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Who Was
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Television archivist Jeff Vilencia recently unearthed some segments of a short-subject series called A Day With Doodles starring Doodles Weaver. These six minute films were available in syndication to local kid show hosts to use as an alternative to cartoons. But who was Doodles Weaver? Not much has been written about the man. Winstead "Doodles" Weaver came from a very famous entertainment industry family - brother of Sylvester 'Pat' Weaver, NBC exec who created the 'Today' and 'Tonight' shows and uncle of film actress Sigourney Weaver.
Here
is a video clip from A Day With Doodles
His first television
series was part of the ensemble cast of 'The Spike Jones Show', one
of the most rollicking variety shows in television history. Weaver was
also famous for his work with the goofy, satirical recording artist
Spike Jones. One of the running jokes on a number of television shows
for several years was a racing announcer saying "Feetlebaum" out of
the blue - this was based on a couple of famous Spike
Jones/Doodles Weaver recordings.
But Weaver had
an alcohol problem that made him too reckless for even the Spike Jones
show (this was live TV) and he was fired after going too far with a
live commercial.
But Doodles bounced
back with his own series. The Doodles Weaver Show was the 1951
summer replacement series for 'Your Show of Shows' (Saturday nights
at ten), seen on NBC from June-Sept. Co-starring his wife Lois, the
concept was a fresh one - Doodles is told to put on a network variety
show, but given no costumes, sets or budget of his own, just the discards
from the other shows on hiatus for the season.
The structure was
loose and the comedy improvisational on 'The Doodles Weaver Show' -
the series also featured legendary vocalist Marion Colby and the comedy
team of Dick Dana and 'Peanuts' Mann.
After that he joined
'The Horace Heidt Show' cast, then appeared as a guest on dozens of
TV shows during the Fifties and Sixties - including Lawman, The Tab
Hunter Show, Donna Reed Show, Batman (one of The Archer's henchmen),
Dragnet, The Hathaways, The Andy Griffith Show, ('Aunt Bee's Brief Encounter'),
The Dick Van Dyke Show and Dennis the Menace. Most of these roles were
minor ones.
In 1965, Doodles
Weaver started providing energetic and genuinely funny short segments
for the many local kid shows across the country through syndication.
These six-minute spots were much like the locally hosted shows they
ran on, but with more props. Weaver played all the parts himself. The
credits at the end of the show read: Doodles - Doodles Weaver, Everybody
Else - Doodles Weaver.
During the Sixties
there were a lot of short segments produced for kids that various stations
could group together any way they wanted, according to film archivist
Jeff Vilencia.
Other 5-6 minute
shows available in syndication at the time included 'Trick or Treat
with the Magic Hands', 'The Funny Company' and 'The New Three Stooges'
("live" segments featuring Moe, Larry and 'Curley' Joe DeRita wrapped
around a bad '3 Stooges' cartoon).
'A Day with Doodles'
lasted only one year. During the Seventies, Doodles made one of his
last TV appearances on a 1974 episode of 'Little House on the Prairie'
("The Lord is My Shepherd").
Winstead "Doodles"
Weaver shot and killed himself on January 12, 1983, the result of his
long battle with pill addiction and severe alcoholism. Rudy Vallee delivered
the eulogy. "Okay, you've really been piquing my nostalgia meter with "A Day with Doodles", "Wonderama", "The Mighty Hercules", etc. BUT -- one that I have not seen mentioned on your site is Yap. Yap was a pixillated dog that was cut and folded out of paper (you see a woman's hands at the beginning of the segment cutting him out). He had doggy adventures. Another paper dog on the show was a bulldog. There was no dialogue (he was a *dog*, after all). (although there was a brief songlet at the beginning, something about "Snip-snap, (something) Yap") These brief segments were shown on the same local show that aired "a Day with Doodles" in the New York area. Any rememberers?" - Mike Turniansky |
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