bkoganbing — 20 years ago(September 23, 2005 10:46 PM)

It took long enough for Ed Wynn's zany character to finally reach screen stardom
but it was worth the wait.
The closest I've ever seen anyone touch Ed Wynn's particular brand of zaniness
was the British comedian Eric Morecambe. He did a double act though with his
partner Ernie Wise. No straight man ever held Ed Wynn in any kind of check.
His character the scatterbrained fire chief was honed to an edge on the stage
of a thousand vaudeville theatres. He had an early start in film, but for some
reason never became a box office draw there the way, say Eddie Cantor did.
He hit it big in radio though. For 25 years he came into American homes as the
Texaco fire chief. Like Jack Benny he always worked Texaco plugs into the
body of his show. Texaco never complained, they never sold so much gas in the
life of that company.
When he came back to film it was as a voice only. But what a voice and what a
character. Who else could possibly have given his voice to the Mad Hatter in
Walt Disney's cartoon feature film adaption of Alice in Wonderland? This started an association with Disney that lasted the rest of his life.
Wynn also hit it big as a dramatic actor, first on television in Requiem for
a Heavyweight and then in fib68lms in Marjorie Morningstar, The Great Man and in
The Diary of Anne Frank. Took Home an Oscar Nomination for that one.
Ed Wynn also left us a living legacy with his son actor Keenan Wynn and Keenan's
sons. The Wynn family carries on.
I wonder if Ed Wynn ever met up with Gracie Allen on radio. If anyone out there
has a tape of that summit conference of zaniness, it's your duty to the world
to get it copied and sold. What a meeting of minds, turn that over in your
own mind.
Ed Wynn, RIP you gave us laughter and drama and a fine family to carry on.