During the 1950's and 1960's television made
ventriloquism very popular with all the children and so quite a few
toy companies jumped on the band wagon to make ventriloquist toys.
Of course the earliest was Effanbee which produced the exact
likeness of Charlie McCarthy back in 1937. But jumping ahead to the
1950's the Juro toy co. produced the composition Jerry Mahoney and
Knucklehead Smiff. We all went crazy over these characters in the
Sears Catalogue and these toys were high on the want list of many
children at this time.
The toy company Ideal also made ventriloquist figures of Howdy Doody
and Reliable Toy in Canada made a want to be Charlie McCarthy.
There were other ventriloquist toy figures made
all over the world as well.
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