Editing Doodles Weaver (section)

==Career==

===Radio and recordings===
On radio during the late 1930s and early 1940s, he was heard as an occasional guest on [[Rudy Vallée]]'s program and on the ''[[Kraft Music Hall]]''.

In 1946, Weaver signed on as a member of [[Spike Jones]]'s City Slickers band. Weaver was heard on Jones's 1947–49 radio shows, where he introduced his comedic Professor Feetlebaum (which Weaver sometimes spelled as Feitlebaum),<ref name=young/> a character who spoke in [[spoonerism]]s. Part of the Professor's schtick was mixing up words and sentences in various songs and recitations as if he had [[myopia]] or [[dyslexia]].<ref>[http://www.ibras.dk/comedy/spike1.htm ''Spike Jones Murders Them All'']</ref> Weaver toured the country with the Spike Jones Music Depreciation Revue until 1951. The radio programs were often broadcast from cities where the Revue was staged.<ref>Dunning, John (1998). ''On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-507678-8}}.</ref>

One of Weaver's most popular recordings is the Spike Jones parody of [[Rossini]]'s "[[William Tell Overture (Spike Jones song)|William Tell Overture]]". Weaver gives a close impression of the gravel-voiced sports announcer [[Clem McCarthy]] in a satire of a horse race announcer who forgets whether he's covering a horse race or a boxing match ("It's Girdle in the stretch! Locomotive is on the rail! Apartment House is second with plenty of room! It's Cabbage by a head!"). The race features a [[List of fictional horses|nag]] named Beetlebaum, who begins at long odds, runs the race a distant last—and yet suddenly emerges as the winner. The oft-repeated "Beetlebaum" became so identified with the record that RCA reprinted the record label, adding "Beetlebaum" in parentheses after the song title. Jones and Weaver followed this hit with a 1949 parody of the [[Indianapolis 500]] automobile race, again with Weaver as commentator, set to [[Amilcare Ponchielli|Ponchielli's]] "Dance of the Hours". The surprise winner? Beetlebaum. When an angry listener named Beetlebaum threatened a lawsuit, Weaver changed the name to Feitlebaum.

In 1966, Weaver recorded a novelty version of "[[Eleanor Rigby]]"—singing, mixing up the words, insulting, and interrupting, while playing the piano.

===Writing===
Weaver was a contributor to the early ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'', as described by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'''s Richard Corliss:
:Among the funny stuff: Doodles Weaver's strict copy editing of the [[Gettysburg Address]], advising Lincoln to change "fourscore and seven" to eighty-seven ("Be specific"), noting that there are six "dedicates" ("Study your [[Peter Mark Roget|Roget]]"), wondering if "proposition" isn't misspelled and, finally exasperated, urging the writer to omit "of the people, by the people, for the people" as "superfluous."<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,633658-3,00.html Corliss, Richard. "That Old Feeling: Hail, Harvey!" ''Time'', May 5, 2004.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109000247/http://www.time.com/time/columnist/corliss/article/0,9565,633658-3,00.html |date=January 9, 2009 }}</ref>

===Films and television===
Weaver made his television debut on ''[[The Colgate Comedy Hour]]'' in 1951. He performed an [[Ajax (cleanser)|Ajax]] cleanser commercial with a pig, and the audience reaction prompted the network to give him his own series. In 1951, ''The Doodles Weaver Show'' was NBC's summer replacement for [[Sid Caesar]]'s ''[[Your Show of Shows]]''; it was telecast from June to September with Weaver, his wife Lois, vocalist Marian Colby, and the comedy team of Dick Dana and Peanuts Mann. The show's premise involved Weaver dealing with an assignment to stage a no-budget television series using only the discarded costumes, sets and props left behind by more popular network television shows away for the summer.<ref name=party/>

Weaver went on to guest star on numerous television shows including ''[[Spike Jones#Television|The Spike Jones Show]]'', ''[[The Donna Reed Show]]'', ''[[Dennis the Menace (1959 TV series)|Dennis the Menace]]'', and ''[[The Tab Hunter Show]]''. He also hosted several children's television series. In 1965, he starred in ''A Day With Doodles'', a series of six-minute shorts sold as alternative fare to cartoons for locally hosted kiddie television programs. Each episode featured Weaver in a first-person plural adventure (e.g., "Today we are a movie actor"), portraying himself and, behind false mustaches and costume hats, all the other characters in slapstick comedy situations with a voice over narration and minimal sets.<ref name=party>[http://www.tvparty.com/lostdoodles.html TV Party: Lost Kids Shows]</ref> The ending credits would invariably list "Doodles... Doodles Weaver" and "Everybody Else... Doodles Weaver."

He portrayed eccentric characters in guest appearances on such television series as ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' (where he played The Archer's henchman Crier Tuck), ''[[Land of the Giants]]'', ''[[Dragnet (franchise)|Dragnet 1967]]'' and ''[[The Monkees (TV series)|The Monkees]]''. He appeared in more than 90 films, including ''[[The Great Imposter]]'' (1961), [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963) (as the man helping [[Tippi Hedren]]'s character with her rental boat), [[Jerry Lewis]]'s ''[[The Nutty Professor (1963 film)|The Nutty Professor]]'' (1963), ''[[Pocketful of Miracles]]'' (1961) and, in a cameo, ''[[It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]]'' (1963). He appeared in ''[[Six Pack Annie]]'' (1975). His last movie was ''[[Earthbound (1981 film)|Earthbound]]'' (1981).