Star"
1969–1970 	Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines 	Dick Dastardly, The General, Additional voices 	
1969–1970 	The Perils of Penelope Pitstop 	Clyde, Softy, Additional voices 	
1969–1970 	Here's Lucy 	French Knife Thrower, Jeweler, Carlo, The Tailor 	Live action, "Lucy, the Cement Worker", "Lucy and Liberace"
1970 	Nanny and the Professor 	Herbert T. Peabody 	Live action, "The Humanization of Herbert T. Peabody"
1971 	The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show 	Rockhead, Father 	"Mayor May Not"
1971 	The Brady Bunch 	Skip Farnum 	Live action, "And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor"
1971–1972 	Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! 	Bubi Bear, Furface the Lion, Slicks the Fox, Tiptoes the Ostrich, Gabby the Parrot, Specs the Mole, Pipsqueak the Mouse	He did the voice of Slicks in the first episode, but from then on the character was voiced by Daws Butler, who also voiced Furface in some episodes. Also, Winchell did the voice of Pipsqueak in "Bridal Boo Boo" while in "Love Bug Bungle", the character was voiced by Janet Waldo.
1972 	McMillan & Wife 	TV Interviewer 	Live action, "Cop of the Year"
1972 	A Christmas Story 	Goober 	TV special
1972 	Why We Have Elections, or The Kings of Snark 	The Narrator 	TV short
1972 	The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie 	Fleegle, additional voices 	"The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park" & "Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family"
1972–1973 	The New Scooby-Doo Movies 	Additional voices 	
1973 	Circle of Fear 	Mr. Carlson 	Live action, "The Ghost of Potter's Field"
1973 	Yogi's Gang 	Sheik of Selfishness 	"The Sheik of Selfishness"
1973 	Dr. Seuss on the Loose 	Sam-I-Am, Grouchy Guy, Sneetches 	TV short
1973–1975 	Goober and the Ghost Chasers 	Goober, Additional voices 	
1974 	Hong Kong Phooey 	Mr. Shrink, The Mayor 	"Dr. Disguiso & The Incredible Mr. Shrink"
1974–1975 	These Are the Days 	Additional voices 	
1974–1975 	Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch 	Revs, Captain Tough, Mailman, Lifeguard 	
1975 	Adams of Eagle Lake 	Monty 	Live action, "Treasure Chest Murder"
1975 	The Tiny Tree 	Turtle 	TV short
1975 	The Oddball Couple 	Fleabag 	
1976–1977 	The Pink Panther Show 	Fearless Freddy the Shark Hunter 	
1976–1977 	Clue Club 	Woofer, Additional voices 	
1977 	CB Bears 	Shake 	Shake, Rattle & Roll segment
1977–1978 	The Skatebirds 	Moe, The Amazing Bordoni, Professor Octane, Blob Leader, Woofer 	The Robonic Stooges and Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives segments
1977–1978 	Fred Flintstone and Friends 	Goober, Additional Voices 	
1978 	To Catch a Halibut 	Fearless Freddy 	TV short
1978 	Hanna-Barbera's All-Star Comedy Ice Revue 	Bubi Bear/Fleego 	TV special
1979 	Casper and the Angels 	Additional voices 	
1979 	The Super Globetrotters 	Bad Blue Bart, The Phantom Cowboy 	
1980–1982 	Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo 	Additional voices 	
1980–1982 	Heathcliff 	Marmaduke, Phil Winslow, Additional voices 	
1981 	Trollkins 	Mayor Lumpkin 	
1981 	The Flintstones: Wind-Up Wilma 	Umpire, Thief, Reporter 	TV film
1981–1989 	The Smurfs 	Gargamel 	
1982 	My Smurfy Valentine 	Gargamel 	TV special
1982 	The Smurfs Christmas Special 	Gargamel 	TV special
1982 	The Smurfs' Springtime Special 	Gargamel 	TV special
1982 	Spider-Man 	Uncle Ben, Silvermane 	2 episodes
1982–1983 	Meatballs & Spaghetti 	Additional voices 	
1983 	The Smurfic Games 	Gargamel 	TV special
1984 	Here are the Smurfs 	Gargamel 	TV movie
1985 	The Jetsons 	Dr. Input 	"S'No Relative"
1985 	The Disney Family Album 	Himself 	"Voice Actors"
1985–1988 	Yogi's Treasure Hunt 	Dick Dastardly, Additional voices 	
1985–1990 	Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears 	Zummi Gummi 	
1986 	The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure 	King Saul 	TV film
1986 	Smurfquest 	Gargamel 	TV movie
1987 	Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose	The Dread Baron 	TV film
1988–1990; 1991	The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 	Tigger, Additional voices 	He left the series in Season 3, however returned in the final episodes.
1990–1991 	Wake, Rattle and Roll 	Dick Dastardly 	Fender Bender 500 segment
1991 	Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too 	Tigger 	TV short
1991–1994 	Garfield and Friends 	Additional voices 	Joined the cast in season 4
1993 	Droopy, Master Detective 	Rumpley's Dad 	"A Chip off the old Block Head"
1998 	A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving 	Tigger 	TV film
1999 	A Valentine for You 	Tigger 	TV film
=== Theme parks ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1999	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	Tigger (Walt Disney World version)	
== References ==
== External links ==
* Obituary by Mark Evanier
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