Doodles Weaver
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Winstead Sheffield "Doodles" Weaver (May 11, 1911–January 17, 1983) was an American comedy actor.
He is well remembered for his routine of a frantic and corny call of a horse race, "It's Girdle in the stretch! Locomotive is on the rail!" and so on, segueing into an impression of the gravelly-voiced Clem McCarthy who forgets whether he's covering a horse race or a boxing match. The race features an apparent nag called Feitlebaum (often erroneously heard as "Beetlebaum"), who begins at long odds, runs almost the entire race a distant last, and suddenly emerges as the winner. He also had a regular character called "Professor Feitlebaum". The e-i order of the spelling is phonetically incorrect, as it would properly be pronounced "I", not "ee".
He was the brother of NBC-TV executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and the uncle of actress Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver. In the 1940's he was a prominent member of Spike Jones' band The City Slickers.
After his days with The City Slickers, he hosted humorous children-oriented TV shows, and played eccentric characters in various guest appearances on other shows.
He was a comedian with a melancholy side. He had a long battle with alcoholism, ending as a suicide victim as his health deteriorated in his early 70s.
Quotations
- "The race is so exciting I'm tearing out my hair! My hair is getting thin! Well, who wants fat hair?"
- "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] What? The church burned down? Holy smoke!"
External links
- Internet Movie Database entry (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915845/)