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This Frank Marshall creation was made back in the
early 1930's for a Ventriloquist named Nate Proval and he went by
the name of the Golden Bird. You see his specialty was whistling and
since he was also a ventriloquist his figure had to have this
feature.
This figure has a good history as it went from Nate Proval to a
ventriloquist in Hawaii. Unfortunately I never was able to get that
owners name but from that owner it went to puppeteer and
ventriloquist Steve Meltzer and literally just before my friend
Steve passed away he wanted his Marshall figure to join the
Ventriloquist Central Collection. So here he now resides. When he
came to me he was in need of a bit of work. The upper and lower lips
were torn ( leather ) and some of the controls were not working
properly. All of that has been fixed and he now is a great looking
fellow.
This figure stands 40" tall and has the head stick which goes to the
bottom board. His head has 360 degree rotation. You can actually
spin his head on his ax sis . He has side moving self centering
eyes, The left eye winks, both eyes blink ( both of these functions
are the rolling eye style), he has slot jaw and whistling effect.
There is also a tube which was installed into the lower palate, I
presume for a spitter, but was never completed. I showed a picture
of this. This was a very loaded figure for this early in Frank
Marshall's career. Also all of the functions were done with ring
pull. There are no levers and never were. Proof that ventriloquists
did use this style of function.
I hope you enjoy seeing this rare and superb Frank Marshall figure.
If you have any information on Nate Proval please let us know.
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