Have Walter Winchell remain influential after the rise of TV

His biographers draw the same conclusion: Walter Winchell, once one of America's premier celebrities during the age of radio, never adapted to television. OK, he had some modest success as the unseen narrator of "The Untouchables" but that was no more than a faint echo of what he once enjoyed. So: how would we get Winchell to somehow become less rigid and adapt to TV, keeping some measure of success and influence? Would his friendship with Roy Cohn and his support of Joseph McCarthy happen anyhow, or would he be too busy in front of the camera? And would he be able to parlay his persona as a stock movie character (the hard-boiled cynical '30s reporter) into something of a TV trademark?

AFTERTHOUGHT: might Winchell have either....
  • …become an outspoken proponent of the new nation of Israel, given his outspoken condemnations of anti-Semitism in the 1930s?
  • …moved to Las Vegas and adapted to the Strip as a new sort of Broadway, rubbing elbows with the Rat Pack and the like (as well as mobsters, as he had in New York)?
 
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I heard he was just not telegenic, his frantic way of presenting things worked great on radio but once people saw him bouncing back and forth it was offputting.

Same as when the talkies ruined many of the actors careers who didn't have a good enough voice.
 
His support for Joe McCarthy is really what started his decline. That along with his tendency to make unsubstantiated claims against people and organizations really soured people on him. I just think it was coincidental that television came along the same time he was losing popularity.
 
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