Comic Legend Jonathan Winters Passes Away

[Jim Eshelman]

Apr 12, 2013

Jonathan Winters passed away Thursday evening at his home in Montecito, California. He was born Nov. 11th 1925, 8:23 PM CST, Dayton, Ohio. Computing his last SSR we note his secondary progressed SSR Moon was partile conjunct SSR Saturn, and his last SSR Moon was tightly conjunct his Natal Mars. Computing his Solar Quotidian, we note his Natal Saturn was partile conjunct his SQ MC.

[Jim Eshelman]

The natal is of great interest. Most comic genius arises from the malefics, especially Saturn and Mars. In this chart, despite the broad geniality and good-heartedness always evident in Winters - he was a Libra-Virgo with a dignified Jupiter on the Descendant - we nonetheless see a partile Sun-Saturn conjunction, practically the defining mark of a great comedic chart.

[Jim Eshelman]

Jim wrote:
Most comic genius arises from the malefics, especially Saturn and Mars.

Interesting, maybe a lesson here for all of us to endeavor to find humor, if possible, when under the malefics.

[ODdOnLifeItself]

That's another strange coincidence. I watched 5 of Jonathan Winter's appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, just over these last three days. I always thought he was brilliant. I don't know what prompted me to search them out just over the last days.

Very few were so astutely "on their feet" and prepared to answer, when it suddenly went in improvisational directions. Often times, his little mumblings and facial gestures are as comical as the main part of the bit.

It's always too bad, when someone you really like meets their time; but he had a good life (despite Saturn-Sun) and was certainly recognized in his time.

[SteveS]

I never will forget Jonathan Winters character role (Lennie Pike) in the old 1963 movie “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", playing one of the lead characters. He played the part of a trucker, and it was this movie which helped catapult his career. He was a natural genius at making people laugh.

The film opened at the newly built Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles on November 7, 1963. Distinguished by the largest number of stars to appear in a film comedy, Mad World opened to acclaim from many critics [27] and tremendous box office receipts, becoming the third highest-grossing film of 1963, quickly establishing itself as one of the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time when adjusted for inflation, earning an estimated theatrical rental figure of $26 million. It grossed $46,332,858 domestically [28] and $60,000,000 worldwide,[2] on a budget of $9.4 million.[28] However, because costs were so high,[clarification needed] it earned a profit of only $1.25 million.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_ ... _Mad_World

When I was named chief film buyer (1971) for a small company with a chain of theaters including 4 Drive-Inns, every summer I bought this movie for 25$ and played it twice each summer for years in the company’s Drive- Inns. It would do sell-out business on the weekends. Talking about low risk for high rewards, but this was in the days before the movie companies in Hollywood figured out how much money we independent exhibitors were making in Drive-Inns on flat fee movies for 25$. This was in the days when I was known as “King” (6,24 MC Leo—Regulus) for buying entertaining movies for our small communities. When Mad World was playing I could go out in the parking area and hear the tremendous loud laughter from the people in their open windowed cars. It was so much fun entertaining the people in the community and making a living buying/contracting movies.