Ventriloquist Central - A Tribute To Ventriloquism

The subject of figure building was presented to me by Billy Sobe, one of our members here on Ventriloquist Central, and he asked me about mechanics and what people look for, direct linkage or cord control and which is better. He is in the beginning state of building figures and is ready to move on to building his own designs and wanted my opinion.
 
I told him that both of these are good. Direct linkage though can present a major problem if one of the functions decides to let go. You first would have to have a mechanical aptitude to do repair and would certainly have to have a rather complete tool kit with you to be able to make that repair.
 
With cords for the controls it is usually just a matter of tying a new knot or even replace the whole cord. A much simpler undertaking that most anyone could do.
 
The great figure makers of the past including Marshall, Spencer, Coats, Jackson and some of today premier builders Guyll, Hartz and Payes all use cords for the controls.

If direct linkage was SO much better why don’t they all build them?
 
Direct linkage also can become loose and very noisy with chatter and squeaks but cord controls are usually quiet. I have seen some fine builders using direct linkage and their mechanics need repair very quickly or are noisy. The direct linkage controls will give you problems and you will have to send them back to the makers for repairs which means long down times for your figures.
 
I have 3 McElroy figures in my collection and they are all done with direct linkage and I can tell you if one of those malfunctioned it would be a nightmare for you to get fixed. And they are noisy to use as well.
 
I have 40 Marshall figures many with the original cords still in them and they work fine and are as quiet as a church mouse.

So what is best?????

I vote for cord control. Just my opinion.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

P.S.  Be sure to check out the Ventriloquist Marketplace. 
More items have been added.  See them at:  www.ventriloquistmarketplace.com

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When you buy and sell on eBay, one of the greatest sales vehicles ever created, you must take care to protect yourself and one of those ways happens to be by using PayPal. PayPal offers it users a buyer protection. I will get into that in a second but first let me give you a story which opened my eyes very wide concerning eBay & PayPal.
 
I purchased a ventriloquist figure on eBay and I was thrilled to be the one who won the auction. It sold for hundreds of dollars. I used PayPal and paid for the item instantly when the auction ended. My procedure is to do this and never leave the seller waiting for his money. I also feel that this will get the item shipped right away which has proven to be very true. Although in this particular case I did not receive the item for just shy of 2 weeks from the date of purchase.
 
Upon receipt of my figure, which was shipped by way of a UPS shipping store, the figure arrived to me totally destroyed. It was supposed to be carved wood but it was in fact a composition.  I covered this in a previous blog. Here is where YOU have to be very careful. I know first hand. When you have a damaged item you MUST be able to provide to PayPal a tracking number for the item showing that it has been returned to the shipper. Without this information it will be almost impossible for PayPal to give you a refund on your purchase. The problem I ran into was that UPS was called and they came to me with a damage pickup slip and took the damaged item away. The only tracking I had was the initial tracking number for the item to get to me.
 
I waited the 10 days that PayPal requires and then put in a dispute for an item that was both misrepresented in construction and then poorly shipped. I just assumed that there would be no problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. After many emails I finally contacted PayPal by phone and was told by the PayPal representative that they wanted to find in my favor but…..without a tracking number confirming the item had gone back to the shipper they were going to find in the shipper’s favor. I was shocked to say the least and on top of that the shipper insisted that until he received reimbursement from the insurance he took out with UPS he would not refund my money. Insurance is always paid to the shipper and not the recipient. Boy I was losing on both ends.
 
All of a sudden I received from PayPal by email a survey to fill out telling them how I was treated by the PayPal representative and was there a resolution. Well this was great. I put into writing my total frustration and how I felt I had been done wrong by PayPal. This was the best thing I could have done because this red flagged a supervisor from PayPal who then called me on phone.
 
At this point I want to tell you that Michelle, the supervisor, listened to my entire story and she took over my case and told me she would see what she could do for me. It took a while but she was instrumental in causing the higher ups in PayPal to see exactly what happened to me and they did in fact finally find in my favor and I am receiving my money back.
 
Michelle also taught me something that I want to teach all of you about PayPal and the protection that they offer. I was under the assumption that you were automatically protected for $2000.00 but that is not the case. If the person who is selling has less than 50 for a feedback your protection is only up to $200.00 Michelle showed me that when you look at an item you are interested in, the block on the right hand side of the eBay add that shows his feedback score has a PayPal logo protection amount on the bottom of this block of information. Just remember if it says $200.00 and you pay more than that for the item you will not have protection for the amount over the $200.00. This is now a most important feature and from now own I will always look at this. If the seller’s feedback is all purchases and not many sales it will only give you the $200.00 protection. A seller must prove to PayPal that he is a true seller before the protection jumps to $2000.00
 
I wanted to give Michelle, from PayPal, accolades for the time she spent working on my case and getting me my refund and I guess my blog is the only way I could publicly accomplish this. I will call her and make sure she knows I have done this. My case had some very unusual circumstances and Michelle even said it was one of the most unusual cases she had ever worked so it was not the norm. Just remember if you have to return an item you must be able to supply PayPal a tracking number and also make sure you will be covered for your money!! 

THANK YOU MICHELLE

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Here is something to think about. Back in the 1930’s and 40’s Frank Marshall offered his figures with your choice of movements controlled by either lever or pull ring.
 
Being a collector I have figures with both of these styles of controls and have to tell you it is rather hard to control the movement of the mouth and then a second function using the rings. If it was just the mouth movement I don’t think it would be that difficult to use the ring but when adding functions with multiple rings things become a bit more difficult.
 
Of course I do not perform and collect so for me when I find the figure with the ring control they are neat because they are a bit harder to find. I think the ring setup was more than likely 1 to 10 in production. For the most part the rings were used to roll a winking eye, move the upper lip or move the slot jaw. I do have one Marshall that the ring also controls side to side eye movement and a rolling eyeball winker. I have to admit it is a strange setup.
 
I would love to hear from anyone that may have used the ring setup on their figure.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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J.C. Turner was a prolific builder of figures back in the 1940’s and 50’s and he sold his figures through Abbott’s Magic in Colon Michigan. His figures were used by many of the professional ventriloquists as a starter figure. He made his figures completely of wood and they all had a very humorous look. His bodies were very sturdy and also made of wood covered with muslin. The arms and legs were stuffed with straw and sometimes he even made shoes which were permanently attached to the leg. They looked like spats. Not every figure he made had these.
 
Turner did make figures with every movement such as winkers, spitters, raising eyebrows, etc. He also made them in various paints such as Caucasian, Negro and clown. His figures stand the test of time and still work very well with audiences today!!
 
The prices for Turner figures in today’s market I consider to be a bargain. They sell in the $350.00 to $600.00 price range within the ventriloquist community but in the antique world they can bring far more as they will sell in the American folk art category.
 
I am happy to offer a great J.C. Turner for sale so please click on this link for the Ventriloquist Marketplace and have a look. He is a wonderful little fellow.

Click Here for J.C. Turner Figure For Sale

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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All writings here are copyrighted by Dan Willinger and Ventriloquist Central. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

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I have been asked many times about finishes on vent figures. Which is correct? A gloss finish or a matt finish? The answer is a subjective one at best. I have my own opinion and I will share that with you. Frank Marshall used a matt finish on almost all of his figures and I really like that. I do have a couple Marshalls that have a semi gloss but only a couple which shows he certainly did do different finishes. He attended ventriloquist’s shows when they appeared in Chicago just so that he could see the figure on stage. I must assume that since most of his finishes are matt he thought that was best.
 
A gloss finish will reflect the lights when on stage and therefore wash out the color of the figure. A matt finish absorbs the light so you do not lose any of the color. I also believe that eyes too should not have a gloss finish although most of the figures made in the early days had glass eyes. Those certainly reflected the light. Today most figures are done using great plastic irises that have great color and if they are backed when placed into the eye sphere they do not reflect the light all that much and you don’t lose their color.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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All writings here are copyrighted by Dan Willinger and Ventriloquist Central. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

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