Jonathan Winters — Couldn’t Wait for Success (1970) 🇺🇸

Speaking tongue-in-cheek, one of America's most popular comedians talks about his climb from failure to failure since he couldn't wait for success to find him.

Jonathan Winters is a combination actor, comedian, humorist and satirist in the classic tradition of Chaplin [Charles Chaplin], Keaton [Buster Keaton], W. C. Fields and Will Rogers.

Winters is a one-man theatrical troupe whose genius creates feisty infants, swinging old ladies, hip rubes and giggling cheerleaders complete with sound effects ranging from ricocheting bullets to gurgling waterfalls.

Winters moves effortlessly between all entertainment mediums. He writes almost all of the comedy material he performs. He has known success in radio, records, night clubs, concerts and Broadway as well as television and motion pictures.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, he joined the Marine Corps at seventeen and saw combat in the South Pacific. Later Winters entered Dayton Art Institute where he met and married a fellow student. His wife Eileen initiated his switch from amateur life-of-the-party to professional entertainer.

Jack Paar presented Winters on his CBS morning show and from then on his reputation grew rapidly. He was the only stand-up comic to do the esteemed Omnibus show hosted by Alistair Cooke. He was George Gobel’s summer replacement on NBC, following which NBC signed him to do his own fifteen-minute programs, running for a year.

His most recent television appearance was as host and star of “Norman Rockwell’s America”, an hour special in which he plays a country doctor, policeman, salesman, delivery man and an Indian — all based on Rockwell’s famous Saturday Evening Post magazine covers.

Jonathan Winters is dedicated to his many hobbies. Fishing, both fresh and salt water, is his greatest source of relaxation.

During the past several years, he has traveled to many Indian reservations throughout the nation to gain a better understanding of the Indian’s needs. He has staged numerous benefits and established scholarship funds.

His interest in art has not diminished. He is fond of collages on canvas, wood carving, clay sculpting, painting and sketching.

He wrote and illustrated a book for Bobbs-Merrill called “Mouse Breath, Conformity and Other Social Ills.” He works on and off his autobiography, tentatively entitled, “I couldn’t Wait for Success  — I Went On Without It”.

In his seventh motion picture “Viva Max”, Winters is to protect the Alamo from a band of attacking revolutionaries led by Peter Ustinov.

Collection: Hollywood Studio Magazine, August 1970