Hi, everyone! Today is an important milestone in our Cinnamon Bear adventure. We are exactly halfway through the story!
Martha Wentworth (June 2, 1889 – March 8, 1974) is the voice of the Wintergreen Witch. She worked in film and radio, and is the voice of several characters in Disney’s animated feature 101 Dalmations. Her last credited performance was that of Madame Mim in the animated feature The Sword in the Stone. She starred in several Red Ryder western films. I think she is great as The Wintergreen Witch, and one cannot help picturing her as Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West, although The Wizard of Oz would not hit theaters for another two years.
Download all of Cinnamon Bear’s episodes at Radio Echoes. You can also listen to each episode there without downloading. Here is the link to today’s episode: Cinnamon Bear Episode 13
The Cinnamon Bear Episode 13 – Threatened by a Witch
Opening: Cinnamon Bear Theme
Cinnamon Bear: And here’s the Cinnamon Bear!
Announcer: Well, Judy and Jimmy and the Cinnamon Bear were in a pretty pickle when we saw them last. They found the Crazy Quilt Dragon alright, but he’d been thrown into a ‘short trance’, as he called it, by the Wintergreen Witch who made off with the silver star. So there was nothing to do but to try and find her, but what do you think? Nobody knew how to get out of the Magic Forest and back into the witch’s house. Then Jimmy remembered the little whistle which Fee Fo the Gentle Giant had given him with instructions to blow it three times if help was needed. But Jimmy couldn’t blow it loud enough, so Crazy Quilt volunteered for the job, and took such a deep breath that he swallowed it, and as Jimmy says…
Jimmy: This is the limit! What’d you have to go and swallow the whistle for?
Crazy Quilt: Couldn’t help it. Slipped.
Judy: Oh, dear. Now we’ll just have to walk and walk, and maybe we’ll never be able to get out of this old forest.
Jimmy: What’s the matter Crazy Quilt?
Cinnamon Bear: He’s got the hiccups! And every time he hiccups, it blows the whistle!
Jimmy: Quick, Crazy Quilt, do it again! That’s swell. You blew it three times.
Judy: Good! Maybe Fee Fo will come to our rescue.
Cinnamon Bear: Bless my stuffing I can hear him now!
Judy: That’s enough Crazy Quilt. Fee Fo heard you.
Crazy Quilt: Can’t stop, it just keeps…
Fee Fo: Here I am, my little friends. Just as I said I’d be. Oh, but my gracious! You don’t have to blow the whistle so many times!
Jimmy: We’re not doing it on purpose, Fee Fo. The Crazy Quilt Dragon’s got it caught in his throat.
Judy: And every time he hiccups…
Cinnamon Bear: It whistles!
Fee Fo: Well, well! Haw-Haw-Haw-Haw-Haw. I’ll fix that. Just a pat on the back.
Crazy Quilt: Oof!
Jimmy: There it is!
Crazy Quilt: Oooh! What an ordeal! Why does everything happen to me?
Cinnamon Bear: Because you’re always sticking your crazy quilt nose in somebody else’s business. That’s why!
Fee Fo: So this is the Crazy Quilt Dragon you were looking for. And did he give you back your silver star?
Judy: No, he didn’t, Fee Fo, ‘cause the Wintergreen Witch did something magic to him, and made him bring it to her.
Jimmy: Crazy Quilt says she’s a terrible old witch. Does she scare you Fee Fo?
Fee Fo: It all depends on what color she is.
Cinnamon Bear: Mmm, that’s right. Didn’t you say she changed colors, Crazy Quilt?
Crazy Quilt: Definitely. And you didn’t believe me, smarty. She changed from green to purple to red.
Fee Fo: Ooo, that’s bad. When she’s alright she stays green, but when she gets a notion to practice magic, she goes all sorts of colors.
Jimmy: Well, no matter what color she gets, we’ve got to find her.
Judy: Yes, and that’s why we called for you, Fee Fo. We thought maybe you’d be real nice and take us back to the place where we came through the picture frame. We don’t know which way to go.
Fee Fo: I’d be glad to. Only, I’m sorry to see you leave the Magic Forest. It’s awful lonesome here. Maybe you can come back and see me again, huh?
Jimmy: Willikers! I don’t see how we can, Fee Fo, on account of we’ve gotta get our star and get back home before Christmas.
Fee Fo: Oh, well. Maybe someday you can. Alright, everybody. I’ll put the dragon on my left shoulder, and the rest of you on my right. Up you go!
Jimmy: Whee! We’re way up in the air again.
Crazy Quilt: My, my! This is something new for me. My, you are a whopper of a giant, Fee Fo, simply a whopper.
Fee Fo: Hold tight. Here we go! Here we are folks. End of the trip.
Crazy Quilt: What? So soon?
Cinnamon Bear: Sure, Fee Fo’s no slowpoke. Only takes a few of his big steps to get you someplace in a hurry.
Fee Fo: Alright, now. Down you go.
Jimmy: Gee, we’re right where we came in, too. I can see right through the trees into the Wintergreen Witch’s house.
Cinnamon Bear: Sure enough. There’s the fireplace and all the pots in front of it.
Fee Fo: Well, my friends, I wish I were small enough to go through the picture frame with you. But that’s impossible. So I’ll just have to say goodbye and good luck.
Judy: Goodbye, Fee Fo. We’ll never, never forget you.
Jimmy: You bet. And thanks a million.
Fee Fo: Goodbye, and I hope the witch stays green.
Judy, Jimmy, Cinnamon Bear, Crazy Quilt: Goodbye! Goodbye, Fee Fo! Goodbye, Gentle Giant!
Cinnamon Bear: Alright, now. Steel yourselves everybody. And through the picture frame.
Jimmy: Okay, Cinnamon Bear. Here I go!
Judy: And me.
Crazy Quilt: And reluctantly, I.
Cinnamon Bear: Hmm. The room is empty. Not a soul here.
Crazy Quilt: Splendid, splendid!
Wintergreen Witch: (cackle)
Crazy Quilt: Oh! The Wintergreen Witch!
Judy, Jimmy, Cinnamon Bear: The witch!
Wintergreen Witch: Right, my little pretties, right! Thought I wasn’t here, eh?
Judy: Hold my hand, Jimmy.
Crazy Quilt: Excuse me, but I just remembered I left the water running in the bathtub. I’ll see you later.
Cinnamon Bear: Me, too. Come on, children, out the door.
Jimmy: It closed itself!
Crazy Quilt: Hurry, back through the picture frame.
Cinnamon Bear: Oh! It’s nothing but a flat painted picture now!
Wintergreen Witch: (laughing)
Crazy Quilt: Oh! Trapped! Doomed! This is the end.
Jimmy: Jiminy Crickets! Look at the witch! She’s changing colors.
Judy: Green and blue and purple and red!
Wintergreen Witch: Sit down, my dainties! Sit down, and make yourselves comfortable, because you’ll be here a long time. A long, long time.
Judy: What are you going to do, Mrs. Witch?
Wintergreen Witch: You’ll find out. And don’t call me Mrs. Witch!
Judy: Please, Mrs. Wintergreen, give us our star and let us go.
Cinnamon Bear: Yes, uh, please give it back.
Jimmy: We’ve come an awful long ways to get it.
Crazy Quilt: And after all, madam, what does a wonderful sorceress with your great power want with a paltry Christmas tree ornament, hmmm?
Wintergreen Witch: I want it for my Magic Forest! That’s something I’ve never had before. I’m going to hang it in the sky over the black lake.
Cinnamon Bear: Well, if’n we can’t have the star, would you mind if we just sort of moseyed along?
Wintergreen Witch: No you don’t. I have other plans, my pretties. Other plans.
Jimmy: Well I bet you can’t do anything to Judy and me, ‘cause we belong to the USA, and I bet you can’t magic any American citizens, so there.
Judy: Besides, we don’t believe in witches, anyhow. They’re just to scare people on Halloween.
Wintergreen Witch: So you don’t believe the Wintergreen Witch can magic things, eh? I shall demonstrate. First, I open the door. Now, see how beautiful and clear it is outside?
Crazy Quilt: Indeed, and how I’d like to be outside!
Wintergreen Witch: Now I’ll close the door. And… mumbo jumbo… hubba-dubba woooo! Now I open the door again.
Jimmy: Gee Willikers! Look!
Cinnamon Bear: It’s raining cats and dogs!
Wintergreen Witch: There! There! You’ve heard of it raining cats and dogs, haven’t ya?
Judy: Yes, Mrs. Wintergreen.
Wintergreen Witch: Now you’ve not only heard but seen it! Do you still think the Wintergreen Witch can’t magic things?
Judy: Oh, no, no! You’re truly wonderful. But won’t you please let us go?
Crazy Quilt: Yes, pretty please? We haven’t done anything to you.
Wintergreen Witch: Ha! No, but I’m going to do something to you!
Judy and Jimmy: Oooh!
Wintergreen Witch: There are several things I need around the house or in the Magic Forest, and you pretties have come just at the right moment. First I think I’ll change you twins into white mice.
Judy: Oh, please don’t! Not mice! I don’t like them at all!
Wintergreen Witch: And this Crazy Quilt Dragon will look beautiful after I’ve changed him into a pin cushion.
Crazy Quilt: Oh, agony!
Wintergreen Witch: And as for this funny little bear, he’ll make a lovely doormat with welcome on his tummy.
Cinnamon Bear: Oh, me poor stuffings!
Wintergreen Witch: Now be quiet while I prepare my magic.
Judy: Jimmy, if we only had something to make her forget about us and the silver star. Have you got anything she might like?
Jimmy: Gee, I don’t think she’d like my knife. And my swell wristwatch is home in my bureau drawer.
Judy: I’ve got it! Maybe she’d like my little looking glass. Mrs. Wintergreen!
Wintergreen Witch: Yes, my pretty, dear?
Judy: I have something much nicer than the silver star for you, and it’s ever so much shinier. Look!
Wintergreen Witch: Ahhhh! Take it away! Take it away! Don’t you know witches can’t stand to see their own faces? Take it away!
Cinnamon Bear: What a break! Keep on showing it to her, Judy!
Wintergreen Witch: No, no, no! Take it away. I’ll do anything you ask, anything.
Judy: Alright. First you’ve got to let us go.
Crazy Quilt: And promise not to do anything to us after we leave.
Wintergreen Witch: Oh, yes, yes yes yes. But take that dreadful looking glass with you.
Jimmy: And you’ve got to give us back our silver star.
Wintergreen Witch: Oh, even that. Here!
Judy: Oh, Jimmy! At last we’ve got it back!
Cinnamon Bear: Open the door, witch, and make it snappy!
Crazy Quilt: Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! And foo for you, Mrs. Wintergreen. Come along, children.
Jimmy: Isn’t it swell, Judy? We’ve got the star, and everything.
Judy: Isn’t it beautiful?
Cinnamon Bear: Yeah, but we can’t stop to admire it now. We’ve got to rush right down to the shore and get back across the Root Beer Ocean. Come on, hurry, everybody.
Jimmy: Do you think you could swim us all the way back, Crazy Quilt?
Crazy Quilt: Absolutely. I’m plenty full of corks to manage it. Climb aboard.
Cinnamon Bear: I think I’d better carry the star.
Judy: But suppose wave comes and washes it away, or another whale swallows it.
Crazy Quilt: Pardon the suggestion, but I’ve an ideal place for it. My hind pocket. The one under that big orange patch. It’s waterproof and has a zipper.
Jimmy: Okay, Crazy Quilt, unzip.
Crazy Quilt: With pleasure. And in it goes. Zip again. And safe and sound. Hold on my friends, for it’s cheerio and into the Root Beer Ocean.
Cinnamon Bear: You sure made good time, Crazy Quilt. Here we are back on the Maybe Land mainland.
Judy: I can hardly believe it!
Jimmy: We’re ever so grateful, Crazy Quilt.
Crazy Quilt: Oh, not at all. But now that we’re all hunky dory, I must ask you to excuse me while I sit down and rest a bit for my strenuous swim.
Jimmy: Sure. You’ve got it coming to you, alright.
Crazy Quilt: Uhuh. I think this would be a lovely spot, right here in the lee of this rock. There. Now I’ll just lean back, and then…
Judy: What was that?
Crazy Quilt: Oh! Oh I fear, uh… Oh, my friends! Oh, I’m blushing red. I… well, behold the star!
Jimmy: Willikers. It’s busted.
Judy: In a dozen pieces!
Announcer: And that’s what I call very, very bad luck. After all the perilous adventures our friends have been through in order to recapture their silver star, this is really a blow. A lost star is bad enough, but a broken one is terrible! Just the same, I’ll be with you next time to see what they’re going to do about it.
Sources:
I wonder if the Oz writers and maybe Margaret Hamilton were influenced by Martha Wentworth’s work in this (the “my pretties” jumps out at you). And concerning Heistand, I wonder if he is the announcer introducing Annette Hanshaw in the Captain Henry’s Steamboat clip. Does the voice sound the same to you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI-yrmKgVN8
It’s very possible that they were influenced by the show. It originated in Portland, Oregon, which isn’t that far a stretch from Hollywood. About Heistand, I think it does sound a lot like him. It’s so hard to tell, though. I have never heard of Annette Hanshaw. She’s adorable!!!
Yes, I love Annette Hanshaw.She is one of my favorite singers from that era. I have several recordings of her in my iTunes library, and there are lots of them in YouTube, also. Oddly enough, she did not think highly of her own singing and retired early to raise a family.