Kelcee
Covert
THE
3220- Stage Movement
Clown
Research Project
April
5, 2017
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was an American comedian who
was born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents we’re
immigrants from Europe, and were stern about working hard for a living. He ran
away from home in his teens, worked as a hat salesman and as a utility boy, and
eventually adapted his middle name "Edwin" into his new stage name,
"Ed Wynn", to save his family the embarrassment of having a lowly
comedian as a relative. Wynn began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was a
star of the Ziegfeld Follies starting in 1914. Wynn wrote, directed, and
produced many shows on Broadway and was known for his silly costumes and props.
He also developed a signature giggly, wavering voice in 1921 for the musical
review, The Perfect Fool.
In the early 1930s Wynn hosted the
popular radio show The Fire Chief.
Like many former vaudeville performers who turned to radio, Wynn insisted on
performing for a live audience and doing each program as an actual stage show.
He used visual bits to augment his written material, and wore a colorful
costume with a red fireman's helmet. Wynn's customary opening, "Tonight,
Graham, the show's gonna be different," became one of the most familiar
tag-lines of its time.
Ed Wynn hosted one of the first
network comedy-variety television shows, on CBS, and won both a Peabody Award
and an Emmy Award in 1949. He worked with many pop icons of the decade on this
show. He than moved to movies alongside his son and starred in Requiem For a Heavyweight. This 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. Wynn skillfully
moved between comic and dramatic roles. Wynn voiced the Mad Hatter in Disney's Alice in Wonderland and played The
Toymaker in Disney's Babes in Toyland.
Possibly his best-remembered film appearance was in Mary Poppins, in which he played Uncle Albert, singing "I Love
to Laugh".
Wynn died June 19, 1966 in Beverly
Hills, California of throat cancer at 79. Red Skelton, who was discovered by
Wynn, stated: "His death is the first time he ever made anyone sad."
Bibliography
Berman,
Garry. Perfect fool: the life and career of Ed Wynn. Albany, GA: BearManor
Media, 2012. Print.
"Ed Wynn." Ed Wynn. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Encyclopædia
Britannica. "Ed Wynn." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia
Britannica, inc., 16 Dec. 2009. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
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