Ventriloquist Central - A Tribute To Ventriloquism

It isn’t often that I would promote the sale of an item but in this case I must. I just received my copy of the Great Lester 10 page letter to W.S. Berger from Johnny Watts and I have to tell you all this is a must read and worth every penny of the price he is asking.
 
Lester talks about W.S.’s 50th celebration, he talks about the A.B.C. book on learning ventriloquism, Edgar Bergen’s upcoming book on ventriloquism, his own course, Madame Pinxy’s course, W.S,’s starting a museum etc, etc.
 
This is 10 pages of hand written material and will enthrall you with his points of criticism and kindness. Make sure you go to the marketplace and contact Johnny to get your copy. You will be happy you did!!

Click Here For the Great Lester Letter

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
***************************************************

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.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As you all know I am the proud owner of Johnny Main’s collection of great ventriloquist figures made by both Frank Marshall and Johnny himself and is a great focal point of my collection. I was very happy when Mr. Mike Randall the Chief Meteorologist from WKBW-TV contacted me and gave me some great footage of Johnny Main with his collection.

It is a great glimpse at a truly wonderful performer who was taken from our midst far to early. Thanks Johnny Main for giving to us all those fine years of stupendous ventriloquism and great characters. Johnny was one of the few who could put his hand into any figure and breath life into that character. Many will attest to his prowess with the figures in the lobby of the hotel late night at the vent convention.
 
I never did meet Johnny myself but he can rest knowing that all of his characters are well taken care of and can be seen anytime here on Ventriloquist Central.

Mike Randall Feature-Johnny Main Ventriloquist

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
***************************************************

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.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

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. Moveing 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 click on the Tribute To Ventriloquism section and go to the video section 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.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
***************************************************

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.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I am proud to be able to offer the ventriloquist public Lee Dunn’s #2 McElroy style Johnny figure. This masterpiece is for sale right now on the Ventriloquist Marketplace.
 
This is a phenomenal ventriloquist figure created by Lee Dunn with over 280 hours of labor and a compilation of handmade brass parts which numbers over 200. Can you even imagine doing this type of work? There are so few today that are able to accomplish this feat. If the McElroy brothers were alive today they would take their hats off to Lee.
 
This Johnny style figure has the following functions: Slot jaw, opening slot jaw with automatic stick out tongue, hand painted floating weighted side to side eyes, floating weighted eyebrows, lowering eyelid with automatic pull down of the eyebrow, over ride lever for raising both eyebrows, fright flip up wig, spitter with mouth in both open or closed position, light up nose, wiggling ears and locking cradle for the head stick.
 
He has been totally painted by hand and is as nice as any out there. The body and hands are perfect reproductions of the McElroys’ with the wood knees and formed feet.
 
The  opportunity to purchase a figure like this will not come around again soon so take advantage of this super deal and say yes today to purchasing this incredible ventriloquist figure. Don’t let someone else purchase him.

Also, if the buyer wishes I can offer a perfect reproduction of the wooden McElroy case complete with the cradle to hold the head.

Check out both at the Ventriloquist Marketplace.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
***************************************************

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.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Well a full week has passed and we had many votes on this subject and the result really shocked me because it came out so close. The cord control won out with a 52% to 48% advantage. A most interesting result don’t you think.
 
I would like to thank all of you who voted and participated and of course all of you who wrote in comments. This was a fun poll.

Keep checking back….another poll will be started in a few days.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

***************************************************

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.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!