Walter Winchell 1977 Inductee

Walter was born Walter Winschell on April 7, 1897, in New York City to Jacob Winschell and Jennie Bakst. Walter spent most of his early years in poverty and began working at a young age. He received little attention at home and as a result, started hanging around the local movie theater, where he and two other boys put together a singing act called the
Imperial Trio.  A vaudeville talent scout saw the boys perform and they were asked to join Gus Edwards' School Days, a song and dance act on the vaudeville circuit.  Walter was just 13 years old at the time.

Walter spent his teen years in vaudeville.  He eventually outgrew School Days and joined forces with another young vaudevillian, Rita Greene.  They toured the country with surprising success and it was at this time that Walter began working on a vaudeville newsletter and sending articles to Billboard.  He married Rita Greene and moved back to New York City, where Walter obtained a job writing for The Vaudeville News.  He loved the work and spent his days running up and down Broadway, collecting items for his column, shaking hands, mingling and generally making himself known. He soon gained a reputation as Broadway's "man-about-town".

       In 1924, Walter began working for the New York Evening Graphic as a columnist and drama critic.  From there, he moved on to the New York Mirror.  His unique, self-styled  "slanguage" captivated the public, but it was his reporting on the "goings-on" of society, from celebrities to gangsters, that made him famous.  He was the inventor of  "gossip journalism" - permanently altering the shape of journalism and celebrity.  With friendships that ranged from socialites to gangsters, Winchell presided over café society from his table at the Stork Club, gathering tips for his column.

       By the early 1930s, at the time he began his weekly radio show, he was one of the most influential public figures in America.  His weekly broadcasts were snappy and slangy, with a telegraph key clicking in the background.  He began each program with "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the ships at sea".  "Let's go to press!"  During the mid-30s, Winchell turned his attention overseas, becoming one of Hitler's most outspoken foes in America.  He backed President Roosevelt throughout World War II by supporting his wartime policies and keeping up the spirits of our troops, as well as boosting the morale of home-front Americans.

       For over 40 years, Winchell had been a household name, but by the middle 1950s, his world had taken a dramatic turn.  The arrival of television dimmed the glamorous New York night life scene that he ruled.  The Stork Club closed, as did many of the papers that had carried his column.  When Winchell publicly backed Sen. Joseph McCarthy's "Red Scare," he lost many of his fans.  Like many of those he had boosted to fame and fortune, he faded into oblivion.

       When Walter Winchell died in Los Angeles on February 20, 1972, his daughter, Walda, was the only person at his graveside.

Page research and presentation by Doris Tucker, Infoage Virtual Volunteer
Walter Winchell image from http://www.chss.montclair.edu/~pererat/mww.htm

Page updated March 24, 2004   page created March 22, 2004