When's the last time you thought about Willie Whistle? Scrolling through Facebook today, somebody posted that the man who played Willie quietly passed away in Kentucky last December at the age of 90. Richard Beach was a Marine veteran who served in World War 2. After the war he started working in the fledgling television industry, first in Ohio, then at Storer Broadcasting in Boston where he spent thirty years as the promotions director of WSBK-TV38. But he had another side to him. He was the clown with the bizarre, squeaky voice, on The Willie Whistle Show! He was a legend, right up there with Major Mudd. Who didn't love watching Willie Whistle and trying to figure out what he was saying and how he did that voice?
Rest in peace Willie...There's not a lot of Willie Whistle videos, but this clip of him with a snake in his pants went national. Wait, that doesn't sound right...check it out!