About Me
Long before he was the voice of 'Tigger' in the Winnie the Pooh series, Paul Winchell and his puppet pal Jerry Mahoney starred in many early TV programs; the first was on NBC in 1948 called The Bigelow Show. (1948 was the first year that the networks began programming seven nights a week; in fact, NBC had only 9 regular series on the air in 1947.)On the series, ventriloquist Winchell and his hand-carved wooden dummy Jerry Mahoney introduced acts headlined by mentalist Joseph Dunniger. In 1949, this half-hour variety show proto-type moved to CBS, airing Wednesdays at 9:00 before being cancelled that same year.Sassy sidekick Jerry Mahoney appeared on a number of television programs among them CARTOONIES/ABC/1963, a 30-minute cartoon series with Gremlin, Sheriff Saddle Head and Scat Skit cartoons; POPSICLE FIVE STAR COMEDY/ABC/1957, a short-lived musical/variety late afternoon show; RUNAROUND/NBC/1972-73 a Saturday morning game show where nine children answered questions and competed for prizes; and TOYLAND EXPRESS/SYN/1955-56, a 15-minute weekday show produced by the Toy Guidance Council that advertised items available for Christmas. But perhaps, their most memorable program was THE PAUL WINCHELL AND JERRY MAHONEY SHOW broadcast on the NBC network from 1950-54 both in prime time and on Saturday morning. Set in Jerry Mahoney's Clubhouse, this musical/variety/comedy featured an audience of twenty children who competed for prizes and were entertained by the antics of Jerry Mahoney, the President of the club who didn't particularly like woman; Knucklehead Smiff, a stupid, country bumpkin type (debuted in 1951) who was the club's vice-president; Irving the Mouse, a scholarly rodent who lived in a piece of cheese at the clubhouse and helped Knucklehead Smiff solve homework problems; and Paul Winchell who appeared as a variety of human characters. Paul Winchell who debuted on the MAJOR BOWES ORIGINAL AMATEUR HOUR in 1936, became a ventriloquist at the age of fourteen after reading a manual that revealed "the secrets of ventriloquism." He built his first Jerry Mahoney dummy at the age of thirteen while working at the Manhattan School of Industrial Arts.Paul started his career with a puppet named Terry in 1936 on radio's "Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour," and earned first prize. When he was not satisfied with the figure that Frank Marshall had carved for him -- it looked like Paul --he created Jerry Mahoney by modifying a stock figure (Noseyboy) from the Frank Marshall's line of dummies.The 42-inch wooden dummy weighed twenty-five pounds and was composed of wood, metal, rubber and glass eyes.In January of 1980, Paul Winchell presented his dummy Jerry Mahoney to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute. Later in July, 1982, Knucklehead Smiff joined his long time wooden companion.
