The shows star Ed Wynn as one of his most memorable characters, "The Firechief." Best known as a fantastic character actor and vaudevillian style clown, Ed Wynn's babbling voice and trademark giggle are unforgettable.
Isaiah Edwin Leopold was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 9, 1886, known by the stage name Ed Wynn, was a popular American actor and comedian, who had a formidable career of almost 65 years where he participated in vaudeville and theaters, in television shows, on radio and in film. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his activity in film and television, respectively. Ed Wynn inspired the English voice recording of the animated cartoon Wally Gator.
As a teenager he ran away from home. In his youth he worked as an assistant to W. C. Fields. He then appeared in various vaudevilles in the 1910s and, from 1914, in the Ziegfeld Follies, a series of Broadway stage productions based on the Parisian Folies Bergère. Ed Wynn's first Broadway success came a few years later with The Perfect Fool (1921).
He subsequently hosted a radio show called Texaco's Fire Chief from 1932 to 1939 before making his small-screen debut in 1950. That same year he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Living Personality.
He featured Ed Wynn as the Firechief. Sponsored by Texaco, the show aired its last episode in 1935, producing 12 episodes.
He also appeared in film and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). He voiced the character of the Mad Hatter in Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland (1951). He also acted in Mary Poppins (1964) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He also appeared in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, playing a traveling salesman facing death.
Ed Wynn was a Freemason and belonged to Lodge No. 9 in Philadelphia. He died of esophageal cancer on June 19, 1966, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 79.
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