Ventriloquist Central - A Tribute To Ventriloquism

I had a young fellow contact me and was asking me about the origins of the ventriloquist figure as we all know it today and I thought this was a great question and decided that instead of answering him privately I would write up a blog about this particular subject.

Back in the late 19th century and into the 20th century a ventriloquist named Fred Russell decided to make the art of ventriloquism a bit easier and eliminated the stage covered a family of ventriloquist figures by entering the stage and sitting center stage with just one figure which he placed on his knee, therefore becoming the first knee sitting ventriloquist figure.

This figure’s name was Coster Joe and was a cheeky boy figure. Fred Russell was a huge success and from this he became known at the father of modern ventriloquism.

If you follow this link to the Ventriloquist Central Tribute to Ventriloquism section, you can see some pictures of Fred Rusell and his side kick Coster Joe and also read all the information on this great ventriloquist.

Click here for Fred Russell & Coster Joe

I have to say questions like this are great and I love to help young and new folks coming into this art and will always try to answer questions for you either publicly or in private.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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We had a lot of fun with the last group photo we posted looking for who was in the picture.

This time I am showing a picture of a 13 year old ventriloquist who really went on to some impressive fame in the ventriloquist world.

Can you guess who this famous person is???

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Frist off I want to thank each and every one of you who wrote in to both Steve the webmaster and me, with your guesses on the picture that was posted. As I said, this picture was sent to me by one of the people in the picture and that person is Ray Guyll. He is in the back row and is standing second from the right.

The rest of the vents listed are as follows: from left to right; row one is Bob Isaacson, Mark Wade and Johnny Main. Row 2 is Dr. Greg Berlin, Col. Bill Boley, Jimmy Nelson, Dennis Alwood, Ray Guyll and Walt Berlin.

As you can see when this picture was taken Bob Isaacson was wearing a full beard and even though it was definitely in style, he was, at the time performing as Capt. Bob and dressed in a yachtsman’s outfit when performing. I would love to see some video of Bob when he was doing this act!!

These older pictures are a lot of fun so if anyone out there has some and would like to do this again please send the picture in to me and I will be happy to do it again. This was fun!!!

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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BEWARE……. I received an email today that is one of the oldest scams in the book. The person wanted to purchase one of the dummies I have listed on the Ventriloquist Marketplace.

I wasn’t too concerned (I’ve seen the scam many times) until I was contacted by another person that has an item listed on the Marketplace and they had received the same email from the same person wanting to purchase their item.

The scam involves sending a cashiers check for more than the amount of the item….then you (as the seller) cash the check, keeping your asking price while giving back the remainder of the money.

Here’s the exact email:

Hello Seller,

How are you doing today and how business and family? well i saw your ads which is posted , I wanna purchase it and I’m glad that i found it….Well i will like you to tell me the presently condition of this ads . I will like you to get back to me with your contact address, email address, phone number and the total price of the this ads.
The payment will be made by cashier check and the shipping of the item will be handle by my shipping agent, the shipper will come to you for the pick up, when payment is clear from your bank.
The payment is going to mail to you by my client and it going to be in
excess and i want you to deduct your amount from it and the balance back to the shipper for pick up. I will be looking forward to hear back from you, if you’re ok with this terms.. Looking forward to read from you ….Hoping to read from you soonest

Sometimes the “buyer” will offer to let you keep extra money for your troubles….it’s all a scam so don’t be fooled.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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I thought everyone would marvel at seeing this great story about W.S. Berger and his collection back when he was in the middle of his collecting years and also before there was a museum. This article was written by Lt. Estes whose McElroy Figure now resides in Vent Haven. I would like to thank Ray Guyll for sending this into us for all to see.

Click here to see Vent Haven - W. S. Bergen article

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Bill Nelson is a personal friend of mine and I take great pleasure in announcing to the Ventriloquist Central viewers that Bill is offering to teach his special methods of painting, sculpting, wigging all in an easy home study course package. Just click on this link below to read what Bill has sent in to us for you to see. If you ever wanted to build figures and needed some help this is for you!!

Click here to see Bill’s information

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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It is hard to believe that just 2 hours from my house is Vent Haven 2. I have visited Dan’s website many times and I have enjoyed looking at all the figures he has collected. I kept telling myself that someday I will give him a call when I am in the area and see if I can see them for myself. Well, that someday was today! I travel on the road doing school shows and I stay in a lot of hotels. So when I realized that I was close to Dan, I gave him a call to see if I could drop by and see his figure collection. I don’t know why I felt funny about it. I guess because I thought I would be intruding. I left a message and told him I was in the area and asked if was alright to stop by to see his collection. Dan called me back a few minutes later and couldn’t have been more gracious. We made the appointment for the afternoon after my show.

Years ago, we moved to Las Vegas to seek fame and fortune. After a few years there, we realized that I gave up a lot of shows in New England and we moved back to Massachusetts. So we packed up all our stuff and hauled a trailer back home. As we were traveling east, I said to my wife, “Deb, I would love to visit Vent Haven and see the figures.” So we called the museum and asked if was alright to stop and see it as we were close. The curator said sure but that she closed at 5 pm. So we found the street and headed down to see the museum. However, I never realized that the street was so narrow and it really had no place for a U-Haul trailer to park. Now the hard part, I couldn’t turn the van and the trailer around to get back up the street. I had never pulled a trailer this big and it was impossible to maneuver it around. I had to unhitch the trailer and back it up so I could put in back on my van. By this time, I was tired, dirty and sweaty. I looked at my watch and it was 4:45. We got in to see the figures but it was quite an ordeal.

As I was driving to Dan’s house, I was like a kid again. I remembered the first time I walked into Tannen’s magic shop in New York and saw my first ventriloquist figure sitting in a case begging me to take him home. I was thinking about Vent Haven and my other visits there and how amazed I was at the history of all the figures.

I was greeted by Dan with a handshake and welcomed into his gorgeous home. I felt like I was in a museum. It was amazing. As we walked into the area where the figures are arranged, my jaw dropped. I was in Ventriloquist Heaven. Unbelievable! It was like going back in time! I was stunned. I had never seen so many figures in one room. They were all placed in chairs around the room. Each one cuter then the next. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I really can’t tell you how much that meant to me. Charlie, Mort, Marshalls, Hamiltons and McElroy figures were everywhere. Some of them were even hiding under the large pool table.

Dan and his wife were very nice and discussed in great detail about some of the figures that I wanted to know more about. I really wanted just to sit down and play with them all. Luckily, I kept my distance. Dan would have had to throw me out if I started that.

This was one of the biggest thrills I have had since doing ventriloquism. Sure, they are nice to see in a museum but to see them on a private tour in someone’s house was a real treat! I felt privileged to be invited to see this amazing collection. I hope I can make the trip again. It was worth the trip to see this collection of fine figures. I hope I can be invited back. Thanks Dan!

Bob Carroll

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Bob it was a great pleasure for me to give you the personal tour of my collection. One of the highlights of collecting is being able to share what you have collected with others. So that being said anytime you are in the area it would be my pleasure to have you stop by. This invitation goes for all of you out there as well. PLEASE contact me if you are going to be in the Boston area and come on over for a little while and enjoy seeing the ventriloquist figure collection. It would be my pleasure!!!

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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It is really true when you say nothing is new. That even covers concepts. There is always talk about what is best to do for learning ventriloquism and what should I do and what should I not do when learning this great art. These are the type of questions that have been asked over and over again by every person who has ever decided to learn ventriloquism.

And on that subject of “Basic in Ventriloquism” Gary Keopke wrote , about 30 years ago, a great piece about this very subject and I must say it is still valid and hold true today. Gary was kind enough to allow me to put this interesting article up on Ventriloquist Central for all to read. So enjoy this and learn

Click here to see the basics of ventriloquism article.

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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It is certainly a wonderful thing when others decide to share. A friend here at Ventriloquist Central wanted to share this great photo with me and I just thought it was terrific (I’ll tell you who at a later date…he’s in the picture). I was able to identify all the ventriloquists in this photo but thought I should also allow everyone reading this blog to also take a guess and send your guesses as a response to the blog.

I promise I will identify everyone for you all and this really shouldn’t be hard. The picture was the SAV (Society of American Ventriloquists) taken at the end of the second Vent Haven Convention by Arte Freda, in 1976.

Hey take a look at those haircuts!!!

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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It is hard to believe that today is the 20th anniversary of the passing away of one of the most talented builders of both wood (Marshall style) and Fiberglass (McElroy style) ventriloquist figures. Brian Hamilton was from Chicago IL and in his very young years produced some amazing ventriloquist figures. I am please to be able to say that I myself own a few of his creations and they are exceptional figures. There is not telling how great this fellow could have become if he had lived.

Lee Dunn, an owner of a great McElroy style Hamilton figure, sent in this very nice ad for me to show you which offered his figures for sale. Check out that high price for one of his creations. His starting price was $750.00 and went up depending on the functions you ordered for the figure. $750.00 today may not seem like a lot of money but in 1988 dollars it was quite a tidy sum.

The figure shown in this ad happens to be the one that is currently owned by Bob Isaacson and is one of only a handful of the McElroy style figures that Brian ever created. I hope you enjoy looking at the ad.

Click Here for Brian Hamilton Ad

Brian, you can rest assured that your memory lives on in all of us in the ventriloquial world.

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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