Ed Wynn

Ed Wynn
from the film Stage Door Canteen (1943)
Born	Isaiah Edwin Leopold November 9, 1886(1886-11-09) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	June 19, 1966 (aged 79) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1910–1966
Spouse(s)	Hilda Keenan (1914-1937) Frieda Mierse (1937-1939) Dorothy Elizabeth Nesbitt (1946-1955)

Ed Wynn (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966) was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.

Born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he ran away from home in his teens and eventually adapted his middle name "Edwin" into his new stage name, "Ed Wynn", to save his family the embarrassment of having a low comedian as a relative.

In his youth, Wynn worked as an onstage assistant to W. C. Fields. Fields caught him mugging for the audience during his "Pool Room" routine and knocked him unconscious with his cue. Wynn became a headliner in vaudeville in the early-1910s, and was a star of the Ziegfeld Follies starting in 1914. He was best known as a comedian, billed as The Perfect Fool (and starring in a musical revue of that name on Broadway in 1921). Wynn also wrote, directed and produced many shows. He was famous for his silly costumes and props, and he always worked "clean," making his shows suitable for the entire family.

Radio

Although many gag writers later provided material for Wynn's performances in radio, television and movies, it was his proud boast that every line he ever spoke during his early career as a stage performer was written by himself.

He hosted a popular radio show, The Fire Chief for most of the 1930s, heard in North America on Tuesday nights, sponsored by Texaco gasoline. Like many former vaudeville performers who turned to radio in the same decade, the stage-trained Wynn insisted on playing for a live studio audience, doing each program as an actual stage show, using visual bits to augment his written material, and in his case, wearing a colorful costume with a red fireman's helmet. He usually bounced his gags off announcer/straight man Graham McNamee; Wynn's customary opening, "Tonight, Graham, the show's gonna be different," became one of the most familiar tag-lines of its time. Sample joke: "Graham, my uncle just bought a new second-handed car... he calls it Baby! I don't know, it won't go anyplace without a rattle!"

Wynn was a radio superstar who reprised his radio character in two movies, Follow the Leader (1930) and The Chief (1933). Near the height of his radio fame he founded his own short-lived radio network, the Amalgamated Broadcasting System, which lasted only five weeks in 1933 and nearly destroyed the comedian, according to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, who has written that the failed venture left Wynn deep in debt, divorced, and finally suffering a nervous breakdown.

Wynn was offered the title role in MGM's 1939 screen adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, but he turned down the role, as did his Ziegfeld contemporary W. C. Fields. The part finally went to Frank Morgan.

Television

Keenan Wynn, Jack Palance and Ed Wynn in Requiem for a Heavyweight, telecast October 11, 1956.

In the late 1940s Ed Wynn hosted one of the first comedy-variety television shows, and won an Emmy Award in 1949. Buster Keaton made guest appearances with Wynn, establishing him in television as well. Wynn was also a rotating host of NBC's Four Star Revue from 1950 through 1952.

After the end of Wynn's third television series, The Ed Wynn Show (a short-lived situation comedy on NBC's 1958-59 schedule), his son, actor Keenan Wynn, encouraged him to make the career change rather than retire. The comedian reluctantly began a career as a dramatic actor in television and movies; father and son appeared in three productions, the first of which was the 1956 Playhouse 90 broadcast of Rod Serling's play Requiem for a Heavyweight. Ed was terrified of straight acting and kept goofing his lines in rehearsal. When the producers wanted to fire him, star Jack Palance said he would quit if they fired Ed [however, unbeknownst to Wynn, supporting player Ned Glass was his secret understudy in case something did happen before air time]. On live broadcast night, Wynn surprised everyone with his pitch-perfect performance, and his quick ad libs to cover his mistakes. A dramatization of what happened during the production was later staged as an April 1960 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode, "The Man In the Funny Suit", starring both senior and junior Wynns, with key figures involved in the original production also portraying themselves. Ed and his son also worked together in the Jose Ferrer film "The Great Man", with Ed again proving his unexpected skills in drama.

Requiem established Wynn as serious dramatic actor who could easily hold his own with the best. His role in The Diary of Anne Frank won him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in 1959.

Also in 1959, Wynn appeared on Serling's TV series The Twilight Zone in "One for the Angels". Serling, a longtime admirer, had written that episode especially for him, and Wynn later starred in the episode "Ninety Years Without Slumbering". For the rest of his life, Ed skillfully moved between comic and dramatic roles. He appeared in feature films and anthology television, endearing himself to new generations of fans.

Films

Wynn provided the voice of the Mad Hatter in Walt Disney's film, Alice in Wonderland. He had previously been caricatured as a pot of jam in the 1934 Betty Boop short Betty in Blunderland.

He appeared as the Fairy Godfather in Jerry Lewis' Cinderfella. His performance as Paul Beaseley in the 1958 film The Great Man earned him nominations for a "Best Supporting Actor" Golden Globe Award and a "Best Foreign Actor" BAFTA Award. The following year saw him receive his first (and only) nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mr. Dussell in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). In That Darn Cat! (1965) he played Mr. Hofstedder, the watch jeweler.

Possibly his best-remembered film appearance, though, was as Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins (1964); his segment, involving the mysterious British nanny's eccentric uncle floating around just beneath the ceiling in uncontrollable mirth, singing "I Love to Laugh," was one of the film's highlights. In addition to Disney films, Wynn was a popular character in the Disneyland production The Golden Horseshoe Review. His last movie, released after his death, was The Gnome-Mobile (1967) in which he played the character Rufus. His role as the toymaker in Babes in Toyland (1961) is a classic featuring all of his charisma and comedic talent.

Ed Wynn died June 19, 1966 in Beverly Hills, California of throat cancer, aged 79. He was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

The distinctive giggly wavering voice which Wynn created for his "Perfect Fool" character remains much imitated, especially by voice actors of animated cartoons. Hanna-Barbera's Wally Gator's voice is probably the nearest to an exact impersonation of the Perfect Fool.

Quotations

• "A comedian is not a man who says funny things. A comedian is one who says things funny."
• "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Heck, I'll take that and more!"

Broadway and films

• The Deacon and the Lady (1910) - musical - actor/performer
• Ziegfeld Follies of 1914 (1914) - revue - actor/performer
• Ziegfeld Follies of 1915 (1915) - revue - actor/performer
• The Passing Show of 1916 (1916) - revue - actor/performer
• Sometime (1918) - play - actor
• Ed Wynn's Carnival (1920) - revue - composer, lyricist, book-writer and performer/actor
• The All-Star Idlers of 1921 (1921) - revue - actor/performer
• The Perfect Fool (1921) - revue - composer, lyricist, book-writer, director and actor/performer
• The Grab Bag (1924) - revue - producer, composer, lyricist, book-writer and actor/performer
• Manhattan Mary (1927) - musical - actor in the role of "Crickets"
• Simple Simon (1930) - musical - co-book-writer and actor
  • Revived in 1931 (was also producer in addition to above roles)
• The Laugh Parade (1931) - revue - producer, co-book-writer, director, originator and star actor/performer
• Alice Takat (1936) - play - producer
• Hooray for What! (1937) - musical - actor in the role of "Chuckles"
• Morose Thoughts (1941) - revue - producer, book co-author, and actor
• Boys and Girls Together (1940) - revue - producer, co-book-writer, originator, director and actor/performer
• Laugh, Town, Laugh! (1942) - revue - producer, book-writer and director
• Stage Door Canteen (1943) - as himself
• Alice in Wonderland (1951) - voice actor (as Mad Hatter)
• Marjorie Morningstar (1958) - actor (as uncle Samson)
• The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) - actor (as Fritz Pfeffer)
• Cinderfella (1960) - actor (as the fairy godfather)
• Babes in Toyland (1961) - actor (as The Toy Maker)
• The Absent-Minded Professor (1961 film) - actor (as Fire Chief)
• Son of Flubber (1963 film) - actor (as Dept. of Agriculture agent)
• Mary Poppins (1964) - actor (as Uncle Albert)
• The Gnome-Mobile (1967) - actor (as Rufus) - posthumous work

Listen to

• Radio Journeys: Texaco Fire Chief (July 26, 1932)

External links

• Ed Wynn on Great Character Actors site
• Ed Wynn at the Internet Movie Database
• Ed Wynn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ed Wynn at Find a Grave
• The Ed Wynn Show at Classic TV Info.
• Four Star Revue/All Star Revue at Classic TV Info.