Jack Coats
By Gary Koepke
Leroy Jack Coats was born in September 13, 1931 in Detroit,
Michigan. He took an early interest in ventriloquism and when he
was 10 years old and received a stuffed body Charlie McCarthy
figure as a present. Jack was always inquisitive and mechanical
and it didn't take long before he began work on adding a moving
head with the head stick being made from the handle of his dad's
hoe. As Jack used to say, "I used half of the handle to make
Charlie's head move and dad used the other half to make sure I
didn't cut up any more of his hoes!" Jack soon found work
performing in the neighborhood for his friends and sometimes for
parties and get-togethers the neighbors would have. He said, "I
knew I had hit the big time when the neighbors were paying me a
dollar a minute! That was great. Of course they would only use
me for two to five minutes, but a dollar a minute..."
Jack's first good figure was a Turner figure he purchased from
Abbott's Magic Company. He kept on performing, but also began
trying to carve his own figures.
After serving time in the military, while looking for work, Jack
began carving figures on a more serious level. Eventually he
landed a job as a pattern maker for the Chrysler Corporation and
continued to carve figures in the evening. With a carving
schedule of 3 hours a night on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday and another 4 hours on Saturday, Jack Coats carved about
40 figures a year during the height of his carving career plus
all the repairs and repaints that his shop generated. Jack's
wife Pat did all the wigging and covered the animal figures with
the material. Jack's clients during the late 60's and early 70's
included Paul Stadleman, Jimmy Nelson, former Miss America Vonda
Kay Van-Dyke, Bill DeMar, and many of the top vents in the
business.
Not only was Jack an accomplished carver, but an excellent
ventriloquist as well. In the late 60's, Jack had a local weekly
television show in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his figure 'Homer'.
When the show ended another ventriloquist wanted to buy his
'Homer' figure and Jack agreed to sell him. Jack repainted the
figure and when the other vent came to pick up the figure, he
invited him in. While Jack was in the other room, the vent
walked out the door with 'Homer' without paying. Three years
later while Jack was judging a junior ventriloquist contest a 13
year old walked out on stage with the figure and performed. The
next day the teenage vent asked Coats to pose for a photograph
and later ordered 3 other figures from him. Jack decided against
telling the young vent about the stolen figure for a year and a
half... and I was always glad that he gave me a chance to get to
know him before breaking it to me! I'll never forget his
performance of the baby cry in the middle of a crowded
restaurant during a convention in Colon, Michigan or
demonstrating his whistle in the bottle in his living room.
But I was most amazed by his carving. After gluing the basswood
planks together, he could carve an entire head in 3 hours time!
Then it would take about a week to install the mechanics. His
early influence was obviously his first Turner figure.
Eventually he began to incorporate more of a Marshall influence,
although he maintained his own unique style. Jack said a lot of
the Marshall influence and refining in his own figures came from
his partnering with Paul Stadleman. In the late 1960's Paul sold
Jack's figures along with the figures of Howie Olson. Jack's
figures were called Essance Enterprise figures and were the
deluxe wood carved figures in Paul's catalog. Essance was a
shortened version of "S and C" which stood for Stadleman and
Coats. Paul would bring different figures to Jack and allow him
to "study" them.
After an evening of figure making, he'd retire upstairs and
practice sleight-of-hand with coins while sitting on the floor
in the living room and watch TV. He was an active member of IBM
Ring 22, although had no intention of performing. Just a way to
relax and something he could do for the boys at work.
There are a few examples of Coats figures in the Vent Haven
museum. One of the figures, according to the records, is the
first figure that Jack carved from wood. According to Jack it
was his second... he said the first was resigned to a bon fire
after being completed and painted, but not living up to its
maker’s expectations. (Jack's eldest daughter, Sharla, claims
that she actually has the first figure he carved, but says it's
"scary" looking) Jack spent years trying to talk W.S. Berger
into doing the same to this little guy and promising to make him
a new figure to replace it... Jack felt it was a bad example of
his work and would hurt his business if anyone saw it. W.S.
refused and I'm glad he did, as this is a wonderful example of
Coats earliest works. The hand painted ping-pong ball eyes and
crepe hair and the unmistakable influence of his Turner figure
are a definite contrast to his later Marshall influences.
Another figure in the collection is the blonde "Pretty Boy"
figure owned by Pete Fauer. It was much closer to Jack's later
style and actually influenced a figure I later had Jack carve
for me. Lisa Sweasy sent me a photo of a partially completed
head that was on Jack's work bench when he died that is also now
in the collection.
The figure most often seen in photos with Jack was "Leroy" who
looked like an Indian figure. "Leroy" was originally carved
because Jack wanted to make a figure that looked like "Frank
Byron", the Great Lester's figure. However the only photo Jack
had was one showing "Frank Byron's" profile. Jack completed the
figure and made a visit to Vent Haven to visit W.S. Berger and
see the original Frank Byron. There is an article in "The
Vent-O-Gram" newsletter from this time where W.S. mentions the
visit and the good likeness. However, when Jack saw the original
figure he was disappointed in his figure and sold "Leroy"... the
profile being exact, but the frontal view significantly
different. Another figure sometimes seen in the photos of Jack
and "Leroy" is "Barney" the bird sitting on a stool. This was
the proto-type for Jack's bird figures. He made many kinds of
birds... crows, ducks, penguins, parrots, etc. At first they
were short and squat and latter he enlarged the bodies to make
them taller. All had carved heads and beaks and wood and cloth
bodies and were covered with fake fur. They came in multiple
colors. Later Bill Boley started making his "Crazy Birds" which
had celastic heads with wooden beaks and were the size of Jack's
larger birds. Bill told me that he had heard that Jack wasn't
too happy with him for making his bird figures, but Jack never
mentioned that to me. Later Maher studios began selling Bill's
bird and later came out with a smaller bird called, I believe,
the "mini-crazy bird." The most elaborate of Jack's birds was
made for Jacki Jacobs of Wisconsin. This bird had moving eyes
and leather winkers. A very nice figure and the second to last
bird that Jack carved. At his passing I went through countless
patterns that Jack had made for various figures. Drunken
characters, country characters, a pattern for an Ed Sullivan
character, a witch, baby figures, small figures, novelty items,
etc. Even another personal figure that was never built. Jack
died without having a figure of his own. And notebooks full of
ideas never realized.
Jack was certainly my biggest influence in the field of
ventriloquism and certainly one of the best figure makers I've
ever known. Bill Boley gave me several pages of sketches Jack
had drawn for him on how to carve and install various movements.
And several of today's best figure makers have commented to me
on Jack's influence in their work. Ray Guyll actually purchased
a figure from Jack in 1969 and corresponded with him. Some of
Ray's early figures bare a similar style. Tim Selberg, another
Michigan vent and figure maker, has mentioned Jack as one of his
early inspirations as well. And Joel Leder as a teenager built
his first figure after he had talked with Jack about building an
alien figure that he had sketched, but Jack passed away before
Joel had a chance to order it.
Jack was an accomplished sleight of hand artist, a musician, an
artist, and on his way to his pilot’s license when he passed
away in his sleep during July of 1973 just prior to his 42nd
birthday. He left behind a 31 year old wife, three daughters,
and a multitude of characters, which are treasured by
ventriloquists around the world.
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