Paul Winchell

Major began to interview me:

"Here's a fifteen year old boy from Cleveland named Paul Winchell" the Major began.

"Tell me Paul, what are you going to do for us this evening?"

"Well Sir, I'm going to give my impersonation of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy".

"Very well. Ladies and gentlemen here's Paul Winchell giving his impression of Edgar Bergen and that celebrated clothespin in a high hat- Charlie McCarthy".

Jerry, who I then called Terry, said he was driving a car that suddenly began to speed, frightening him. As the straight man of the team I said, "I bet you were in a dilemma" and Jerry replied, "No, it was a DeSoto". The joke got a big laugh from the studio audience because the Desoto automobile was the Major's sponsor.

When the laugh died down I had Jerry ask, "How'm I doin Major, how'm I doin?"

The rest of the act went over well and I finished with a song that won me a rousing cheer and applause. At the conclusion of the program I was declared the winner and I rushed home to give my mother the one hundred dollar prize money in cash.

Winch, Paul Winchell's autobiography, is not a typical Hollywood memoir. In fact, it is more like a Twilight Zone episode, in which a celebrity ventriloquist and television star, Paul Winchell (also called Winch) lives out his life in two totally separate worlds. During the 1930's, a kid from Coney Island is struck by the art of Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist who has soared to fame on a radio show, the Chase and Sanborn hour. Bergen, through his writings and performances becomes the mentor that launches young Winchell on his career. Eventually, Winch becomes to television what Bergen was to radio, climbing through the world of radio and Big Bands. Still, the death of his mother, Clara, who he both loved and feared, an unhappy marriage and torrid love affair ignite the latent psychological problems within. Winch, despite his great success, lives in a supernatural world, assailed by an apparition, which assumes monstrous, almost deific proportions. Eventually, this interior world turned upside down, overtakes the real world. His fight to exorcise his demons continues, as he develops numerous prime time TV shows and children's shows, which dominate the airwaves for more than two decades. Although partially drowning in a world of unspeakable fear and supernatural horror, he studies psychology, religion, mythology and, medical hypnosis. Unwilling to be imprisoned by his second life, he continues his productive work in entertainment and even undertakes many inventions, including the amazing artificial heart, courageous enterprises for someone consumed by a terrifying nightmare. Until this book, Paul Winchell has remained intensely private about his personal life. But now he wants to share his story, hoping to influence others to make their own odyssey towards wholeness and psychological health.

More details
Winch: The Autobiography of Paul Winchell
By Paul Winchell
Published by Lightning Source Inc, 2004
ISBN 1414068972, 9781414068978
408 pages