Jimmy Weldon

Jimmy Weldon (born Ivy Laverne Shinn, September 23, 1923 – July 6, 2023) was an American actor, ventriloquist, and television host. He was best known as the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Yakky Doodle and the host and ventriloquist in the locally produced television series The Webster Webfoot Show. He also had a YouTube channel titled Jimmy's Lecture, where he documented stories of his time in World War II. Early life Born Ivy Laverne Shinn on September 23, 1923, in Dale, Texas, he began his career in 1946 as a disc jockey at KWCO, the radio station which began its operations shortly after he returned home following WWII. He was the first announcer hired at this new radio station. While there, he developed a character named Webster Webfoot, a little duck who visited him while he was playing record requests from listeners calling in. Often they just wanted to talk to little Webster. They thought Webster was someone other than Weldon, and so he became an important part of Weldon's disc jockey presentations. Television acting In 1948, Weldon (and Webster Webfoot) moved to Duncan, Oklahoma, where they performed on another 250-watt AM station, KRHD, for two more years. The big 50,000-watt radio station WFAA in Dallas, Texas, recruited Webster and Weldon as entertainers, and Webster became a real person on television on April 4, 1950, on The Webster Webfoot Show, produced locally by station WFAA-TV.