Ventriloquist Central - A Tribute To Ventriloquism

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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When it comes to the Rolls Royce of ventriloquist figures everyone agrees that The McElroys were the best and first to create these works of art but I was just sent in this great ad on learning ventriloquism and if you look at this ad (see link below), which was published in August of 1934 , you will see a figure with a similar set up of the controls for multiple movements of the figures to what the McElroy Brothers created.  If I am not mistaken the brothers first ad for their figures was in the Abbott’s catalogue of 1937 and they show their first sale of a figure to Robert Wedertz. His figure was made in 1936 which is 2 years following this advertisement.
 
I remember that on ebay about 2 years ago someone from Germany was selling a figure that was in need of repair but it had this same style handle and control box as you see pictured here. I did in fact bid on it but was not the buyer. I now wish I had been because I thought it was not original and was done by someone trying to copy the McElroys. I just may have been wrong.
 
There was a German manufacturer of Magic named Klingel and to date I only know of one figure made by them and it is currently in a magic collector’s collection and it has multiple functions but it does not have this style handle.
 
Is there anyone out there , reading this blog, that can identify the maker of this early style controlled figure?

Click Here for the “Learning Ventriloquism” Ad

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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If you have followed my blogs and looked at my figures on the collection page , then you have no doubt looked at the figures that were made by Revello Petee. What you may not have know is that the Petee name was a very very long lived name in figure making.
 
Julian Petee was the grandfather of Revello Petee and he, at the age of 20, started making store display mannequins in his home country France in a small town named Paris. This was in the year 1845. Julien worked at this profession but in the year 1899 he emigrated to the United States and opened a ventriloquist figure making shop in San Francisco California.
 
In the year 1906 San Francisco suffered one of the worst earthquakes in United States history. Julien’s shop was burned out. He then moved from San Francisco to Fresno and was in the process of starting up his ventriloquist figure making business but he unfortunately passed on. He was 86 years of age. His grandson Revello took over the opening of the shop and continued in his grandfathers footsteps carving some great ventriloquist figures until 1955. His very first figure named Eddie Reed, is a permanent figure in the Vent Haven Museum. If you attend the convention make sure you look for him when you go to the museum.
 
To sum up the Petee name was synonymous with figure making for over 100 years.

Click here to see my Revello Petee collection of figures
 
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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Due to the remarkable generosity of all of you, we have been able to present many fine articles and pictures. Again I was sent a great picture of Ken Spencer the ventriloquist figure maker but I am sure many of you did not know that he was quite the performer as well. This is a picture of Ken with his five figure act. Look at those great faces!!

Click here for Ken Spencer picture

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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Bill Nelson is world renowned illustrator and figure maker.  During the late 1980’s he and Chuck Jackson produced a superior line of carved basswood ventriloquist figures. Unfortunately for the ventriloquist community this collaboration was very short lived and not many of the figures were sold.  This makes them one of the really collectible ventriloquist figures of today that does not have a lot of age. I have owned two of these wonderful creations and they really are fun ventriloquist figures.
 
I am sure many of you, who are new to the ventriloquist world, have not seen these creations so with kind permission from Bill Nelson it is my pleasure to show to you two of Bill’s ads for his marvelous creations and a group shot of some of the ventriloquist figures they produced. I am sure you will say “Can I Buy One?!!!”
 

 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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