Ventriloquist’s Ex-Wife Fails to Get Share of $17.8-Million Award

A Van Nuys Superior Court judge Thursday denied an attempt by the former wife of ventriloquist Paul Winchell to reopen the couple’s 1973 divorce settlement so that she could seek half of a $17.8-million civil judgment the performer won two years ago.

Tessie Nina Moore, who was married to the ventriloquist for 11 years, contended she was entitled to $8.9 million of the judgment Metromedia was ordered to pay to Winchell for destroying tapes of his popular “Winchell-Mahoney Time” children’s television show.

Moore, 57, said Winchell concealed from her that he owned syndication rights to the show, produced by Metromedia and broadcast from 1964 to 1968.

But Judge Joel Rudof cited testimony by an independent witness that Moore knew years before the divorce that Winchell, 66, was part owner with Metromedia of syndication rights to the shows. She thus had an opportunity to claim a share in the rights at the time of the divorce, the judge said in court.

When the couple divorced, Moore, who wrote and performed in the show, agreed to $1,500 as her share of the corporation the couple used for business matters, said her attorney, Robert A. Kahn.

Winchell testified that at the time of his divorce, he did not believe the rights were of any value since he and Metromedia had been unable to reach an agreement on syndicating the show. Metromedia had refused to let Winchell use the tapes and had threatened to destroy them, Winchell testified.

In July, 1986, a jury awarded Winchell $3.8 million for the value of the tapes and $14 million in punitive damages against Metromedia, which produced the shows.

An appellate court upheld the verdict and the California Supreme Court last week refused to consider overturning the case. Metromedia has pledged to appeal the verdict to the U.S. Supreme Court.