Paul Winchell (1922–2005)

The book is out of print, but I wish I had read in 2004, instead of a review I found these opinions online. "Paul Winchell's daughter, April Winchell, has done voice and media work (you'll find her in IMDB), and for a while she had a radio show on a Los Angeles station. Sometimes she spoke of her father. Some of what she said was extremely weird; I think she was telling the truth, but you can decide for yourself whether to believe. For example, she describes an incident when she was young (maybe 10 or so?), and I guess there was some marital stress at the time. Anyway, April's mother was out of the house one day, and Paul came to April and said he'd just had a phone call telling him that the mother had been killed in a traffic accident. Then he showed her how he'd turned the living room into a memorial for the departed mother, with various knicknacks set out in surreal geometric patterns. April knew the phone had not rung, and she'd already learned to go on normally under abnormal circumstances. So she nodded and mentally shrugged.

With respect to the book, when it came out, April said it had pretty much omitted any reference to the existence of April or her sister or her mother. Paul had divorced from April's mother and remarried, and this bit of history was expunged. I don't think April or her sister or mother had any contact with her father for the rest of his life. So April basically told us to avoid the book. I think a few of her listeners went to Amazon and posted bogus negative reviews, which were later deleted.

When the book came out, it was reasonably priced. Then it disappeared from print, and the price skyrocketed, as you see. I wondered if there was a story behind that; some restraining order or effort to suppress it or the like. I'm not suggesting an evil conspiracy; just wondering what happened. Paul Winchell had a difficult life, and much of his biography will leave you feeling sad. However, there are also aspects of the book that provide insight into his philosophy and creativity. I would recommend you read this book despite whatever omissions and fabrications may be contained within.… (mais)