January 2012 Newsletter

Ventriloquism, Make it Simple...

There has been a lot of discussion about this subject and I thought I would throw in my opinion on the subject. I myself certainly think that if you can do something easily why complicate it ? It was made clear to me in the study of my guitar playing. I love playing chord melody on my guitar and one of the masters of this style of guitar was a fellow named Barry Galbraith who was a studio musician back in the 1950′s. He was a most talented player but always said that the simpler you make the playing the more you will get out of it. His interpretations of many Standard tunes shows this off.

I think ventriloquism can follow the same route. You should make it as simple as you possibly can and it will reflect a good job with some practice. If you write your script you should try, if possible, to avoid all the sounds that are so hard to do without moving your lips. If the sound is unavoidable then you have no choice but there is always other words to use.

When it comes to manipulating your ventriloquist figure, again simple can be the best. If you have your figure constantly moving for no apparent reason this is no good. If he never moves that too is no good. You have to find that happy medium but again keep it simple. Functions of a figure can be the biggest thing. Most everyone who is new and gets into ventriloquism sees the figures loaded with functions and wants one that does everything. That is totally understandable but is it necessary to use all the functions? I think not. In fact most of them are not needed and might never be used. It takes many years of constant practice to find the right dialogue or script where all the different functions are used. You would maybe use wiggling ears once in a routine but how many more times would they be needed? The same for other functions like flip wig or wiggle nose.

Edgar Bergen, who many will say was the best at manipulation of a ventriloquist figure in the twentieth century, used mouth movement only on all of his characters, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and Effie Klinker. His manipulation was smooth and precise and simple. Moving his figures only when needed. Many say his lip control was not so good but it didn’t matter because when his figures were talking they were who you looked at not Mr Bergen. He was a master of manipulation. If you are new to ventriloquism I suggest you go to Ventriloquist Central Videos and look at the master at work.

Today Jeff Dunham is carrying on this tradition. When He brings out Walter that old man just brings the house down. He has only mouth movement and moving eyebrows but Jeff has mastered the manipulation of Walter and he comes to life.

So to sum up in my opinion simple is for sure the way to go when doing ventriloquism. Do it simple but do it right.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

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The letter which you will read above was sent to me by Doug Preis of the Bergen Foundation. In this letter you can clearly read that Edgar Bergen gives all the credit for Charlie McCarthy to Theodore Mack. No where does he ever mention Frank Marshall and this letter was written in 1940. Edgar Bergen always professed that Mack was the builder, right up to his death. It was Frank Marshall who said he carved Charlie.

Pastor Scott Bryte took me up on a challenge which I proposed to him quite some time ago. That was to create a hand carved wooden figure into which you placed your hand inside its head to control the movements. Well to my surprise he has done just what I had said and created Raz.

I am happy to give some details to you about Rita Winchell. She is the younger sister of Paul Winchell. She did ventriloquism for the first 20 or so years of her life and was very accomplished but once she got married her performing career changed. Thanks to Nancy Olsen and Jeffrey Barr who are two of Rita’s children that gave us pictures and information about Rita, we have created a page in our “Tribute to Ventriloquism” section of Ventriloquist Central just for her.

We are all familiar with the McElroy brothers because of their Rolls Royce ventriloquist figures of the 1930′s. These brothers were more well known for making superior marionettes at the time but they also produced a superb magical item called the talking skull.

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This particular figure is totally original except for the leather to form the lower jaw. When I got him it was completely missing so I had to replace it. The match on the paint for the leather was exceedingly hard because the paint on the head is weathered and rather dirty (ground in) but I think the color match is very nice and now he is complete.

I usually don't take as many pictures as I have with this fellow but Brian's wood carved figures are about as rare as you can get so I wanted you to see everything. He has slot jaw, side to side self centering eyes, raising eyebrows, winkers / blinkers and a hand shaker. He stands just shy of 40" tall and everything on him is original. His paint and wig.

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I was so excited when the children of Rita Winchell contacted me and showed me pictures of Harry Mahoney. The children decided that Harry should come to reside here at the Ventriloquist Central Collection so here he is in all his beauty.

Here is another example of a Frank Marshall Nosey figure. This figure is fully loaded with side to side self centering eyes, raising eyebrows, one eye winks, crying effect and slot jaw.

As we all know, at this point in time, when Edgar Bergen decided to purchase his figure from the Mack’s studio he had to choose from an array of heads. From what I have learned he chose a stock head and then had the Mack’s do some customizing to make it the Irish Newsboy he wanted to use. I have had this particular figure in my collection for almost as long as I have been collecting. After I first purchased him I was in touch with Joe Lopez, a Charlie McCarthy fanatic, and he informed me that this is the head that Mr Bergen chose.

Bob Fisher was a ventriloquist who was from the Chicago area and performed in the early 1950′s with his figure Mickey O’Finn, which was carved for him by Frank in 1950. To me when I look at Mickey O’Finn I see a very strong resemblance to his first cousin Danny O’Day. Bob used his Marshall dummy with the utmost of care because this fine Frank Marshall figure looks like it was just delivered from the master today.

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For Those Interested In The Art Of Ventriloquism

“The Ventriloquism Historical Information Collection, Volume 1.”

It's now the New Year, 2012. My partner Steve and I got together on the phone at the end of December and talked about the past year and the upcoming year. We thought we would share some of that conversation here on the blog.

With the continued success of Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator, the art of ventriloquism seems to be going strong. This is echoed by some of my ventriloquist friends who tell me they are getting more opportunities to perform….this is good.

At the Vent Haven ConVENTion this past year, they honored Jimmy Nelson. I can’t think of anyone who has done more for the art of ventriloquism than Jimmy. One of the “Greats”!

Here at Ventriloquist Central, we’ve continued to add more information dealing with the art of ventriloquism. Back in March of 2011 we launched Ventriloquist Central Videos, so you can go to one place and watch videos of amateur and professional ventriloquists alike.

Being that 2011 was our 5th year here at Ventriloquist Central, we decided to have our Birthday Bash back in October and everyone there had a great time. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years already.

We also started up the Ventriloquist Central Telephone Talk where you can call in, listen to us interview guests and ask questions (this is held on the third Thursday of every month).

Steve tells me that our stats for Ventriloquist Central almost doubled this past year. The Ventriloquist Marketplace has been busier than ever and too has grown as well. Steve gets into all that “geeky stuff” but the way I look at it is, you evidently enjoy what our site has to offer and for that, both of us truly appreciate your support.

When you think back, it’s funny how the two of us met, just wanted to create a website about ventriloquism and show pictures of ventriloquist figures because we both love the Art of Ventriloquism. Now look where we are.

And we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. We have some big things planned for 2012.

Once again, thanks for all your support and here’s to an even better year in 2012.

Till next time,
Dan

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