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Harry Mahoney and Rita Winchell
I am happy to give some details to you about
Rita Winchell. She is the younger sister of Paul Winchell. She
did ventriloquism for the first 20 or so years of her life and
was very accomplished but once she got married her performing
career changed. Rita had 5 children and by way of 2 of her
children, Nancy Olsen and Jeffrey Barr I am able to give you
most of this information.
Born on Feb 18-1929 and died Sep 14, 2011 are the dates of the
life span of Rita Winchell. Rita had a toy ventriloquist first
which was a Dummy Dan and I am pleased to show you pictures of
her with that figure. She is only around 7 years old.
(Click on pictures for larger view)
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Her next figure was called Harry Mahoney and
she told everyone that it was carved for her by her brother
Paul. I certainly can’t be positive of that and neither can her
children but looking at the picture of her with that figure he
sure looks like a Theodore Mack figure to me. In any case it is
a great figure. |
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In 1940 Paul Winchell gave his sister the
Frank Marshall figure for her 11th birthday.
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The promotional picture (at top of page)
shows Rita with blond hair but according to her children her
hair was dyed for the promo pictures. She was dark haired. This
promotional picture was taken when Rita was 16 years old. I must
say she was a very good looking girl. Blonds were the rage in
the 1940’s so it makes sense to have done this.
I have been given this great newspaper article that was written
about Rita, by her son Jeffrey, and have included it here for
you to read. The article talks about Rita’s audition with
Shirley Temple for a movie and she was not chosen but her figure
Harry was. Supposedly Harry danced with Shirley but
unfortunately no pictures exist to show Harry with Shirley and I
did find some clips of Shirley dancing with a ventriloquist
figure but that figure looked like a Herbert Brighton figure
from England. A very neat story. |
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Rita never actually stopped performing when
she had her children. That's when she started doing the local
shows, and she did them throughout the kids childhoods, in Santa
Clara and Grass Valley, CA. She even co-hosted a morning TV show
in the late 1960s in Grass Valley. She probably did shows until
the late 1970s. Nancy’s daughter Jamie was born in 1979 (that's
Nancy’s reference point), and that's why She could tell me with
good certainty that she didn't have many, or maybe any, gigs
after that time. Although she did take Harry out for the family
and friends.
She passed away this past September (2011) at the age of 82.
Harry Mahoney was with her for 71 years. A quote from Rita’s
daughter Nancy, “Of all her kids, I thought she liked him best!”
(This was a joke, of course. He was the only one who didn't get
into any trouble.) |
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See Harry Mahoney in
the Ventriloquist Central Collection
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andHarry-1973.jpg)
