Paul Winchell

Paul Winchell (né Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s.[5] 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.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 Ozwald body, creative pencils to draw the eyes and nose, and a "magic mirror" that automatically turned a reflection upside down.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.In October 1956, Winchell moved to ABC, hosting Circus Time on Thursday evening for one season before returning to Winchell-Mahoney on Sunday afternoons.Winchell 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).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.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 spinoff 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.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 spinoff).(On the April 29 episode, in which Winchell was a panelist, the mystery guest was Edgar Bergen; after his identity was revealed, Jerry Mahoney and Mortimer Snerd carried on a conversation.)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.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.Other devices that he invented and patented included a disposable razor, a blood plasma defroster, a flameless cigarette lighter, a garter belt with no outwardly visible lines, a fountain pen with a retractable tip, and battery-heated gloves.The autobiography caused a major estrangement between Winchell and his children, prompting daughter April to publicly defend her mother, who was negatively portrayed in the book.