Paul Lynde was a childhood favorite of mine. I particularly liked him in Under the Yum Yum Tree which, to my dismay, has yet to come out on DVD.
In my AHDD mindset, I began reading about him online this evening due to some references from Robert Osborne of TCM after watching the retroactively overhyped film, Touch of Evil. He was notorious for his intolerance of children. Donnie and Marie chronicled his reluctance to be around kids while he worked on their show in the late 70's.
Paul was many things: alcoholic, racists (allegedly) and gay (most certainly), and I loved him.
The best story comes from Salon in an interview with Joe Florinski (and Steve Wilson):
Another notorious Paul story that turned out to be true was the time he was on an airplane and a little girl was running up and down the aisle, making a lot of noise. He grabbed her and then shouted at her mother: “You keep this little girl quiet or I’m gonna fuck her!”
A voice of reason.
