Anybody know who this clown is?

[Bob DeMattia]

Posted by Donna Halper  on November 4, 2005:

  Peter Q. George wrote:
>I have it on good authority that Willie Whistle was
>Dick Beach, a longtime employee of WSBK-TV (now
>retired).

And Peter gets a cookie!!!  From the old "Ask the Globe" column:

Q. Who used to play the clown Willie Whistle on Channel 38? D.S., Littleton
A. That was the station's program director Dick Beach, who played Willie
for nearly two decades before retiring and moving West in the mid-1980s.
Throughout the period Beach kept Willie's true identity a secret. He had
previously, in 1962, played a clown named Salty at a TV station in Toledo,
Ohio. In addition to his managerial duties, and playing Willie in a number
of charitable appearances, Beach also hosted a mornin g cartoon show on Ch.
38 five days a week.