Sections:
Edgar Winchester - WPSA Winch of The Year -
more coming soon
Sections:
Edgar Winchester - WPSA Winch of The Year -
more coming soon
| Edgar Winchester
- The Man, The Myth
The Winchester Preparatory Sketch Academy was founded in 1953 by Edgar Winchester, a wealthy businessman who had just moved to Torrington, Connecticut. Winchester had made his millions by designing the opening animations for Three Stooges films, along with a great deal of blackmailing. Winchester left The Stooges in Hollywood, doing some soul searching after Curly's untimely death in January of 1952. At the school's opening ceremony, Edgar said, "At the end of the day, all comedians will end up lonely, soul-less, and dead. Just like 'Curls'. And if I know anyone as well as I did him, I know that he would be proud of comedy's potential evolution out of being an opiate for the masses, into something actually stimulating. Even if it meant that he would have worked less."
At the time, there were no formal training grounds for those who were aiming to get into TV and Film comedies. Winchester said, "The people that I worked with (The Three Stooges) were incredibly talented. Yet, their comedy is so simple at times, and it absolutely makes me want to vomit until my eyes are bleeding". Winchester asked the writers from Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows" to develop a curriculum that would be an absolute dream for aspiring comedic talent, as long as that talent had fabulously wealthy parents. Thus, The Winchester Preparatory Sketch Academy was born. Originally going by the moniker "The Edgar J. Winchester Comedic Flourishment Academy of Arts, Agriculture, and Medicine", the school opened with 4 students, who paid a whopping (by that day's standards) $7,500 a year. "Winchester Comedic Flourishment AA&M" continued under that name until 1972, when the school's official title was changed into the modern day version. Edgar Joshua Winchester died on Friday, October 10, 1975; lonely, soul-less, and dead. His spirit lives on in the academy to this day. On to past recipients of the WPSA Winch of The Year Award. |
