Ventriloquist Central - A Tribute To Ventriloquism

Over the past 9 months, we’ve been working on a major project. Lots of planning, phone calls back and forth, plus countless hours of work went into this project. We wanted to produce something that anyone would be proud to own and be of the highest quality to carry the name, Ventriloquist Central.

So, what is the major announcement???

Well, we finally did it. Ventriloquist Central has created its own ventriloquist figure.

And I must say….it’s a beauty.

For more information, click here.

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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As I’ve promised, we have more interviews from the Vent Haven ConVENTion. Once again, this interview was conducted by Val Hilliker. She’s interviewing a couple of “go-getters” so keep an eye out in the future for these guys.

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(If you’re having problems viewing this video, click here )

Thanks, Val, for sending in this video.

Val’s website: www.valhilliker.com

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

P.S. Be sure to check out tomorrow’s blog for an amazing announcment from Ventriloquist Central…

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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 totally convinced that the measure of a good ventriloquist was to not just have great lip control but just as important is the ability to bring life to his figure. So in the now ever popular use of soft puppets by ventriloquists my question that I pose is can you really give personality to a soft puppet like you get from a hard figure.

Soft puppets are for the most part just mouth moving and facial expressions are, again for the most part, locked into the face so that it is very hard to change expression. I know what you are going to say, Edgar Bergen used Charlie McCarthy and he only had a moving mouth. This is true but Bergen was a master at manipulation and achieved what most will never do as a ventriloquist.

Hard figures can be equipped with a variety of movements that can easily change the expression they put forward so that the face is not expressionless. I always think of Paul Winchell manipulating Jerry Mahoney and his use of the winkers in Jerry’s eyes was truly remarkable and made so many different expressions for Jerry’s Character.

Am I alone on the subject of Hard figures vs. soft puppets for ventriloquist? I think that the soft figures became popular because they are easier to travel with and of course are so much more inexpensive than a hard figure. I love the soft puppet in the right setting such as small kids parties but I just love watching a ventriloquist who uses a Hard figure. To me that is true ventriloquism. I take my hat off to Jeff Dunham, Dan Horn and Terry Fator who all use soft puppets. They do what I talk about with soft puppets. Just call me biased.

Comments???

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

P.S. Be sure to vote in the latest poll……

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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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Vicki Taylor is one of the pre-eminent female ventriloquists of the mid to late 20th century. She performed all across the United States and was hailed as being one the the few who could do the double voice.

She was married to ventriloquist Roy Douglas and they did perform together but their marriage did not last and Vicki established herself as one of the finest.

Today she lives in Revere Ma. and I was very excited when she decided to part with her partner of 56 years and allow me to purchase him for my ventriloquist figure collection.

Ron is a carved basswood figure made by John Carroll in Oct. 1952. His head hands and body are basswood and he has side to side moving eyes and slot jaw. He is still wearing his ring which has his name. His paint is for the most part original but his wig and tuxedo have been replaced.

Vicki was kind enough to share a few publicity shots and publications for the web site so I hope you enjoy them too.

Thanks Vicki for allowing Ron to come and live with his cousins in the Willinger collection.

Click here to see Vicki Taylor and Ronnie

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’m still trying to recuperate from our Las Vegas trip. I can’t express my thanks enough to Ronn Lucas and Penny for allowing us the opportunity to spend some one on one time with him (see blog below).

We are starting to get pictures in from the Vent Haven ConVENTion. As time permits, Steve will be posting them here on Ventriloquist Central. It’s great to see so many ventriloquists attended the event and that the art of ventriloquism is alive and doing well.

If you have pictures from the ConVENTion and want to share them everyone, please send them to webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com .

Click here to see pictures from Vent Haven ConVENTion.

This week we’ll be posting more videos from the ConVENTion here on the blog, so keep coming back.

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!