The great Paul Winchell, 1922-2005

The Los Angeles Times carried the sad news today that Paul Winchell died Friday at the age of 82.

I vividly remember the frustration I felt as a little kid, wrestling with the UHF antenna on the back of a black-and-white TV in Chicago, trying to get WFLD's signal to come in clearly so I could watch the Winchell Mahoney show.

Paul Winchell was a ventriloquist, a comedian, a genius. If you never got a chance to see him, you can thank the nihilists at Metromedia who erased the tapes of the 288 episodes of the brilliant show Paul Winchell did for kids from 1964 to 1968.

That was in the days of two-inch videotape masters in tape boxes the size of phone books, and before digital copies allowed pirates and thieves to PRESERVE THE WORK OF GENIUSES WHO WORK FOR IDIOTS.

Those of us who remember Paul Winchell's wonderful work will never forget it.

Condolences to Mr. Winchell's wife Jean, his five kids and his three grandchildren.