Ed Wynn

Everywhere I go, I find myself seeking out those who are funny, quirky, and “love to laugh”.  That’s mostly predicated upon the fact that my dad is a character.  We’ll walk into a store and God only knows what he’ll do.  The other day, he saw this oversized M&M character that had what he called, “arm holes” and decided that he must put his arms in there.  It was priceless.  No, actually, the smirk on the cashier and older woman’s face who was pushing a cart nearby was priceless.  Growing up in my family, every moment is an opportunity to be silly, make up funny lyrics, and do things that make people think, “Oh my goodness, bwahahahaha”. 

Ed Wynn has delighted and engaged audiences in this very way for years.  He is definitely in my list of hero’s, alongside greats like Red Skelton, Dick van Dyke,Doris Day, and Larry the Cable Guy as Mater.  Ed has one of those voices and personalities that you just can’t help but watch.

He was silly and fun as Great Uncle Albert in alongside Julie Andrews and Dick vanDyke in Mary Poppins. 

His performance as the Mad Hatter in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland was delicious and the perfect amount of sloppy fun over a cup of tea. Did you know that the voice over of Ed that you hear on the actual video was the recording of him acting out the scene in real life.  Can you just imagine what fun it must have been for him to sit and play “in character” for all the sketch artists?  Oh, it’s just a dream come true I tell you! 

And take a look at him here on “What’s My Line?“.  Oh gosh, his use of the violin to answer without using his voice is genius.  To me, it sounds like the way he uses his voice – great use of range, silly, expressive, and hilarious.  It must have been amazingly difficult for his wonderful laugh to be held back and not burst out.  It’d be really hard for me to hold back when something’s funny. 

In the Gnome Mobile, he plays Rufus, an aged gnome with a dashing costume who leads the girl gnome chase of the guy gnome.  Did you notice that the two children in the Gnome Mobile are also “Jane & Michael Banks” from Mary Poppins? 

After watching him in all those videos, how can you not love the sweet, silly, and talented Ed Wynn?