The following email is a followup, on some info recently posted on Peabody’s Pony Express. Jonathan Orovitz has pointed out to us some arguments to support an opposing view, vis á vis Walter’s age, and Fred Allen’s role in getting the young lad started, in Hollywood.
Regarding specifically Walter’s age, Jonathan had already given some valid arguments, once before, to support the fact that he was most likely 8 years younger than the age usually given for him. Now, with his comments here, he bolsters his claim one step further. The comments on Fred Allen’s involvement with Tetley are also interesting.
We have also included some freeze frames, courtesy of Mr. Orovitz, which show Walter in the W.C. Fields movie, You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (see some of our earlier emails, for comments about W.T. and W.C. in this movie).
Though I will admit that, judging from these pictures, it seems more plausible that he was 15 years old here, rather than 23, I had read, extensively, that he was a very small person, and had hormonal treatment, with a urologist, later on in life, which allowed him to grow a few inches. The fact that he was a very small person, and possibly even had a baby face (for all we know??……) could lend credence to the fact that perhaps he just really looked young……..But who knows?……..Consider all the evidence as you will, Readers. Naturally the expression “rages on“, in the above heading, was intended purely in jest !
Thanks again, Jonathan, for your wonderful, really neat photos!!…….and for your information which continues to stimulate intriguing thought and debate!
Brian,
I just took a journey through Peabody’s Pony Express and noticed the remarks about Walter’s appearance in You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1938). Once again, I have it on tape. Unfortunately he is only on screen for a few seconds and has no lines. Tetley’s role goes something like this: W.C. Fields doing a poor job of replacing Edgar Bergan as carnival ventriloquist. To make matters worse, Walter is in the front row sucking on a candy cane and eating a lemon. My guess is that he had some lines, an exchange of barbs with Fields, that were cut.
I don’t know anything about a radio tradition between W. Fields and W. Tetley. There was famous radio feud between Fields and Charley McCarthy (co-star of You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man).
Walter in You Can’t Cheat and Honest Man 
Walter in You Can’t Cheat and Honest Man
The two attached stills pretty much capture Walter’s performance in You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man. I hope he didn’t spend the check all in one place. Frankly, he looks more like 15 than 23 years old in these pictures, lending support to my suggestion of a 1923 birthdate.
This film, and another remark in the Pony Express, also suggests that my source about Walter’s tenure on Fred Allen was wrong. He probably went west at the end of the 1937 radio season (June) rather than staying on until 1940. I can’t find any trace of him on Fred’s show after spring 1937. From my other sources (Dunning), I would not say that Fred discovered Walter but may have been the first to give him national exposure. In his article on Raising Junior (1930-32), Dunning said that starting at age 9, Tetley “… went on to do thousands of radio broadcasts (an estimated 2,300 appearances on 150 separate series by the late 1930s, with the bulk of his work still ahead), specializing in wiseguy kid roles on The Fred Allen Show, Easy Aces, The Great Gildersleeve, and the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.
Jonathan O