Given what you are about to read, it makes what you are about to see all the more amazing!
Did you know that long before the Muppets were created, Paul Winchell had come up with moving arms on Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff? It’s true, and became necessary when he came to NBC television in primetime from 1950 till ’54. He created an “armed” version of each dummy and hired a very capable assistant to do the hand work.
At 22:55 on this video, you’ll see Jerry’s hands and arms come to life, and he and Paul play the Christmas bells while singing “Jingle Bells”…in many ways, this is simply brilliant work! By the way, there’s a great animated Camay soap add here and the NBC close. The ear muff piece at the front is fun too. How very clever.
After his prime time show on NBC, Winchell had other hit TV shows and Carol Burnett is reported to have made her television debut with Paul in 1955. He also invented a working artificial heart long before the first transplants. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
I wanted one of these as a kid, but Santa never brought one.
This is our friend Frank Merklein with Paul Winchell at NBC in 1950.
Winchell was also the voice of Tigger in the “Winnie the Pooh” cartoons for Disney, and did a Hugh Herbert imitation in the Dow Bathroom Cleaner “scrubbing bubbles” commercials.
Winchell was arguably the best ventriloquist that I have ever seen. His lips never moved when “Jerry” spoke, as far as I could tell.
Fantastic footage,
That was great, thanks for sharing Bobby..
Amazing assistant! Playing all the right bell note, blind or watching a monitor
And what did Paul get into years later after Jerry was attacked by a swarm of termites? https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14901-paul-winchell
And when he found the producers of his shows had destroyed the video tapes without informing them, he took them all the way to the Supreme Court and won, guaranteeing performer/artists rights in the disposition of any type of intellectual property in which they have a hand.