Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: PoohBear
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 03:17 PM

The hunny tree now bears a black bow. . .
PB
"Icky, sticky stuff - only fit for heffalumps and woozles!"

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: C-flat
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 01:06 PM

Although I'd never heard his name, or knew of his vent' act, his voice as Tigger and Dick Dastardly is very familiar to me and conspicuous by its' absence in the later Pooh films.
Clearly a very talented man.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: GUEST,Nickp (cookieless)
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 12:29 PM

T.T.F.N. Tigger....

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: clueless don
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 11:30 AM

I am not an expert on ventriloquists, but Paul Winchell was by far the best I ever saw. I never saw his lips move when the dummies were talking. I also remember the ventriloquist who worked Farfel and Danny O'Day (identified by Bill Hahn as Jimmy Nelson.) His lips didn't move either, but he held his mouth in a funny aspect (lower jaw jutting out.) Not so with Paul Winchell, as I recall - he looked completely natural. I believe that Edgar Bergen, on the other hand, was famous for having his lips move!

After his '50's TV show ended, I remember wondering what happened to Winchell (though I do remember a guest appearance on the Dick Van Dyke show.) Based on the obit I read yesterday, he had apparently gone back to school! What a remarkable man.

I also mourn the passing of John Fiedler, whom I remember from many character roles as well as being the voice of Piglet. As I understand it, he was the only one of the original Disney Pooh voices who didn't get replaced in the later Pooh movies. Paul Winchell was apparently quite upset about being replaced as the voice of Tigger.

Don

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 06:21 PM

My slight error---Danny O'Day was a "dummy"---Jimmy Nelson was the ventriloquist that had Farfel---and Danny.

Many of the puppets were made by the same puppetmaker and, hence, looked similar. Probably why you were in error

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 06:12 PM

Danny O'Day was the ventriloquist that created and used Farfel. Nothing to do with Paul Winchell

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 05:52 PM

I loved Paul Winchell and I too remember Jerry and Knucklehead and Farfil so well. Even now when I pick up a Nestle's anything I sing as Farfil, "N-E-S-T-L-E-S....Nestle's makes the very best....Chocccccccccccccc-lit....CLOMP."   Hey, it ain't right unless you get the jaw clomp at the end!

Truly a talented man and a significant part of my childhood. RIP Paul and thank you.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 04:37 PM

I must relate a few thoughts about Paul Winchell that were not mentioned here or in the obit (though it was in the NY TImes today).

But 1st. Ron is quite correct about the generational thing. Just yesterday I mentioned his passing on our radio program and mentioned the earlier times---the fellow on before me looked surprised and said that it must be generational since he knows him as "Tigger".

OK--2 things that are hardly ever mentioned:

      1) Aside4 from his ventriloquism he did a thing on camera that I was never (as most people) able to figure out until it was revealed in a magazine--with his permission.   There was a "puppet" w/ dangling legs that seemed to be speaking with the top of his head doing what our jaws do when we speak.   Nobody holding the puppet and so on. The trick--it turned out---WInchell lay on his back--hung a puppet body from above his nose so that his jaw was now the top of the "puppet" head and the nose and features were painted on Winchell in the proper spots---black set/camera and one light on him---that was a great gimmick w/ really clever dialogue. If you can ever see a clip of that you will get the idea since I doubt this description does it justice

      2) He was also a prolific inventor who holds some 5 or so patents for such things as an artificial heart, battery heated gloves, and more.

      3) He also had the idea (with some other celebs) of breeding Talapia fish to feed hungry nations and presented the plan to Congress---which rejected it.

    Wasn't the puppet gang of his called the Knothole Gang?   Jerry Mahoney , Pres.


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 04:23 PM

(See what I mean?)

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 04:22 PM

My fingers betrayed me. In the first line above, I intended to type "Fiedler," but "Fielding" is what came out.

I washed my hands this morning and I can't do a thing with them. . . .
Don Firth

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:52 PM

Yeah. Bad day at Pooh Corner. John Fielding was the voice of Piglet.

The first time I ever saw him on television was on Star Trek: TOS, in an episode entitled "Wolf in the Fold." He played Hengist, an apparently innocuous little fellow investigating a murder in which Scotty was the prime suspect. But the murderer turned out to be Hengist himself. He'd been haunting the galaxy for millenia. One of his incarnations was Jack the Ripper.

He also appeared as a sex machine in an episode of Golden Girls.

Fiedler had a lot of scope as an actor.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:27 PM

And the voice of Piglet is gone now too....

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:21 PM

I think to most people under 45, he is known as the voice of Tigger. Don't forget that his kids show went off the air in the early 60's. And Tigger became more than just a supporting character, thanks to Paul Winchell.

I'm not trying to lessen his contributions as a ventriloquist, just trying to be honest about his contributions since the mid-60's. He was a brilliant ventriloquist, but most people under the age of 45 rarely had a chance to see that.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 03:15 PM

To whom is Paul Winchell better known as "the voice of Tigger" than as a brilliant ventriloquist? Even to someone who liked the Disneyfication of A.A. Milne, would the unseen voice behind a supporting character really be that well known?

I remember Jerry and Knucklehead and Farfel the dog very well. I suppose that how one remembers Paul Winchell must be a function of one's age.

I've read the option that Shari Lewis was the most skilled ventriloquist of them all. Unfortunately, I wasn't watching that closely or that critically when I was a kid; however, I have had at least one chance to see her in some old kinescopes (precursor to videotape) after learning how highly respected she was among her peers, and she was truly amazing.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 02:45 PM

I speak for all teenage ventriloquists of that time when I say that Shari Lewis was the ultimate goddess. I am sorry to say that I once attended an X-rated ventriloquist act (yes, there are such) where there was a brilliant woman ventriloquist who did an amazing Shari Lewis imitation, and gave a new meaning to the term hand puppet. It was truly appalling and one of the funniest things I have ever seen.


yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 01:43 PM

I fondly remember rushing home from school to watch Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney on TV. "Hurray, Hurrah, it's Winchell-Mahoney time, it's fime for fun!". Or something close to that!

I think it is a wonderful testament to his talent that he is being remembered as the voice of Tigger.   It was his voice that turned a second rate character in a Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon and turned the part into one of the most beloved characters from those cartoons.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: GUEST,smiler
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 01:39 PM

He was also the voice of Dick Dastardly

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 12:49 PM

I never saw the Winnie-the-Pooh movies--I dislike intensely what Disney does to many fine stories. I remember Winchell for his earlier work, and for some of the acting jobs he did over the years.

Paul Winchell got his start immitating Edgar Bergen. Winchell and Sheri Lewis were two highly unique and talented individuals who got a lot of their fame from working with hand puppets. I don't think there's anyone else out there to replace them. The only other one as big as they, who fit that mold, was Jim Henson. Frank Oz is a puppeteer, but he's rarely beside or in front of the puppet (as big as he was as Yoda, you don't see his face and recognise Oz. And does anyone else think Yoda sounds a touch too much like Bert?) So many puppets in use now, aside from Sesame Street, are animatronic. They're remarkable things, make no mistake, but before all of that puppet firepower was possible, there were those who could do the ventriloquism and puppetry and make you believe that there were two discrete individuals there in front of you.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Wesley S
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 12:11 PM

Hillary - That was the show I was referring to that I watched as a kid. For some reason one of the things I remembered the most about the show as the bassett hound Farfil { sp? } and the Nestles chocolate commercials.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 11:41 AM

I think it is absurd that Paul Winchell is supposed to be remembered as the voice of Tigger in those crappy ripoffs of Winnie-the-Pooh.

He was the most famous ventriloquist of his time (maybe not the best, but far and away the most influential), and extraordinarily talented and energetic. He was a beacon to us lesser mortals. I remember poring over his ventriloquism books and one of the great days of my life was getting my first Jerry Mahoney dummy (which I still have). What a guy.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Lady Hillary
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 11:41 AM

Perhaps it's a matter of age but the Paul Winchell I fondly remember was as the stooge for Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smif.

EBarnacle

Subject: Obit: Paul Winchell - The voice of Tigger
From: Wesley S
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 09:08 AM

Here's the story from the Chicago Sun-Times - other articles have pointed out that he was quite the inventor - he held many patents including one for an early version of the artificial heart. I was one of those kids that got to see his early TV show. I'll miss his voice.

LOS ANGELES -- Paul Winchell, a ventriloquist, inventor and children's TV show host best known for creating the lispy voice of Winnie the Pooh's animated friend Tigger, has died. He was 82.

Winchell died Friday morning in his sleep at his Moorpark home, Burt Du Brow, a television producer and close family friend, told the Los Angeles Times.

Over six decades, Winchell was a master ventriloquist -- bringing dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff to life on television -- and an inventor who held 30 patents, including one for an early artificial heart he built in 1963.

But he was perhaps best known for his work as the voice of the lovable tiger in animated versions of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh -- with his trademark ''T-I-double grrrr-R.''

Winchell first voiced Tigger in 1968 for Disney's ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,'' which won an Academy Award for best animated short film, and continued to do so through 1999's ''Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving.''

''I first met Walt Disney 25 or 30 years ago,'' Winchell recalled in a 1988 interview with the Associated Press. ''He said, 'We're both in the same business. I use cartoons and you use dummies, and we both entertain children.' That was long before I started working here. Walt gave me a VIP tour of the studio. I remember people doing voices. I said, 'Gee, that must be fun.' And here I am.''

Winchell is survived by his wife of 31 years, the former Jean Freeman; five children, and three grandchildren.