Walter Winchell

He tied the nuptials with Rita Greene, his onstage partner on August 11, 1919. The marriage did not last long as the couple separated after a couple of years.

He subsequently started living in with June Magee who bore him a daughter- Walda. To abstain from the charges of illegitimacy, he and Magee maintained to be married, a secret which they successfully kept all through their lives.

He legally divorced his wife Greene in 1928. He fathered three more children from his relationship with Magee but none of his children lived long.

Walter Winchell was born on April 7, 1897 to Jacob Winschell and Jennie Bakst in New York City. His father belonged to a family of Russian immigrants. He had a younger brother Algernon.

Young Winchell spent his early years in extreme poverty, due to the lazy and languid attitude of his father.The family was constantly on the move and in need of money.

He gained education until the sixth grade after which he dropped out to take up odd jobs to meet the monetary needs of the family. He worked at the butcher shop, as a newspaper boy, sold subscription and rendered his services for a charge.

He along with his friends formed the band, Imperial Trio. It was through this that he landed himself for a new Vaudeville show put on by Gus Edwards, called ‘Gus Edwards' 1910 Song Revue’.

The exposure in the vaudeville show opened new gateways for him to explore. No sooner he made a plunge for a career in journalism by posting notes about his acting troupe on bulletin boards.

In 1920, he joined the Vaudeville News. From being a layman he turned into being a complete journalistic entertainer and a showman. He learned the tricks of the trade soon and the ways to draw the attention of the audience.

In 1924, he left Vaudeville News to bag a position at the then newly launched tabloid newspaper, The New York Evening Graphic. The transition to mainstream journalism turned out to be an easy one for him due to his skills and talent.

What differentiated him from other journalists of his time was his care-a-damn attitude! He exploited the life of those known and brought out the dirty tit bits to the world. He was condemned by conservatives and traditionalists but he took their criticism in his stride.

His leap of fame came when he published a column on the paper entitled, ‘Mainly About Mainstreeters’. The column provided an insight into the lives of actors, director and producers and criticized the plays he detested.

He was posthumously inducted in the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.