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Chuck McCann dead at 83

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chuck-mccann-dead-comic-actor-kids-tv-host-was-83-1024097

McCann was best known for being a comic and kids show host.

Chuck McCann, the goofy, good-natured comedian and TV host who was a hero to kids of all ages in and around New York City in the 1960s before he jumped into films, network television and commercials, has died. He was 83.

McCann died Sunday of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, publicist Edward Lozzi told The Hollywood Reporter.

With his cherubic face and ever-present grin, McCann epitomized fun. If the situation called for a fun supporting character, he was your guy. An entertainment jack-of-all-trades, McCann worked as a kids show host, puppeteer, nightclub comic, movie actor, voiceover performer and celebrity impersonator.

He had a key supporting role in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968) and starred in the low-budget fantasy film The Projectionist (1971); appeared on scores of TV shows; and did a spot-on imitation of comedy legend Oliver Hardy. (He was a founding member, along with actor Orson Bean, of the Sons of the Desert, the international fan club dedicated to celebrating Laurel & Hardy.)
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I remember McCann on weekday kiddie shows on WNEW-TV 5 (now WNYW) and WPIX 11. He would do skits between showings of cartoons and old TV comedy reels, such as Laurel & Hardy. He would do various characters, sometimes dressing up as an overgrown Little Orphan Annie, wearing a curly wig, dress and even white plastic circles over his eyes (since in the comic strip, Annie's illustrator pictured her with no pupils, just white circles for her eyes).

With three independent TV stations in NYC, there were numerous TV hosts who got pressed into doing kiddie shows, usually to wrap around cartoons and movie shorts so they'd complete a full half hour. Officer Joe Bolton presented Three Stooges shorts on 11, Captain Jack McCarthy presented Popeye cartoons on 11, Claude Kirchner, dressed as a circus ringmaster, presented Felix The Cat cartoons on WOR-TV 9. There was Sandy Becker and Fred Sales on Channel 5. John Zacherle, who died in 2016 at age 98, first was on WABC-TV 7, then on 11, then on WNJU 47, before going onto a career as a rock DJ on WPLJ and WNEW-FM. The one to achieve the biggest fame, Soupy Sales on Channel 5, did a half hour weekday show, which eventually was syndicated, and for a time on Saturdays on ABC. He later had a big career as a guest on daytime TV game shows.
 
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