Walter Tetley
Encyclopedia
Walter Tetley an American voice actor, was a child
impersonator in radio
's classic era, with regular roles on The Great Gildersleeve
and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
, as well as continuing as a voice-over artist in animated cartoons, commercials, and spoken-word record albums. He is perhaps best known as the voice of "Sherman" in the Jay Ward
-Bill Scott
"Mr. Peabody" TV cartoons.
Tetley was a precocious performer even when he really was a child, beginning at age seven performing Harry Lauder
imitations. He established himself in radio, usually playing smart-aleck kids. Tetley moved to Hollywood in 1938 and acted in a number of films (he is the wisecracking messenger or pageboy in several Universal Pictures
comedies), but radio was his truest metier.
Walter Tetley's perennially adolescent voice was the result of a medical condition. While this has been cited as a hormonal problem, one of Tetley's employers, Bill Scott, offered a more specific explanation. According to Scott, Tetley's mother was reluctant to give up the revenue generated from her son's busy radio career and, in Scott's words, "She had him fixed [castrated]. Walter Tetley, the world's tallest midget." Whatever the medical reason, the condition arrested Tetley's development, preventing his voice from breaking into maturity as well as preventing his further physical growth. Tetley would sound forever as though he was stranded on the bridge between boyhood and pre-teen adolescence. Combined with his excellent delivery and spot-on comic timing, he parlayed his condition into a radio career that lasted nearly a quarter of a century, with some of radio's biggest stars included Tetley in their shows, including but not limited to Fred Allen
, Jack Benny
, W.C. Fields and others.
Fans of vintage radio remember Walter Tetley best for two roles. He was cast to play spunky nephew Leroy on The Great Gildersleeve
, beginning in 1941. (Leroy's "Ah, you kiddin'?" and "Aw, for corn's sake!" became almost as much of a pair of show catch-phrases as the title character's booming trill, "Leeee-rooooy!") Tetley stayed with that role for just about the entire life of that show, voicing Leroy in and out of jams from making nitroglycerin with his home chemistry set to helping Uncle Gildersleeve (Harold Peary
) break out of the public library into which they got locked accidentally, after hours. The bad news: his unique appearance and true age obstructed him from playing the shorter, younger Leroy in the four Gildersleeve feature films (though he did appear in a speaking role as a bellhop in the third of those films, 1943's Gildersleeve on Broadway).
But Tetley might have been an even bigger hit beginning in 1948, when he took on a concurrent continuing role on an equally popular comedy, playing obnoxious grocery boy Julius Abruzzio on The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
until the show's finish in 1954. (Surviving episodes that include pre-air audience warmups by Phil Harris
usually included Harris alluding to Tetley as "the kid who steals the show every week"—even though Tetley was almost 40 years old when the Harris-Faye show ended production.) Julius combined an obsession with getting the better of his clumsy elders Phil and Remley to an unconcealed crush on Alice and was as much a fixture on the show as Harris's in-character malapropping vanity and Faye's tart but loving earthiness. He also played minor roles, such as a boy in a drugstore in the radio drama Dr. Christian
(1937–1939). An example is in the "Dog Story" episode.
"I wondered what a radio show would be like if the audience could see the actors on stage," Tetley was quoted as saying once about his radio work. "But then they couldn’t be allowed to read scripts. It would be like a movie. That wouldn’t be any good. Radio would then be the same as movies." To the same interviewer, Tetley admitted that adulthood in the body of a child troubled him enough, finding it difficult for many years to make adult friends or even to assert himself to his own family. But he finally made peace with the dichotomy, accepted himself, and distinguished between his meal ticket and his self successfully.
Tetley also worked for Capitol Records
in the 1950s, providing an array of juvenile voices for the label's spoken-word and comedy albums, including Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America Volume One: The Early Years (1961). His Gildersleeve co-star, Harold Peary, had made three albums for Capitol a decade earlier, telling children's stories Gildersleeve-style. In 1973 Tetley made an appearance on the Rod Serling
radio series The Zero Hour. He can be heard in the "Princess Stakes Murder" episodes beginning the week of November 19.
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
impersonator in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
's classic era, with regular roles on The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve , initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first Introduced to...
and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954, evolved from an earlier music and comedy variety program, The Fitch Bandwagon...
, as well as continuing as a voice-over artist in animated cartoons, commercials, and spoken-word record albums. He is perhaps best known as the voice of "Sherman" in the Jay Ward
Jay Ward
J Troplong "Jay" Ward was an American creator and producer of animated television cartoons. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick, and Super Chicken...
-Bill Scott
Bill Scott
William John "Bill" Scott was an American voice actor, writer and producer for animated cartoons, primarily associated with Jay Ward and UPA.-Career:...
"Mr. Peabody" TV cartoons.
Early career
Tetley was born Walter Campbell Tetzlaff to a Scottish born mother, Jessie Smith Campbell, and father Frederick Tetzlaff who was born in New York of German parents.Tetley was a precocious performer even when he really was a child, beginning at age seven performing Harry Lauder
Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
imitations. He established himself in radio, usually playing smart-aleck kids. Tetley moved to Hollywood in 1938 and acted in a number of films (he is the wisecracking messenger or pageboy in several Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
comedies), but radio was his truest metier.
Walter Tetley's perennially adolescent voice was the result of a medical condition. While this has been cited as a hormonal problem, one of Tetley's employers, Bill Scott, offered a more specific explanation. According to Scott, Tetley's mother was reluctant to give up the revenue generated from her son's busy radio career and, in Scott's words, "She had him fixed [castrated]. Walter Tetley, the world's tallest midget." Whatever the medical reason, the condition arrested Tetley's development, preventing his voice from breaking into maturity as well as preventing his further physical growth. Tetley would sound forever as though he was stranded on the bridge between boyhood and pre-teen adolescence. Combined with his excellent delivery and spot-on comic timing, he parlayed his condition into a radio career that lasted nearly a quarter of a century, with some of radio's biggest stars included Tetley in their shows, including but not limited to Fred Allen
Fred Allen
Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
, Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, W.C. Fields and others.
Fans of vintage radio remember Walter Tetley best for two roles. He was cast to play spunky nephew Leroy on The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve , initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first Introduced to...
, beginning in 1941. (Leroy's "Ah, you kiddin'?" and "Aw, for corn's sake!" became almost as much of a pair of show catch-phrases as the title character's booming trill, "Leeee-rooooy!") Tetley stayed with that role for just about the entire life of that show, voicing Leroy in and out of jams from making nitroglycerin with his home chemistry set to helping Uncle Gildersleeve (Harold Peary
Harold Peary
Harold Peary was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, film, television and animation remembered best as Throckmorton P...
) break out of the public library into which they got locked accidentally, after hours. The bad news: his unique appearance and true age obstructed him from playing the shorter, younger Leroy in the four Gildersleeve feature films (though he did appear in a speaking role as a bellhop in the third of those films, 1943's Gildersleeve on Broadway).
But Tetley might have been an even bigger hit beginning in 1948, when he took on a concurrent continuing role on an equally popular comedy, playing obnoxious grocery boy Julius Abruzzio on The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954, evolved from an earlier music and comedy variety program, The Fitch Bandwagon...
until the show's finish in 1954. (Surviving episodes that include pre-air audience warmups by Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
usually included Harris alluding to Tetley as "the kid who steals the show every week"—even though Tetley was almost 40 years old when the Harris-Faye show ended production.) Julius combined an obsession with getting the better of his clumsy elders Phil and Remley to an unconcealed crush on Alice and was as much a fixture on the show as Harris's in-character malapropping vanity and Faye's tart but loving earthiness. He also played minor roles, such as a boy in a drugstore in the radio drama Dr. Christian
Dr. Christian
Dr. Christian was a long-running radio series with Jean Hersholt in the title role. It aired on CBS from 1937 to 1954.After Hersholt portrayed the character Dr. John Luke, based on Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the obstetrician who delivered and cared for the Dionne Quintuplets, in the 20th Century Fox...
(1937–1939). An example is in the "Dog Story" episode.
"I wondered what a radio show would be like if the audience could see the actors on stage," Tetley was quoted as saying once about his radio work. "But then they couldn’t be allowed to read scripts. It would be like a movie. That wouldn’t be any good. Radio would then be the same as movies." To the same interviewer, Tetley admitted that adulthood in the body of a child troubled him enough, finding it difficult for many years to make adult friends or even to assert himself to his own family. But he finally made peace with the dichotomy, accepted himself, and distinguished between his meal ticket and his self successfully.
Later career
Tetley's career was not quite finished when the Harris-Faye show's run ended. He would become familiar to a new generation as the voice of Sherman, the nerdy, freckled, bespectacled boy sidekick of time-traveling dog genius Mr. Peabody, in the "Peabody's Improbable History" segments of The Rocky Show (also known as The Bullwinkle Show), which made its debut in 1959.Tetley also worked for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in the 1950s, providing an array of juvenile voices for the label's spoken-word and comedy albums, including Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America Volume One: The Early Years (1961). His Gildersleeve co-star, Harold Peary, had made three albums for Capitol a decade earlier, telling children's stories Gildersleeve-style. In 1973 Tetley made an appearance on the Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
radio series The Zero Hour. He can be heard in the "Princess Stakes Murder" episodes beginning the week of November 19.