Editing Walter Winchell (section)

=== Television ===
During the 1950s, Winchell supported Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s quest to identify Communists in the entertainment industry. His weekly radio broadcast was broadcast on ABC television on the same day. His program debuted on TV on October 5, 1952. Sponsored by Gruen Watch Company, it originated from [[WABC-TV|WJZ-TV]] from 6:45 to 7 p.m. ET.<ref>{{cite journal |title=This Week – Network Debuts, Highlights, Changes |journal=Ross Reports on Television |date=October 5, 1952 |volume=4 |issue=5 |page=1, Supplement B |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/mode/2up?view=theater |access-date=January 23, 2022}}</ref> By 1953,<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86037989/winchell-starts-22nd-year/ Winchell Starts 22nd Year] Fort Worth Star-Telegram. December 6, 1953.</ref> his radio and television broadcasts were simulcast until he ended that association because of a dispute with ABC executives in 1955. He starred in ''[[The Walter Winchell File]]'', a television crime drama series that initially aired from 1957 to 1958, dramatizing cases from the New York City Police Department that were covered in the ''New York Daily Mirror''. In 1956, he signed with NBC to host a variety program called ''[[The Walter Winchell Show]]'', which was canceled after only 13 weeks—a particularly bitter failure in view of the success of his longtime rival [[Ed Sullivan]] in a similar format with ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gabler |first=Neal |title=Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity |publisher=Knopf |year=1994 |pages=434–435 | isbn=0-679-41751-6}}</ref> ABC rehired him in 1959 to narrate ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'' for four seasons. In 1960, a revival of the 1955 television simulcast of Winchell's radio broadcast was canceled after six weeks.

In the early 1960s, a public dispute with [[Jack Paar]] effectively ended Winchell's career—already in decline due to a shift in power from print to television.<ref>''[[Pioneers of Television]]'': "Late Night" episode (2008 [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] mini-series) <blockquote>"Paar's feud with newspaper columnist Walter Winchell marked a major turning point in American media power. No one had ever dared criticize Winchell because a few lines in his column could destroy a career, but when Winchell disparaged Paar in print, Paar fought back and mocked Winchell repeatedly on the air. Paar's criticisms effectively ended Winchell's career. The tables had turned, now TV had the power."</blockquote></ref> Winchell had angered Paar several years earlier when he refused to retract an item alleging that Paar was having marital difficulties. Biographer [[Neal Gabler]] described the exchange on [[Tonight Show with Jack Paar|Paar's show]] in 1961:

<blockquote>Hostess [[Elsa Maxwell]] appeared on the program and began gibing at Walter, accusing him of hypocrisy for waving the flag while never having voted [which, incidentally, wasn't true; the show later issued a retraction]. Paar joined in. He said Walter's column was "written by a fly" and that his voice was so high because he wears "too-tight underwear" … [H]e also told the story of the mistaken item about his marriage, and cracked that Walter had a "hole in his soul".{{sfn|Gabler|1994|pages=362–363}}</blockquote>

On subsequent programs, Paar called Winchell a "silly old man" and cited other examples of his underhanded tactics.{{sfn|Gabler|1994|pages=364}} No one had previously criticized Winchell publicly, but by then his influence had eroded to the point that he could not effectively respond. The ''New York Daily Mirror'', his flagship newspaper for 34 years, closed in 1963; his readership dropped steadily, and he faded from the public eye.{{sfn|Gabler|1994|pages=420–435}}