|
April
Archives
Back to Blog Main Page
April 26, 2007
Ronn Lucas
Show
Dan @ 10:15pm (Las Vegas
Time)
Went to see the Ronn Lucas
show at the new Aladdin/Planet Hollywood hotel and casino and his
show is terrific. He has some of the best lip control of any vent
working out there today. His comedy is also infectious and you laugh
non stop. His routine with the Ventrilo mask is just the best and
when you see the person watch his own video at the end it is really
the terrific. Entertainment for the entire family the way variety
used to be. It is a show that is a must for anyone who goes to Las
Vegas. It is an afternoon show and you can usually get a comp ticket
to see him so for the price of a drink you see a terrific Las Vegas
show.
Comments welcomed.
~Dan
Comments
1 Comment > > >
-
Gee Dan it sounded like a good
show wish i could of seen it Ronn is a great ventriloquist.
Comments by Christian Morse -
May 5, 2007 @ 10:20pm
April 25, 2007
A Rarely
Seen Video
Dan @ 1:29pm (Las Vegas Time)
Hello from Las Vegas. So
far, we’ve had a good time. Tomorrow we’ll be seeing Ronn Lucas’
show. I’ll have more to report after that.
On Sunday, Janice McElroy posted on the McElroy list that Betty
McElroy (Glenn’s wife) passed away. Our condolences go out to the
family.
Today, we are posting rarely seen video. This video was donated by
Ray Guyll. It’s a video taken from an old 8mm film by and converted
to VHS by Les Lamborn. It’s a short video showing both Glenn &
George McElroy at Vent Haven. I hope you enjoy it.
Click Here For Video
Stay tuned for more from Vegas.
Comments welcomed.
~Dan
Comments
1 Comment > > >
-
I believe the 8mm film was
dated 1975 during the Puppeteers of America meetings in Cincinnati,
Oh. with a side trip to Vent Haven.
Comments by Les Lamborn - April
25, 2007 @ 9:35pm
April 22, 2007
Cy Leonard's Hortense -
UPDATE!!!
Dan @ 9:15pm
As I am preparing to leave
this week for
Las Vegas, I received a phone call from Barbara Leonard. She told me
that her son Bruce does in fact have Hortense back in his
possession. All the legal wrangling was done so they returned the
figure to him this morning (Sunday, April 22nd).
This is GREAT news!!!
Dan
Comments
0 Comments > > >
Off to
Vegas
Dan @ 6:03am
It appears that Steve , my
webmaster, is going to win our bet. I thought for sure that in a
week we would have at least 50 people with their favorite figure or
puppet posted on the Ventspace Gallery. I was wrong but I will make
a last ditch effort to get all of you to send those pictures in!!
PLEASE add yourself to the Ventspace Gallery and save me from the
fate of my bet. Steve is going to win and I can't let that happen.
Come on we all love to show off or we wouldn't be into ventriloquism
so do it now, have your significant other, your mother, your father,
sister, brother SOMEONE take that picture and send it in to me to
post. I implore you!!
I will be journeying west to the city of lights , Las Vegas , this
next week so I will be reporting to you from there any news I can
find concerning our great field. I do have plans to go see Ron Lucas
at his new venue at the Alladin/Planet Hollywood hotel. I have seen
him quite a few times at the Rio but this will be the first time at
his new spot. I am sure he will be great. I know that John Pizzi was
also performing in Las Vegas but I don't know if he will still be
there when I arrive. I hope so as his show is very funny.
Don't forget that our forum is waiting for you comments and thoughts
and it too has been quite active so please take part. Thanks and
stay tuned.
Comments........Please
~Dan
Comments
0 Comments > > >
SPECIAL REPORT
- From The Police Blotter
The Travels of
Cy Leonard's Hortence
Dan @ 8:45pm
On the morning of April 19,
2007 I was doing my usual scouring of eBay for vintage ventriloquist
figures when I happened upon this very special figure being sold in
Ontario Canada. Here is the item number so that you can go back and
look at the listing. 110116718232 . When I opened this listing up
low and behold I saw a familiar ventriloquist figure. It was
Hortense the Len Insull figure Cy Leonard had redone as a female
figure. It was even still dressed in the original gold lamee dress
with white feather boa and Tierra in her hair.
Needless to say I was shocked to think that Cy's son would be
selling this great piece of ventriloquial history. I watched it and
thought I would wait a while before bidding. It had a starting price
of $29.00 with a reserve. Not long after that I noticed that it had
received a bid and in fact it had met the reserve at $129.00. That
really made me suspicious. I knew Bruce Leonard would never sell
this figure for such a small amount of money.
I then gave Barbara Leonard a phone call and asked her why her son
was selling Hortense on eBay. I told her I certainly would have been
a buyer for a substantial amount of money so that Hortense could
join Happy in my collection. Barbara told me she could not believe
Bruce was selling her but she would check it out and get back to me.
About a half hour went by and I got a phone call back from Barbara
Leonard and she explained to me that Bruce had had his apartment
robbed and Hortense was among the items that had been stolen. He had
made out a police report but nothing had ever come of it. He could
not tell him mom about the robbery as he didn't want her to feel
bad. Now they had a lead and knew the figure was still in their area
and had a chance to get her back.
I told Barbara I would get back to her in a bit.
I contacted the high bidder, PM 1, who happens to be Phil McConkey
from Canada who I know very well and told him the story and asked
that since he had already bid on the figure would he please get the
contact information on the seller so that I could give this
information to Barbara Leonard. Phil complied with my request and
within minutes I had the sellers name town and phone number. I
called Mrs. Leonard and gave her all the information on the seller
so she could give it to the police. She told me she would let me
know when anything happened.
A few hours went by and I got a phone call from a very excited
Barbara Leonard who informed me that the police immediately were
able to get the exact street address for the eBay seller and were
off and running. They went to this address and confronted the seller
who then told the police that he was selling this figure for a
friend who did not have a computer. He gave the police that person's
address and the police then went to this person's address and there
they found Hortense. They took Hortense and she is now in the
protective custody of the police.
I guess there is a little bit of legal wrangling that the Leonard's
must do but Hortense has been found, the crook caught and as the
saying goes alls well that ends well.
Dan Willinger the dummy police.
Comments
6 Comments > > >
-
Great Job Detective Dan, Your
site is great!
Comments by Chef Jim - April 21, 2007 @
7:45am
-
What a fascinating story. Very
interesting! Nice work.
Comments by Matt Bronsil - April 20,
2007 @ 10:54pm
-
Dan, You would make a great
detective. As a retired law enforcement officer, I like to read
about people getting involved. Maybe some on could fine the one
stolen years ago from
www.newsyvents.blogspot.com on Clinton Detweiler cite. Thanks
Lonnie
Comments by Lonnie Cox - April 20, 2007
@ 4:33pm
-
Check this out, who would have
figured 7 years later this dummy would be stolen and found by YOU.
You should be the new Columbo.
Comments (& pictures) by Bob Abdou
www.mrpuppet.com -
April 20, 2007 @ 11:53am
-
What a DUMMY!
Thank you for looking out for all ventriloquist everywhere. It is a
good thing that you recognized the figure and were able to help
recover the valuable item.
God bless you all.
Comments by Jan
Halford-thepuppetlady.org - April 20, 2007 @ 7:29am
-
Thank goodness for that. You
were there to help make things right.
Comments by Bill DeMar - April
19, 2007 @ 10:20pm
April 17, 2007
The
VentSpace Gallery
Dan @ 10:15am
Big News at Ventriloquist
Central.... I want you to be a part of this website. After receiving
numerous emails and talking with friends, I’ve decided we need a
picture gallery of ventriloquists. We are calling it the "VentSpace
Gallery" (the name was actually suggested by my son, Jason).
It doesn’t matter if you’re a pro, amateur or just interested in the
art of ventriloquism, we want your pictures. Here’s how you can be a
part of the VentSpace Gallery:
- Send us your favorite
picture (only one please) of you and your dummy or puppet (or
group picture of all your characters).
- Name that you would like
to appear under picture (ex: John Doe & Jerry or Jane Doe and
Friends, etc)
- If you have a website,
send us the link and we'll add that, too.
Send this information to Steve (the webmaster) at:
webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com .
He’ll post your picture and
information…it’s that simple.
So, please send in your pictures and be a part of the VentSpace
Gallery.
Click here to check out the
VentSpace Gallery.
Thanks
(comments are always welcomed).
~Dan
Comments
0 Comments > > >
April 14, 2007
Collecting
Today
Dan @ 7:13am
So you decided you just
can't wait to find and old figure that suits your needs but is still
a collectible , well then wait no longer. There is a puppet maker
nestled in Burbank California that just may fill your bill. Jay
Johnson found him and his character Bob became an overnight hit with
his big eye sassy look.
I am talking about Rene products. Rene has produced puppets of
unparallel quality for decades and these puppets have been used by
professional puppeteers the world over. His figures have been used
on stage and screen and TV in all sorts of shows and commercials.
Rene produces a full line of ventriloquist figures and each one is
hand crafted for you on
order. They are made of Neoprene and will last a lifetime. His
painting his fabulous and wigs are perfect. We are all familiar with
Jerry Layne figures and this is where Jerry Layne got his start. His
figures are actually a retooled Rene face.
I am including the web site for Rene for you to go to and see these
great figures.
http://www.reneandhisartistsproductions.com/
Rene is now in his 80's so he will not be producing figures for much
longer ( I hope he goes at least another 50 years) so you may want
to contact him for that special figure. His prices are actually very
reasonable and are well under the $1000.00 price. When his figures
come on eBay ( I have seen 2 in the past 4 years) they always sell
for around $600.00 which is right around what he sells them for
direct to you. So all I can say is here is a collectible
ventriloquist figure which you can still purchase so why wait??
Comments welcomed........
~Dan
Comments
0 Comments > > >
April 11, 2007
The
Ventriloquist Marketplace
Dan @ 8:40am
I decided one of the first
pages to put up on my site was the Marketplace and to date it has
been doing just OK. We have had a number of figures that have been
listed and sold and also some that didn't sell but that is to be
expected. There have also been some other items that were not
figures that have also sold so all in all it has been a success.
I wanted to make the cost for this service as nominal as possible
and so a listing of a figure is only $5.00 for a 30 day listing with
multiple pictures and text. In my mind I think this is a bargain
price. You receive all the money and the transaction is strictly
between you and the customer. No middleman or fees to pay.
I must admit that I love eBay and of course scour the pages looking
for those great figures but I do check other sources for figures as
well and believe me so does everyone else so I think you should give
the marketplace a try and see if you have any luck. For this price
you can list here and on eBay at the same time.
Those that have sold a dummy off my marketplace have thanked me and
have said they will be back and I do hope that all of you will take
advantage of this great section of Ventriloquist Central.
Comments.........
~Dan
Comments
0 Comments > > >
April 9, 2007
Reader's
Comments...
Dan @ 9:50am
Hi Dan, I just finished
listening to the interviews with Frank Marshall and Glenn McElroy.
Thank you so much for making those available. Your ventriloquist
central site is fantastic! I can't thank you enough for taking the
time that you do in maintaining the site. I love it! It is so
interesting and filled with so much good information for
ventriloquists. I look forward to hearing from you regularly through
your newsletter. Great work!
By the way, Happy looks fantastic! Ray is going to give my McElroy
figure a make-over this summer. I'm excited to have that done. I was
very fortunate that Jerry McSafety was in incredibly good shape when
I acquired him in January of 2002. But I do use him extensively (100
plus shows a year) so he does need to be maintained. Plus, I am
eager to restore him back to his original look-- like he just came
out of the McElroy workshop.
Thanks for all you contribute to our vent community. I appreciate
you very much!
Your Vent Friend,
David Pendleton
*************************************
Dan, I love the audio interviews you have been posting recently.
Thanks again for a great service. Chris Johnson
*************************************
Dan; Fantastic site! Very colorful and informative. Keep up the
great work!
Pete Michaels
*************************************
Fascinating Interviews Dan. Thanks for making them available.
Ax
*************************************
Thanks, Dan.
Keith Singleton
*************************************
Dan: Am thoroughly enjoying the site! I think this is really going
to be THE place for vents to congregate on the web. I really love
the links and the opportunity to read about and/or see other vents.
Thanks so much for doing this!
Bob Baker
*************************************
First off- LOVE THE SITE! Fantastic and enjoyable! So happy that Dan
has decided to "share" his collection and knowledge! As a "dummy
builder" myself, the mechanics & technical stuff really interest me
so it would be nice to have more of that. Keep up the great work!
Jerry - The DummyMaker
Thanks for all your
comments!
~Dan
Comments
1 Comments
> > >
-
Dan, You and
Steve are doing an amazing job on the site for sure. This is much
more enjoyable than WorldVents. My goodness you even have had some
of the best of the best in Pete Michaels and Dave Malmberg
contribute with some great material. Cheers.
Comments by Larry Harris-ComicVent
- April 9, 2007 @ 6:52pm
April 7, 2007
The MASTER
Collector - W.S. Berger
Dan @6:58am
I have been so influenced
by W.S. Berger I just can't tell you. He was the master at
collecting ventriloquist figures and I only wish that I had his
wonderful talent for getting folks to will their figures to me. When
his collection started to really take hold he would go and see
performers and would always make sure he invited them back to his
home and would always give them the royal treatment. Hence in the
long and short of it when they would retire what better place would
there be for their figures to rest.
He too was an avid business man and he would sell to purchase and he
even sold a McElroy figure and then bought it back. When he
commissioned the McElroy brothers to build Jacko he made payments to
them. Even back then their price was high enough that it had to be
paid out. I have been contacting vents for quite some time now and
have been emulating W.S.'s technique to make sure people know I want
their figures. I don't ever think I will be able to come close to
the number of figures he amassed but I sure am going to try. I
believe he put his collection at around 550 items before he passed
on and now there is around 750. A truly remarkable achievement .
I will be watching the countdown counter on my own website knowing
that I too will again be in the mecca for ventriloquists and will be
able again to go and peruse the vast collection of ventriloquism
figures that reside at Vent Haven. It is such a wonderful collection
and I just hope that one day my collection come close.
Comments......
~Dan
Comments
0 Comments > > >
April 2, 2007
More Audio
Interviews - Cy Leonard & Glenn McElroy
Dan @ 9:11am
I again want to thank each
and every one of you who have helped to make Ventriloquist Central
the great web site that it has become. I would not have been able to
do this without your help. Even though it is my web site I want you
to feel as if it is your website. I am making all the information I
can gather readily available for you. So please continue to email me
and let me know what information you may have that I can post for
all others to view.
I am super excited because a dear friend of mine decided to dig into
his files and gave this wonderful audio interview to me to let you
all listen to. It is Cy Leonard interviewing Glen McElroy back in
1977. This interview is 15 minutes in length and covers everything
you have always wanted to know about these fine figure makers.
Again as the last time we are requiring you to be signed up for our
email newsletter, which of course is free, to get the link to listen. Also like
before let me mention that our email list is not available to
anyone. We do not give out your information or sell the mailing
list. It is strictly for me to be able to contact you when I have
something I feel is worthy of a note to let you know about, such as
this fabulous interview.
So if you haven't already, sign up for the email newsletter and then listen to this very rare recording
of 2 of the most famous people in the past vent community, Cy
Leonard and Glen McElroy!!
Click Here To Sign Up For The
Email Newsletter List
Comments always wanted.......
~Dan
Comments
2 Comments
> > >
-
Since we are
on the topic of audio interviews, there are several interviews with
Paul Winchell that were made in 2004. These are available on the
Winchell site:
http://www.paulwinchell.com/media.htm If you are a Winch
fan and haven't heard these yet, then you'll definitely want to pay
this site a visit.
Comments by Bob Albano - April
3, 2007 @ 8:39pm
-
Dan, Great
piece of McElroy history! It was interesting to hear Glen say how
many figures they created as this has been topic of discussion for
many years on the vent boards. Thanks again for a great service.
Comments by Chris Johnson -
April 2, 2007 @ 11:47am
Back to Blog Main Page |
