Jim MacGeorge, R.I.P.

He was an actor, both on-camera and doing cartoon voices. He was a puppeteer and a stand-up comedian. He was a writer and perhaps the best Stan Laurel impersonator ever. He was Jim MacGeorge and he passed away peacefully this A.M. in his sleep at the age of 92. Oh — and he was also one of the best joke-tellers I ever heard.

Most of his on-camera acting was as Mr. Laurel, often with his pal Chuck McCann playing Mr. Hardy…though each was known to occasionally cheat on the other with a different Oliver or Stan. He also supplied the voice, not of Stan but of Ollie in the sixties Hanna-Barbera Laurel & Hardy cartoon series. (He should have done both but the Executive Producer insisted on playing Stan himself.) Jim was also a friend of Stan Laurel's — that's who put him and Chuck together — and an expert on The Boys and their work.

His puppeteering was mainly for Beany and Cecil. The original Time for Beany puppet show starred Daws Butler and Stan Freberg and when they quit, Jim was part of the team that replaced them, usually performing as Cap'n Huffenpuff, along with many of the supporting cast members and often, Beany. Later when Beany & Cecil became an animated series, Jim spoke for Beany, Cap'n Huffenpuff and many of the supporting cast members.

He was also heard in dozens of other cartoon shows including Kwicky Koala, Yogi's Space Race, The Flintstones, Duck Tales, The Bionic Six and many others. And he worked for a time as a writer for Jay Ward, mainly on Fractured Flickers and the Super Chicken cartoons.

And he did an awful lot of stand-up comedy work..usually, the last few decades, in a seated position. Just a few months ago, he was still performing, mostly for senior citizens' groups that adored him. Here's thirteen minutes of Jim MacGeorge that very much remind me what it was like to be around this lovely, funny man…