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Willie
Whistle thrived in the greater Boston market, despite some of his squeaky speech being so unintelligible that he had an offscreen interpreter (staff announcer Dana Hersey) improvising back-and-forth banter. The actor Beach often seemed genuinely confused as the end credits rolled, looking from
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91:. The Salty character featured a tiny whistle sitting on Beach's tongue that changed his voice to a high-pitched squeak. He performed skits with another character, Captain Cotton, and introduced cartoons.
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113:, in and around Boston. The story of Willie the clown and a forlorn little girl, it premiered in Boston on December 21, 1979, as a primetime, Saturday-night special, and WSBK's parent company
98:(UHF channel 38) to host a show there, starting in 1967. He kept the Salty character, but was required to rename it since Salty was the nickname of a recent Massachusetts senator (
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Willie
Whistle, a seagoing clown, was played by Dick Beach (September 5, 1928 - December 18, 2018). Beach created the character of Salty the Clown as a fill-in for a local
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The Willie
Whistle character aired in Boston for 20 years, until 1987, when Beach retired for health reasons. Beach died on December 18, 2018, at the age of 90.
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offered the program to other stations in its network. The attempt at playing Willie for pathos misfired, and no further specials were made.
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one camera to another, not being sure whether he was still on the air as the camera repeatedly zoomed in and out on his face.
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children's television character of the late 20th century. He hosted a local children's show from 1967 to 1987.
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252:"BRUCE PAUL: When Willie Whistle came to Quincy, life came to a standstill"
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The character was popular enough that WSBK filmed a half-hour special,
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233:"Beloved community member with TV past dies | KYStandard.com"
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Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local
Children's TV Programs
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Local children's television programming in the United States
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338:1980s American children's comedy television series
333:1970s American children's comedy television series
328:1960s American children's comedy television series
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179:"TV clown big hit with kids after job detour"
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208:"Southcoast Soundoff: Best Local TV Clown?"
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177:Daniel Bethencourt (July 10, 2011).
89:The Adventures of Salty and Friends
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348:Children's television characters
250:Bruce Paul (February 23, 2010).
206:Tim Weisberg (March 22, 2018).
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343:Television shows about clowns
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276:The Boston Sunday Globe
55:In-universe information
140:Hollis, Tim (2001).
100:Leverett Saltonstall
115:Storer Broadcasting
16:Fictional character
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60:Occupation
50:Dick Beach
42:Dick Beach
39:Created by
85:Fun Farm
96:WSBK-TV
210:. WBSM
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83:show,
74:Boston
63:Clown
298:IMDb
263:2018
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190:2018
161:2018
148:ISBN
296:at
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
