Word: ventriloquists
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Paul Winchell,* mouthpiece-godfather of a goggle-eyed dummy named Jerry Mahoney, is out to prove that there is more to his talents than dandling a doll on his knee. Television's top ventriloquist, Winchell is beginning his sixth TV season by filling his half-hour show (Sun. 7 p.m. E.S.T., NBC) to the brim with Paul Winchell, master of ceremonies, man of many voices, dramatic actor, singer, dancer and soap salesman (Cheer and Camay). By such breathless activity, Winchell, a muscular, 29-year-old New Yorker, hopes to escape an occupational hazard of ventriloquism: becoming incidental...
...Stooge. A ventriloquist's dummy is usually the center of attention and gets most of the funny lines in a comedy act. Edgar Bergen, never as well known as his Charlie McCarthy, once lamented: "I didn't intend to end up the stooge in the combination, but it pays so well I can't quit now." Winchell, who does not enjoy being addressed as "Paul Mahoney," tries to dominate his dummy by demanding top billing, keeping some of the laughs for himself, and crowding Jerry's act by introducing new characters. A Brooklyn bumpkin named Knucklehead...
...have a little of everything in it: a gun-shooting crisis, reminiscent of High Noon, with clocks inexorably moving toward midnight; a barroom brawl scene from an old Hoot Gibson silent; veteran Cowboy Gibson himself as a U.S. marshal whose blonde daughter (Laurie Anders) sings, dances, does a ventriloquist act and is equally expert at shooting, riding and jujitsu; guest appearances by such familiar faces from the wide-open spaces as Tex Ritter, Preston Foster, Jimmy Wakely, Buddy Baer, Johnny Mack Brown; a theme song called The Marshal's Daughter, renegade Indians, a mysterious masked rider, a cowboy quartet...
...were chauffeured home, changed from filmy evening gowns and white dinner jackets to jeans, skirts and blouses. Next stop was the Elks' Lodge, where supper was waiting. There were hot dogs, half-pound hamburgers, sandwiches and deviled eggs. After supper there was a floor show featuring a lady ventriloquist from Kansas City, who had been tipped to the names and peccadilloes of members of the senior class...
...admirers copied him, actors and managers feared him. At one time he was barred from twelve theaters. In 1929, he "sloshed" American Actress Lillian Foster so hard ("a voice like a ventriloquist's doll") that she cornered him at his table in the Savoy and slapped him. "Throw this woman out!" cried Swaffer. The headwaiter did. Three years ago, when Miss Foster died, Swaffer's lead on his story was: "This is the obituary of a very clever actress who ruined herself by slapping my face...