Doodles Weaver
Encyclopedia
Winstead Sheffield Weaver (May 11, 1911 – January 17, 1983), who used the professional name Doodles Weaver, was an American
actor
and comedian
on radio, recordings, and television. He was the brother of NBC
executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver
.
Born in Los Angeles
, Weaver was given the nickname Doodlebug by his mother when he was a child. He attended Stanford University
, where he engaged in numerous pranks and practical jokes. He was a contributor to the Stanford Chaparral
humor magazine.
's program and on the Kraft Music Hall
.
Weaver signed on in 1946 as a member of Spike Jones
's City Slickers band. He was still appearing with Jones in the 1958 NBC variety show
Club Oasis
. Weaver was heard on Jones's 1947-49 radio shows, where he introduced his comedic Professor Feetlebaum (which Weaver sometimes spelled as Feitlebaum), a character who spoke in Spoonerism
s. Part of the Professor's schtick was mixing up words and sentences in various songs and recitations as if he were suffering from myopia and/or dyslexia. Weaver toured the country with the Spike Jones Music Depreciation Revue until 1951. The radio programs were often broadcast from cities where the Revue was staged.
One of Weaver's most enduringly popular recordings is the Spike Jones parody of Rossini's William Tell Overture
. Weaver gives a close impression of the gravel-voiced sports announcer Clem McCarthy
in a satire of a horse race announcer who forgets whether he's covering a horse race or a boxing match ("It's Girdle in the stretch! Locomotive is on the rail! Apartment House is second with plenty of room! It's Cabbage by a head!"). The race features a nag named Feetlebaum, who begins at long odds, runs the race a distant last—and yet suddenly emerges as the winner.
In 1966, Weaver recorded a novelty version of "Eleanor Rigby
"—singing, mixing up the words, insulting, and interrupting, while playing the piano.
, as described by Time
s Richard Corliss:
, Weaver did an Ajax cleanser commercial with a pig, and the audience reaction prompted the network to give him his own series. In 1951, The Doodles Weaver Show was NBC's summer replacement for Sid Caesar
's Your Show of Shows; it was telecast from June to September with Weaver, his wife Lois, vocalist Marion Colby, and the comedy team of Dick Dana and Peanuts Mann. The show's premise involved Doodles dealing with an assignment to stage a no-budget television series using only the discarded costumes, sets, and props left behind by more popular network TV shows away for the summer.
He also hosted several children's television shows. In 1965, he starred in A Day with Doodles, a series of six-minute shorts sold as alternative fare to cartoons for locally hosted kiddie television programs. Each episode featured Weaver in a first-person plural adventure (e.g., "Today we are a movie actor"), portraying himself and, behind false mustaches and costume hats, all the other characters in slapstick comedy situations with a voiceover narration and minimal sets. The ending credits would invariably list "Doodles... Doodles Weaver" and "Everybody Else... Doodles Weaver."
He portrayed eccentric characters in guest appearances on such TV shows as Batman (where he played The Archer's henchman Crier Tuck), Land of the Giants, Dragnet 1967, and The Monkees. He appeared in more than 90 films, including The Great Imposter (1961), Alfred Hitchcock
's The Birds
(as the man helping the Tippi Hedren
character with her rental boat), Jerry Lewis
's The Nutty Professor
(1963) and, in a cameo, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963). His last movie was Under the Rainbow
(1981).
The four-DVD collector's boxed set Spike Jones: The Legend was released October 30, 2007. It features Weaver's appearances on 1951-52 Spike Jones TV specials.
delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
Weaver's book, Golden Spike, remains unpublished.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
on radio, recordings, and television. He was the brother of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...
.
Born in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Weaver was given the nickname Doodlebug by his mother when he was a child. He attended Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, where he engaged in numerous pranks and practical jokes. He was a contributor to the Stanford Chaparral
Stanford Chaparral
The Stanford Chaparral is a humor magazine published by students of Stanford University since 1899.-History:...
humor magazine.
Radio and recordings
On radio during the late 1930s and early 1940s, he was heard as an occasional guest on Rudy ValléeRudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
's program and on the Kraft Music Hall
Kraft Music Hall
The Kraft Music Hall was a popular variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired on NBC radio and television from 1933 to 1971....
.
Weaver signed on in 1946 as a member of Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
's City Slickers band. He was still appearing with Jones in the 1958 NBC variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
Club Oasis
Club Oasis
Club Oasis is a 24-episode half-hour comedy-variety show, set in a chic simulated nightclub, which appeared on NBC in the 1957–1958 television season. The series alternated with The Polly Bergen Show in the 9 p.m. EST time slot on Saturday evenings...
. Weaver was heard on Jones's 1947-49 radio shows, where he introduced his comedic Professor Feetlebaum (which Weaver sometimes spelled as Feitlebaum), a character who spoke in Spoonerism
Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...
s. Part of the Professor's schtick was mixing up words and sentences in various songs and recitations as if he were suffering from myopia and/or dyslexia. Weaver toured the country with the Spike Jones Music Depreciation Revue until 1951. The radio programs were often broadcast from cities where the Revue was staged.
One of Weaver's most enduringly popular recordings is the Spike Jones parody of Rossini's William Tell Overture
William Tell Overture (Spike Jones song)
Spike Jones and his City Slickers recorded a cover of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture. This version reproduces the original with significant modification of style and replaces the conclusion with the imitated horse race calls of the famous announcer Clem McCarthy.Jones released his...
. Weaver gives a close impression of the gravel-voiced sports announcer Clem McCarthy
Clem McCarthy
Clem McCarthy was an American sportscaster and public address announcer. He also lent his voice to Pathe News's RKO newsreels. He was known for his gravelly voice and dramatic style, a "whiskey tenor" as sports announcer and executive David J...
in a satire of a horse race announcer who forgets whether he's covering a horse race or a boxing match ("It's Girdle in the stretch! Locomotive is on the rail! Apartment House is second with plenty of room! It's Cabbage by a head!"). The race features a nag named Feetlebaum, who begins at long odds, runs the race a distant last—and yet suddenly emerges as the winner.
In 1966, Weaver recorded a novelty version of "Eleanor Rigby
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...
"—singing, mixing up the words, insulting, and interrupting, while playing the piano.
Madness
Weaver was a contributor to the early MadMad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
, as described by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
s Richard Corliss:
- Among the funny stuff: Doodles Weaver's strict copyediting of the Gettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressThe Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...
, advising Lincoln to change "fourscore and seven" to eighty-seven ("Be specific"), noting that there are six "dedicates" ("Study your Roget"), wondering if "proposition" isn't misspelled and, finally exasperated, urging the writer to omit "of the people, by the people, and for the people" as "superfluous."
Films and TV
Appearing on The Colgate Comedy HourThe Colgate Comedy Hour
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show stars many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou...
, Weaver did an Ajax cleanser commercial with a pig, and the audience reaction prompted the network to give him his own series. In 1951, The Doodles Weaver Show was NBC's summer replacement for Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
's Your Show of Shows; it was telecast from June to September with Weaver, his wife Lois, vocalist Marion Colby, and the comedy team of Dick Dana and Peanuts Mann. The show's premise involved Doodles dealing with an assignment to stage a no-budget television series using only the discarded costumes, sets, and props left behind by more popular network TV shows away for the summer.
He also hosted several children's television shows. In 1965, he starred in A Day with Doodles, a series of six-minute shorts sold as alternative fare to cartoons for locally hosted kiddie television programs. Each episode featured Weaver in a first-person plural adventure (e.g., "Today we are a movie actor"), portraying himself and, behind false mustaches and costume hats, all the other characters in slapstick comedy situations with a voiceover narration and minimal sets. The ending credits would invariably list "Doodles... Doodles Weaver" and "Everybody Else... Doodles Weaver."
He portrayed eccentric characters in guest appearances on such TV shows as Batman (where he played The Archer's henchman Crier Tuck), Land of the Giants, Dragnet 1967, and The Monkees. He appeared in more than 90 films, including The Great Imposter (1961), Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's The Birds
The Birds (film)
The Birds is a 1963 horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on the 1952 short story "The Birds" by Daphne du Maurier. It depicts Bodega Bay, California which is, suddenly and for unexplained reasons, the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few...
(as the man helping the Tippi Hedren
Tippi Hedren
Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren is an American actress and former fashion model with a career spanning six decades. She is primarily known for her roles in two Alfred Hitchcock films, The Birds and Marnie, and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an wildlife habitat which she...
character with her rental boat), Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
's The Nutty Professor
The Nutty Professor
The Nutty Professor is a 1963 Paramount Pictures science fiction comedy feature film produced, directed, co-written and starring Jerry Lewis...
(1963) and, in a cameo, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963). His last movie was Under the Rainbow
Under the Rainbow
Under the Rainbow is a 1981 comedy film starring Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, and Billy Barty.The plot is loosely based on the gathering of little people in a Hollywood hotel, to audition for roles as Munchkins in the movie The Wizard of Oz...
(1981).
The four-DVD collector's boxed set Spike Jones: The Legend was released October 30, 2007. It features Weaver's appearances on 1951-52 Spike Jones TV specials.
Death
Weaver committed suicide at age 71 on January 17, 1983, via a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Rudy ValléeRudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
Weaver's book, Golden Spike, remains unpublished.
Quotes
- "On the radio this year I hope to score / With some funny jokes you've never heard before / I resolve not to tell a corny joke / [phone rings] Hello, what's that? The church burned down? Holy smoke!" (From "Happy New Year," available on various Christmas novelty CDs)
- "A man came up to me today and said, 'Doodles, your hair is getting thin," and I said, "Well, who wants fat hair?" (From "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" on the CD The Best of Spike Jones, RCA, 1967. The antics of Doodles and "Feetlebaum" are also to be found on this Best of... album.)
- "(A man said) 'Doodles... did you put the cat out?' I said, 'I didn't know he was on fire.'" (From "The Man on the flying Trapeze").
- (In a motor race at Indianapolis): "Every eye is glued onto that car. It looks very funny with all those eyes glued on it." (From "Dance of the Hours," ibid).
- "You dig 16 tons and what do you get... filthy!" (from "Eleanor Rigby")