Ventriloquist Central – A Tribute To Ventriloquism

It is so great when you get pleasantly surprised and this was one of those times. I purchased an antique ventriloquist figure which I originally thought was an English figure because of his look and the fact that he had the English style leather mouth. (Living mouth as it is called today was coined by Craig Lovik)

Upon his arrival as I unpacked him I got very excited because instead of being made from paper mache he was all carved wood with original carved wood hands and great wooden body. He stands 30″ tall and his head is unusually large for the size body. He is dressed in his original Edwardian attire.

I had to do some digging in all my books and on the Internet but I do believe that I have found this figure was carved by Louis Grannat of Brooklyn N.Y and was done in the late 19th to the turn of the 20th century. This makes him an actual antique. True definition of antique is 100 years old except for automobiles which is 25 years old.

I know of only 2 other Louis Grannat figures and both of them are in the Vent Haven Musuem. The first is called Tommy Baloney and was the very first figure purchased by W.S. Burger and it was one of his favorite four figures. (click here to see Tommy Baloney)

The second in the Vent Haven and is called Wynnychuck Boy. Unfortunately if you do not know of this figure you will not be able to see him as I do not think he is visible on the Vent Haven site. He looks very similar to the figure You see here in the Ventriloquist Central Collection. The Tommy Baloney figure is a different face.

So I hope you enjoy looking at this wonderful addition to the collection.

Click here to see this Rare Louis Grannat Ventriloquist Figure

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Dan Willinger is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Because of his love for the art of ventriloquism, Mr. Willinger created the website Ventriloquist Central. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com

Copyright 2009 by Dan Willinger

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

One of the rare American ventriloquist figure makers from the golden age of ventriloquism was Revello Petee. He made figures in the 1930’s and 40’s and his figures, he claims were used by some of the more famous ventriloquists of the time such as Max Terhune of movie fame and Tommy Wonder of Magic fame. He was a self taught carver but he did learn a lot from his father who was from France.

He put out a newsletter called “Double Talk” which was a typewritten four-page flyer and it talked about the current events and techniques of ventriloquism of that time (to see the very first “Double Talk” newsletter, check out ‘The Ventriloquism Historical Information Collection,Volume 1′).

Foy Brown said that the Revello Petee figures were the best ever made and even though Foy Brown himself was a figure maker he used the Petee figures in his own act as his main figures. Please click here to see the figures in the Ventriloquist Central Collection that Foy used.

Revello Petee figures were sold through the Kanter’s Magic shop from Philadelphia Pa. and I have added the add copy from that catalogue for you to see.

Unfortunately his figures today are very scarce and I only know of a couple examples and they are all privately owned and there are examples in the Vent Haven museum.

Revello did put his business card tacked inside the head like Marshall so you can identify them if you find one. Pricing on his figures is very hard since they are not too common but they don’t seem to go much over $1500.00 when you do find one.

I do hope you enjoy looking at the catalogue pages and reading some of his advertisement.

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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

Dan Willinger is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Because of his love for the art of ventriloquism, Mr. Willinger created the website Ventriloquist Central. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com

Copyright 2009 by Dan Willinger

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com