R.I.P. PAUL WINCHELL

Most of the news I've read or heard on Paul Winchell's death have stressed that he was the voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh cartoons. But I remember him best for his ventriloquism -- specifically his dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. I loved watching them on T.V. I have far more memories of Jerry and Knucklehead than I have of Howdy Doody (who wasn't technically a "dummy," but sure looked like one). Thanks mainly to Winchell, dummies seem to me like a strange and magical race of human-like beings.

One sad anecdote in Winchell's obit is how at the age of 12 he wanted to buy buy a book on ventriloquism, but his mother refused to give him a dime to buy it. Luckily, his sister's boyfriend coughed up the money for the book.

Moral of that story: Parents, if your kids show interest in something artistic, give them the Goddamn dime!

I wasn't aware until now that Winchell had a patent on an early version of an artificial heart.

Was this creation really meant for humans? Or was it a byproduct of a weird experiment to try to bring life to a new generation of Mahoneys and Smiffs?