Somewhere down this page, April Winchell writes about her complex, contentious relationship with her father, Paul. I obviously don't want to get in the middle of a family matter but people are writing me to ask if what she says is true or exaggerated or wacko or what. I'll just say that I don't think anyone who knew Paul well will think that any of her comments are out of line, and some might be surprised at the amount of compassion shown.

This might be worth noting. Friday evening, I attended a party for June Foray and when I came home, I had an e-mail from a friend with the rumor that Paul Winchell had died. I was skeptical since I'd just come from a gathering of folks who knew Paul and it had not been mentioned. In fact, I had a chat with Paul's agent there and he obviously hadn't heard any such thing. I couldn't check the truth of the rumor that evening since everyone I would have called was still at the party. It took me until around 5:00 the next afternoon to get in touch with someone who confirmed it and I posted my announcement here at 5:36.

By this point, the rumor was making its way through newsgroups and, as nothing had hit the mainstream news outlets, folks were wondering if it was true. After I made my post, some there began arguing as to whether I was a reliable enough source that my report could be believed. (And by the way, that does not bother me at all. I don't think you should even believe every word on the New York Times website, let alone my silly little offering here. A healthy skepticism about anything posted to Ye Olde Internet is not a bad idea.)

A little after 7:00 Saturday evening, April posted on her site that she had just received a call from someone telling her that her father had died. So I heard about it around 21 hours before she did, and I posted it on my site more than an hour before anyone thought to call and inform the man's daughter. That ought to tell you something.

Some websites are making much of the near-simultaneous deaths of two members of the Disney Winnie the Pooh cast: Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger, on Friday…John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, on Saturday. It's actually worse than that. They're forgetting that Howard Morris, who provided the voice of Gopher in the first few Pooh featurettes, passed away only a little over a month ago.

John Fiedler had a great career apart from his brief moments as Piglet. He was wonderful in one of my favorite movies, the film version of The Odd Couple, re-creating a role he'd originated on the Broadway stage. He was even better in his recurring role on The Bob Newhart Show. Here's a link to the New York Times obit, which appears this morning right under the one for Paul Winchell. This is not fun.

Ray Arthur sends this message…

I too was in awe of Winchell as a kid, and had growing respect for his inventions as I got older and understood his contributions on a whole 'nother level. I remember as a young child (with a limited understanding of ventriloquism) having my father explain how great Edgar Bergen was on the radio. And questioning, even at 7 or 8, "but Dad, ventriloquism on the radio? Now, there's no question that Bergen routines were hysterical, but I saw the quality only from the comedic standpoint not the ventriliqual (if that's a word) standpoint. (Later, near the end of his career I saw Bergen on TV…"but Dad, his lips are moving. Paul Winchell's lips don't move." Did I just miss Bergen when he was great, as a younger performer? Or was Winchell that much better?

Well, I preferred Winchell but that may have been because I was a child of television and he was doing my kind of shows when I was growing up. Also, Charlie McCarthy with his top hat, monocle and snooty attitude always struck me as really being of another era.

Winchell was much better from a technical standpoint, and I believe Mr. Bergen even admitted as much. But not moving your lips is only one part of being a great ventriloquist. There are plenty of guys around who, thanks to diligent practice, can recite Peter Piper over and over without the slightest lip-quiver. What too many of them lack is the ability to amuse, and some even fall short in the skill of misdirection. As with a good magician, part of the art is to make unnatural actions seem natural and to get you to look where he wants you to look. Bergen was very funny and a good actor. The only part he didn't have down were the lip movements which, of course, didn't matter on radio.

There's a great old episode of I've Got a Secret where he came on with Mortimer Snerd and answered the panel's questions…only the secret was that Bergen wasn't doing the Snerd voice. Actor-comedian Chuck McCann was hidden under the desk and he did Mortimer's voice while Bergen moved the puppet and his own lips. You read that right: To make the bit work, Bergen had to act like he was speaking for Mr. Snerd so he moved his own lips and did all the usual mannerisms that he did to throw attention on the dummy. What's more, Chuck says that it was Bergen's idea to do it that way, meaning that Edgar acknowledged that he wasn't very good at not moving the old lips. I don't think it mattered to him and I suspect it didn't matter to most of the audience. It's like being able to see the wire when Peter Pan is flying on stage. It's more fun to pretend you don't see it.

By the way: The best ventriloquist I know of who's working these days is Ronn Lucas, who's currently appearing in an afternoon show at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. You can see a five minute video of him over on this page of his website. He has all the skills I mentioned, including being very funny. He bills himself as "the man who can make anything talk" and he really can. One night, we were in the coffee shop at the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, and he convinced the waitress that there had to be hidden speakers in the salt and pepper shakers, the sugar bowl, the napkin holder, the Heinz Ketchup…everything on the table. In fact, I just moved my mouth and let him order for me. If you get to Vegas, go see him…and go early so you can get a seat up front and judge how good he really is.

For the last few years, the best CDs of recorded Broadway-type material and show tunes have been produced by a pal of mine named Bruce Kimmel. He worked for a time for Varese Sarabande and was responsible for some excellent material there. Now, he's launched his own label and it's called Kritzerland. You can hear cuts from his first two releases at this website and you can even order the CDs themselves. Pay special attention to the new collection of songs by the mysterious Guy Haines, who appears on a lot of Bruce's albums but who is rarely seen in public.

Interesting that most of the obits now appearing for Paul Winchell are headlined something like, "Paul Winchell, voice of Tigger in 'Winnie the Pooh,' dies at 82" and then the fact that he was a pioneer of early television, the most admired ventriloquist of his time and the inventor of the artificial heart are kind of like bonus, "oh, by the way…" details. I know reporters are supposed to look at every story and ask themselves what about it will relate most directly to the readers, and I agree that Tigger was better known today than most of Paul's other accomplishments. Still, it does seem to trivialize his more important achievements to rank them that way. Paul was a genuine superstar of 1950's TV and his artificial heart hastened the invention of a more advanced one that has saved lives. Somehow, the priorities seem a bit askew to me.

But then again, Paul himself often seemed like one of those folks who's perpetually baffled as to what to put on their tax form under "occupation." The times I was with him, the conversation could be a bit schizoid because he'd be in the mood to talk about the latest medical breakthroughs and it would seem like a silly diversion to ask him about his early TV work. Or he'd get to talking about that end of his life and he wouldn't want to discuss anything else…except, of course, if he suddenly recalled a good dirty joke.

We hired him a few times to perform voices on the Garfield cartoon show. Once, it was on the same day that Buddy Hackett was in, and Buddy had spent about five minutes telling us a particularly filthy (but funny) story about a stutterer who visits a brothel. Later, after Mr. Hackett had departed, Paul arrived. When he realized he had an all-male audience, he told us the latest joke he'd heard. That's right. The exact same joke, almost verbatim. We all had to stand there and laugh and make like we hadn't heard it an hour earlier. Paul's performance of it, by the way, was better than Buddy's.

I think that was the same recording session where I said one of the stupidest things I've ever said in my life…and there's no small list of examples from which to choose. Paul was assigned two different roles — the elderly operator of a small, mom-and-pop market…and the evil corporate supermarket mogul who was trying to buy him out. At one point in the script, there was a scene of the two men arguing with each other and usually when that occurs, you try to assign the parts to two different actors. This time, it wasn't practical so I had Paul play both and I actually said to him, "I'm sorry, Paul, but I've got you talking to yourself here on page three. You think you can handle it?"

There was a pause and everyone in the studio looked at me like I was full-goose crazy, which I guess I was. I had just said that to Paul Winchell, the undisputed heavyweight champ at having public conversations with yourself. Everyone laughed and Paul said something like, "So, who's working your head today?" Needless to say, his dual performances were flawless.

I always felt a little in awe of Paul, and unable to properly communicate to him what his presence on TV had meant to me as a child. I told him how I'd treasured my Jerry Mahoney ventriloquist figure and practiced endlessly to try and do what he did. I was not the first person to say this to him — not even the hundredth, I'm sure — but he never seemed to know how to respond to it. I'm not sure he understood how valuable his example had been to so many in my generation, even though most of us Winchell fans hadn't grown up to become voice-tossers or even performers. He had his own great reverence and debt to Edgar Bergen and rather fiercely resisted the compliment that he was at least as great as — if not greater than — Bergen. Whether it was true or not — and Paul sure seemed to think it wasn't — he just didn't want to hear it or deal with it. Which is not to say he wasn't proud of things he'd accomplished. It's just that you could never gauge where that pride might lie at any given moment and when you might venture near some sore spot.

On her weblog today, Paul's daughter April (from his second of three marriages) writes, "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." Based on my admittedly-limited encounters with Paul, I'd say that's a valid assessment and a truly appropriate wish.

The first newspaper obit I've seen for Paul Winchell. [Los Angeles Times, registration perhaps necessary]

An amazing man died yesterday at the age of 82. Paul Winchell was a pioneer of early television, appearing on hundreds of shows with his wooden-headed friends, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. He was a great ventriloquist — maybe the best ever — but he was also a great all-around entertainer and inventor.

Paul was born Paul Wilchin, and an early hero in his life was radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. (Years later, a whole generation of voice-throwers would cite Paul Winchell as their early hero.) Paul got his start on the popular radio program, Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour and he later toured with stage presentations featuring talent discovered for that show. He debuted on television in 1948, at a time when few American homes even had sets, and was a mainstay of network programming for years with several different shows of his own and frequent guest appearances on others. Adults and kids alike loved the irreverent Jerry Mahoney who flirted with ladies and sassed the man who operated his head. They also loved the shy, silly Knucklehead, as well as other characters that Winchell devised. Paul was an extremely clever man and his shows were marked with inventive uses of the new medium.

Beginning in the mid-fifties, Paul turned that inventiveness into non-entertainment directions, especially medicine. His most famous achievement was in the invention of an artificial heart. Others advanced Paul's basic design to the point of making it practical but all acknowledged that the breaktrough, the underlying design, was the work of Paul Winchell. He invented numerous other things as well, including battery-heated gloves and a flameless cigarette lighter, and was as proud of his many patents as he was of all his awards as a performer.

During the sixties, Winch — as many of his friends called him — cut back on his ventriloquism and focused on his inventing. Most of his performing was limited to cartoon voice work — a field in which he quickly became one of the top practitioners. He was Dick Dastardly on Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley, Gargamel on The Smurfs, Fleagle on The Banana Splits, and many more…but his most enduring characterization would surely be Tigger in the Disney cartoons of Winnie the Pooh. Paul played Tigger for various projects until a few years ago when a rasp in his voice finally (and controversially in some circles) caused Disney to replace him. He also did occasional on-camera acting jobs, many of them sans dummies, and was very good in them.

I was privileged to know Paul and to work with him on several occasions. He was a brilliant man who made no secret that he was also a troubled man, uncertain of his own accomplishments and torn between performing and doing something "more serious." At times, he seemed genuinely stunned that he had been a personal hero to so many of us.

He had an amazing thirst for what some would call "dirty jokes." One of my oddest memories is of sitting with a group of friends in the living room of a small condo he had in Encino. Completely impromptu, Paul picked up a Jerry Mahoney dummy and launched into what had to have been the filthiest and funniest routine ever performed by a beloved children's entertainer. I enjoyed the performance but couldn't help but "flash back" to being five years old and watching Paul and Jerry hosting Super Circus on ABC. It was one of those moments when you're acutely aware of how far you've come since childhood.

Last year, Paul published a dark, candid autobiography called Winch, detailing some of the demons that had plagued him over the years. The book troubled many of Paul's friends, and some of his fans regretted reading it. Here's the review I posted at the time. As noted, it's not one of those "here's a list of my successes" memoirs. It was more like, "Here's how I went crazy." The last few times we spoke, I got the feeling that he was more at peace with himself than he'd been in decades, and I hope that was not just wishful thinking on my part.

I do not believe word of Paul's death has hit the wire services yet, but it's been floating around the Internet since last night. Sadly, I was finally able to confirm it via a friend of the family so I decided to go ahead and post this here. I'm sure there will be news stories soon and tributes. In the meantime, you can learn more about this extraordinary man — and even hear his theme song — over at his website. Even that exhaustive collection of articles and clippings will only give you some inkling of the brilliance of Winch.

The overnight Saturday Night Live rerun that airs tomorrow morning is the one from 2/10/79 hosted by Cicely Tyson with musical guests Talking Heads. It's not, as I recall, a very memorable episode.

This coming week on GSN's What's My Line? reruns: Tomorrow morning's Mystery Guest is Gene Kelly. Monday morning, it's Sal Mineo. Tuesday morn, catch Buddy Hackett. Wednesday, we get Tony Franciosa and Shelley Winters, plus one of the non-celeb guests is the great glamour photographer, Bunny Yeager. Thursday AM, you have your Julius LaRosa and then on Friday, it's Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys. These episodes are from June and July of '57.

Here's a recent interview with Peter Palmer, who had the title role in both the Li'l Abner Broadway show and the movie of it.

If you couldn't get through to those links to the Al Franken Show interview of Ed Klein, here's a better link. And if you don't want to listen, here's a transcript. I found it fascinating, and not because I'm that wild about Hillary Clinton — I'm still hoping she isn't the candidate — but because I think most political/polemic books are full of sloppy, blind research and it's so rare that the authors get nailed. The interview shows are either too nice to them or, more often, the interviewers lack sufficient knowledge to call people on their fibs and distortions. Nice to see an exception that reminds us what a news-oriented interview should be like.

(And yes, I know that an hour long version of The Al Franken Show airs the following weekday on the Sundance Channel. I'm guessing Monday's show will have the Klein interview but since Klein wasn't in the studio with Franken and Conason, the audio version is probably just as good.)

[UPDATE, a little later: I'm told the Klein interview made it into last night's Sundance Channel edition. The next airing of that one will be early Monday morning.]

June Foray was honored this evening with a celebration at the Motion Picture Academy,  from whence I have just returned.  It was to honor June's many years of service to the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch. The Academy is, as you may know, a somewhat political entity with various folks lobbying for more attention and money to be directed towards their area of specialty. The lighting people are always pushing for more Oscars to be presented (and more prominently) for lighting, and for more film retrospectives and exhibitions to focus on lighting, etc. June's efforts on her committee are high among the reasons that there are still Oscars for short subjects, and now one for feature animation, and that all are presented in the on-air telecast and treated as major areas. So a load of her friends and cohorts convened to salute her, and there was food and drink and speechifying and applause and a very good time was had by all.

This is as good a place as any to mention that I am assisting Ms. Foray with her long-awaited biography. Soon, I will be advertising here for someone who wants to earn rotten money for transcribing interviews I'll be conducting with her. Right now, I'm asking if anyone out there can help me jog her memory with some of the more obscure things she's done. Her powers of recall are very good but no one could have worked as much as that woman has worked and remember more than about a third of it. The other day, she received a residual check for her work on the Frank Sinatra movie, Dirty Dingus Magee and she called me up and said, "Was I in that? What did I do?" I've never seen the film so she called Frank Sinatra Jr and he didn't know, either. But June's in a lot of movies dubbing other actresses and sometimes children, and I'd like to try and identify as many of them as I can.

In the speeches this evening, director Arthur Hiller mentioned one such role. When he did the 1971 movie, The Hospital, there was a line spoken by Diana Rigg that he thought was not perfect. This was decided during the editing process and as Ms. Rigg was back in England, he brought June in and she redubbed it with a slightly different inflection. She did it so well, he said, that Diana Rigg did not even notice the substitution and had to be told that it had been done and which line it was. That's the kind of thing I'd like to itemize…as many of those as possible. If you know of any, let me know. June is a remarkable woman and I have a feeling this is going to be a remarkable book.

Item before last, I mentioned the evisceration of author Ed Klein on today's Al Franken Show. Here's a link to a site where you can download a couple of WMA files with the audio.

Who created the 1975 Marvel comic book, Omega the Unknown?

Here's a nice list of Free Software Utilities one can download on the Internet. I have a few other recommendations in a couple of categories and I'll try and post them here soon. But over all, this is a pretty good source of good freeware.

I'm listening to a little of The Al Franken Show at the moment. He has on Ed Klein, the author of that new book on Hillary Clinton, and Klein was either very, very brave to come on the show or very, very dumb. Reporter Joe Conason is ripping the man and his book into teensy shreds, citing errors and forcing Klein to either admit he got something wrong or to defend it by saying, "Well, I heard that from someone," and of course, he can't say who that someone was. I missed the first part but I haven't yet heard Klein able to defend the accuracy of anything being discussed. No wonder Conservative pundits are distancing themselves from this guy.

It's interesting to me that some of Klein's critics have brought up what I always felt was an underrated aspect of all the Clinton-bashing that goes on…and it's true of a lot of Bush-bashing and other political extremism that infests our national dialogue, though the anti-Clinton folks brought it to a high art. It's the sheer profit motive. There's money in writing books and giving lectures that demonize polarizing public figures. A certain amount of America — surely not the majority but more than enough to make a book into a best-seller — wants to hear that the people they despise are even worse than anyone could imagine. And here's the key thing: It doesn't even matter that much if the "information" may be incorrect, just as it doesn't matter to most fans of Pro Wrestling that the outcome of the match is predetermined. They want to hate someone and to see that person get beaten up.

No one of any substance is willing to stand behind Ed Klein's book but according to some reports, he's going to clear something like $10 million from it, plus whatever advances he receives for his next few projects. He's not making that money because he's a good reporter. He's making it because he's giving a certain group of people what they want to hear.