Winstead Sheffield "Doodles" Weaver (May 11 1911 – January 17 1983) was an American comedian. He was the brother of NBC-TV executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver and the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver. Born in Los Angeles, Weaver attended Stanford University, where he was a member of the Stanford Chaparral. In the 1940's he was a prominent member of Spike Jones' band "The City Slickers". He is well remembered for his routine of a frantic and corny call of a horse race (William Tell Overture): "It's Girdle in the stretch! Locomotive is on the rail! Apartment House is second with plenty of room! It's Cabbage by a head!" and so on, segueing into an impression of the gravelly-voiced Clem McCarthy who forgets whether he's covering a horse race or a boxing match. The race features an apparent nag called "Feitlebaum", who begins at long odds, runs almost the entire race a distant last, and suddenly emerges as the winner. Weaver also portrayed a character in the Jones troupe called "Professor Feitlebaum". That name rhymed with, and was often mistaken for, "Beetlebaum" [1]. Part of the Professor's schtick was mixing up words and sentences in various songs and recitations, as if he were suffering myopia and/or dyslexia. After his days with The City Slickers, Weaver hosted humorous children-oriented TV shows, and played eccentric characters in various guest appearances on other shows and in films. Weaver recorded a novelty version of the Beatles song "Eleanor Rigby", singing, mixing up the words, insulting and interrupting , while playing the piano, and getting booed, as well as injuring his hand, in 1966. He appeared in a handful of "Dragnet 1967" and "Dragnet 1968" episodes playing various bit parts. Weaver had a lifelong battle with alcoholism and faced declining health in his later years. He committed suicide by gunshot at age 72. Quotations
- "On the radio this year I hope to score / With some funny jokes you've never heard before / I resolve not to tell a corny joke / [phone rings] Hello, what's that? The church burned down? Holy smoke!" (from Happy New Year, available on various Christmas novelty CDs)
- "...a man came up to me today and said "Doodles, your hair is getting thin" and I said "Well, who wants fat hair"?" (from "The Man on the Flying Trapeze", on the CD "The Best of Spike Jones", RCA, 1967).
- "(A man said) "Doodles... did you put the cat out"? I said "I didn't know he was on fire."" (op cit).
- (In a motor race at Indianapolis): "Every eye is glued onto that car. It looks very funny with all those eyes glued on it". (from Dance of the Hours, ibid).
The antics of Doodles and "Feitlebaum" are also to be found on the cited "Best of..." album.
