VENTRILOQUISTS in

THE LATER VAUDEVILLE YEARS

1900-1930

 

 

Although vaudeville began around 1880, the focus of this page will be ventriloquists who used knee-figures.  This practice became predominant after 1900.  Before then, distant-voice ventriloquism or the use of life-sized figures was the more common form of ventriloquist entertainment.

 

What is Vaudeville?  Find Out by Clicking ... xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/easton/vaudeville/vaudevillemain.html

 

 

Ray Guyll being interview by Dan Willinger making comments about Ventriloquist Central and
"The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Own Ventriloquist Figure, Volume 1"

 

 
 

 

 

 

MAX ALEXANDER

Circa 1902.

FRED ALLEN  1894-1956

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Allen

Comedian best known for his witty, pointed radio programs of the 1930s and 1940s.   Photo taken in 1916.  Figure: Jake.

JACK ALLEN

Billed as The Colonial Ventriloquist

FRANK G. ARMITAGE

Circa 1923.  Primarily known for impersonating characters from Dickens.

  

A. C. ASTOR

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The Globe-Trotting Ventriloquist.

 

AL BAKER

Figure: Dennis.  Circa 1920-26.

  

CHARLES E. BROWN

Ventriloquist, Mimic, Character Comedian. 
Also known as Professor Maurettus.  Performed primarily in the Midwest.  Received a Gold Medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair for his ventriloquist act.

HARRY BURTON

Burton, a US ventriloquist circa 1911, used  a walking figure named Silas Green.

FRED CECIL

THE GREAT CHESTERFIELD  1882-1977

Real name: Howard Axel Olson.  From Chicago, Illinois.  Figure: Jake.

Anecdote: One day as Chesterfield was carrying a suitcase, some thieves waylaid him to get whatever valuables might be in it.  The thieves were greatly disappointed, though, to find that the suitcase contained only one item: Jake.  The thieves felt that Jake had no value and, so, did not take him.

Trivia: Howard Olson (see Stage vents) is the son of The Great Chesterfield.

JOHN ELLWOOD CHRISTINE 1890-1985

Listed in McPharlin as Ellwood and Ripel Mr and Mrs John Ellwood Christine- based in Philadelphia 1935 did Punch and Judy 1936, created an marionette "Gus the Imp" known for magic too, awarded a Silver cup by the International Brotherhood of Magicians

JOHNSON CLARK   1886-1956

Billed as The Sportsman Ventriloquist.

Figure: Hodge. 

 

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Read a transcript of Johnson Clark's The Apple Orchard.

Clark used only a single figure, Hodge.  Hodge was a yokel talking to Clark, who dressed as a "Squire."  His sketch or scena involved an elaborate farmyard setting, including a painted backcloth depicting the English countryside.

CHARLES CONYERS

Figure: Tommy Trotters

 

JOHN W. COOPER  1873-1966

www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/

One of the few black ventriloquists in vaudeville.  Figure: Sam Jackson, made by Theodore Mack. 

In 1886 he joined the Southern Jubilee Singers.  In 1901-02 he was part of Richards and Pringles Georgia Minstrels.  Cooper was able to break into the white-dominated vaudeville circuit when there was a strike in 1901.   Cooper also performed on the weekly radio show "The Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour" during the 1930s.

Best routine: Fun in a Barbershop -- an African-American barber shop for whites.  Cooper used five dummies. Since he cut the hair with his hands, he operated the five dummies with his feet.

Trivia: John W. Cooper taught ventriloquism to Shari Lewis.

 

TOM CORAM

Real name: Tommy Whitaker.  Figure: Jerry Fisher.  London debut in 1905.  On occasion Coram would operate Jerry through a pneumatic device.  Later the Jerry figure could cry, wink, spit, smoke, blink, and even walk. Coram and Jerry became especially known for their military act.

 

WILL COWLING 1902-1977

Will wrote much of his own material and songs. his "bill heading" always quoted "clever and clean" after each show he would say "Your pleasure is my pleasure and a good audience gets the best from an artist every time".

One of his greatest fans in those days was Lady Armstrong from Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland he often appeared at her residence. He was a well known music hall ventriloquist in those days and in the war worked with famous stars such as Lawrence Olivier and Vivian Leigh one of his buddies in the war was Nat Gomella the trumpet player whose best number was "Georgia".

Will still entertained until 1970.

His Granddaughter Eileen Thompson is still using his vent doll:

http://eileenandjoe.co.uk/

 

GREGORY DONSKOI

Lived 1865-1956.  First great Russian ventriloquist.  Known for creating 11 different voices in his act and for using life-sized figures.   He also made a real dog speak.   Performed for the Russian troops during the Russian Revolution (1917) and World War II..

LYDIA DREAMS

Real name: Walter Lambert.  Female Impersonator.  Hospital skit: Dreams played a nurse and the figure played an accident victim.  Dreams also painted "Popularity" -- a tribute to the variety era.  This painting is in the London Museum.

DURNO, THE MYSTERIOUS

Primarily known as a magician.

EDGAR

Also known as Great Edgar.

MAUDE EDWARDS

Figure: Nobbler, the stable boy.  Sister of Tom Edwards.

TOM EDWARDS

Billed as The Huntsman Ventriloquist.  Top vaudeville entertainer.  Brother to Maude Edwards.

EDWARD ELLIOTT  1880-1924

Read a Biography of Elliott

Figure: Sunshine James

Elliott was an actor, writer, and ventriloquist from England who began performing around 1900. 

In 1904, at the age of 24, Elliott formed his own independent show and became the proprietor of the Pronouns Concert Party.   

In 1911 Elliott began his first overseas tour and performed in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Sunshine James was a big hit in Australia in the early 1920's.  He had his own fan club, and Elliott often brought him to perform at large gala events.

LUCILLE ELMORE

Figures: Sambo and Susie.

HARRY FERRIS

Radioquiolism?


 

LEOPOLDO FREGOLI

Lived: 1867 to 1936.  Performed a one-man showing depicting numerous characters.  Quick-change artist, singer, dancer, clown, juggler, ventriloquist.  Used five different characters in his ventriloquial act.

ROBERT GANTHONY

Photo circa 1904.

JOHN GODDARD

HORACE GOLDIN  1874-1939

Real name is Hyman Goldstein.  Primarily known as a magician.

JOE GOODMAN

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

GRIEVE

BEN F. HAMMOND

Cartoonist.  Ventriloquist.

 

NELSON HARDY

Stan Burns refers to Hardy as an "alfresco" entertainer (outdoor performance on a ladder).  Burns, as a youth, saw Hardy (then an old-timer) perform with a figure whose nose would light up and would say "Blow it out, 'ardy" every time it did so.  (World War I photo circa 1916)

RAYMOND HARTER

Billed as "Master Raymond, The World's Best Ventriloquist". Harter toured New York's Broadway theatres during the early 1930s.

JOE HASTINGS

Presented a show called Dick Turpin: A Ventriloquial Novelty.

ARTHUR HILL

Figure: Wally.

LOUISE HUDSON

Conducted conversations with a full-sized male figure.

 

JOHN A. KELLY

Ventriloquist.  Singer.  Impersonator.  Whistler.

FRED KETCH   1891-1975

Born in San Francisco, California, on December 20, 1891, Ketch learned ventriloquism on his own, and after much work and many shows, began t o develop into a top vaudeville act. In 1916, Ketch started on a tour from San Francisco to Seattle and Vancouver. Fred worked on the same bill with actress Edith Wilma, and they became friends. By 1917, the successful act of "Ketch & Wilma" was formed, a top ventriloquist novelty combining the talents of Fred and Edith. Here, their act "Push the Cork In" was originated and became a standard act on the circuit. In 1919 Edith Wilma officially became Edith Ketch. The team played around the country until Edith became ill. Fred decided to stop traveling in 1929. Edith passed away about a year later.

Fred went on to tour with his own creations, Jerry J and the talking Mexican head, Jose Garcia. Fred also developed the unreal skill of singing in two and later three voices in harmony. He was to feature this stunt for years.

HARRY LESTER   1880-1956

 

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CHARLES MACK

Circa 1926.  Real name: Charles McCarty.  Mack would dress in clown costume and makeup and perform with his black ventriloquist's figure Danny, who would tell jokes and sing songs.  Mack also performed magic and presented a Punch & Judy Show.

HAL MERTON

Figure: Joe.  Magician.  Ventriloquist.

MARSHALL MONTGOMERY

Figure: George.  Performed in Canada circa 1913.

REUBEN MORE

PROF. J. NELSON

NORMAN OSBORNE

Presented a Fishing Scena or Sketch.

OXLEY PARR

Entertainer.  Conjurer.  Ventriloquist.

DAVID POOLE

Billed as The Schoolmaster Ventriloquist: Poole dressed in an academic gown and used a little girl figure and little boy figure as pupils.

 

ARTHUR PRINCE   1881-1948

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BORN: 1881, Wales

FAME: First ventriloquist to drink and talk at the same time

CHARACTERS: Sailor Jim

LINK: www.britishpathe.com British Pathe has over half a dozen video clips from 1932 to 1940 that feature Arthur Prince

Performed before King George V

Toured the U.S. and Australia

1932: Norman Yendell Ward creates comic strip Arthur Prince and Jim based on Prince's life

1948: Buried with his widow and his puppet

NO PHOTO

ARTHUR QUISTO

Lived 1882-1960.  Real name: Edwin Simms.  Known primarily for his Punch & Judy Shows, Quisto also built figures for Coram and Prince.  He used pneumatic devices and was the first to use electromagnetic devices to animate his figures.

AUGUSTUS RAPP

Figure: Shorty Jones, made by Theo Mack.

Rapp was born in 1871.  Shorty was born in 1908.  Rapp listed Shorty's godfather as Frank Marshall on his "birth certificate."

HENRY ROX

Photo circa 1902, Germany.

Real Name: Fedor Albert Paul Witkowsky
Born on March 25th,1855, in Berlin

 

 

More Information Here

FRED RUSSELL   1862-1957

BORN: 1862 in England

FAME: First Knee-Sitting Vent Figure, “The Father of Modern Ventriloquism”

CHARACTERS: Coster Joe

QUOTE: "'It fell to my lot,' as the British entertainer Fred Russell stated, with the conscious gravity that seems to be a hazard in his line of work, 'to revolutionise the presentation of Ventriloquial acts by endowing a single "figure" with a personality'. ... Looking back on his revolution sixty years later, Russell observed contentedly that the invention of the personality puppet had advanced 'the art of Ventriloquism' throughout the civilised world, winning thousands of fresh converts to the cause." (from "Tummy Talkers" by Jonathan Rée)

QUOTE:  "The credit for inventing the single small doll, usually perched on the ventriloquist's knee, belongs to Fred Russell. He first presented his dummy 'Coster Joe' in 1896 and set the format for ventriloquism which has survived with little variation to the present day.  Other dummies were sometimes used as an experiment. Fred Russell, having pioneered the single small doll, reverted to the use of larger dummies around 1923 when he and his wife presented a court scene with about twenty dummies. It was so realistic that many people thought that he had several assistants and that the 'judge' was a real person. It was never popular, and on one occasion when he reverted to 'Coster joe', the theatre manager said, 'Why carry all those props about when you've got that act?'"   (From Kindly Leave the Stage! By Roger Wilmut)

1896: First appeared  at the Palace in London, England

1910: BOOK: Ventriloquism and Kindred Arts   by Fred Russell, London, published by Fred Russell, second English edition, 1910.
A practical treatise, giving explicit and reliable directions, whereby the whole art of distant voice illusion, figure working and vocal mimicry may be acquired.

1955 (?): Guest Appearance on Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town": Episode: #9.6 - 30 October 1955

SPECIAL FEATURE: Read a description of Russell's "Breach of Promise" routine from the tribute/obituary in the November 1957 issue of Oracle magazine.

  

STANLEY RUSSELL

Billed as "Little Stanley Russell: The Boy Wonder.  Comedian, Vocalist, Ventriloquist, and Dancer."

 

ALBERT SAVEEN

www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/other/daisymay.htm

Used a wide variety of figures, including a little girl character named Daisy May.  Known for his versatility and novelty, Saveen included in his act a conversation with a live dog.  Saveen  had fourteen puppet characters including Daisy May - a tiny schoolgirl dummy, Andy the Spiv - a cockney boy, a sad little boy called Sonny, and a dog who used to say "Drop Dead!" in a very droll posh voice whenever Saveen spoke to him.

A sound clip is available at the website listed above.

Trivia: Saveen listed Daisy May in the telephone book, and she even had her own bank account.

MABEL SINCLAIR

Used a coster figure following the tradition of Fred Russell's Coster Joe.

BERT SINKINSON

KEN SWAN

Figure: McGhee, a Scottish youth.  Swan also used a small doll figure which rode a tricycle across the stage and sang at the same time.

CYRIL TALBOT

Figure: Larry Brown.

RICH TAYLOR

Circa 1910.

THORA

Figure: Hugh Thorn.  Female Impersonator.  Performed circa 1913.  Thora sang in a pleasant soprano voice while Hugh growled in a rough voice.  Thora would pull off her wig at the end of the performance to reveal that "he" was actually a bald-headed man.

TILFORD

Photo circa 1912.

FREDERICK C. TRAPPE

Circa 1925.  Ventriloquist.  Impersonator.  Humorist.  Dramatic Monologist.

HAL TREHERNE

Circa 1916.

STANLEY VAILE

PROFESSOR VALENTINE

FRED VALLANCE

PIETRO LA VERDI

Circa 1920s.  Ventriloquist.  Impersonator.  Musician.

JULES VERNON  1867-1937

Real name is Walter Lester Pope Knyvette.  Figure: George.  Began performing in 1883. 

Vernon's act consisted of seven characters who would engage in humorous dialogue with each other as well as Vernon. Though the dialogue was undoubtedly a big part of the entertainment of Vernon's act, further entertainment was derived from his sheer ability to jump from character to character without a hitch. His characters included the Old Maid, who sang; George, who was afflicted with a terrible stutter; Nettie, George's sister with a cleft lip; the Sailor; Joe, usually the main figure in the act; and Happy, a character who never spoke, but only laughed at the other characters' jokes.

 

 

VALENTINE VOX (USA)

Real name: Alfred Morin.   Died 1943.  Figure: Cecil Wigglenose.  Comedy team of Vox and Walters (see Emily Walters).

 

VALENTINE VOX (UK)

Real name: Hesseton Moreton.

EMILY WALTERS

Maiden name: Emily Carlin.  She was a dancer who fell in love with Walter Walters, and together they became successful ventriloquist team of Walters and Walters.  Emily and Walter were the parents of Walter Walters, Jr., who also became a ventriloquist.  Later, after her divorce to Walter, Emily joined Valentine Vox (real name Wilfred Moran) to perform as Vox and Walters.  They were referred to as "The King and Queen of Ventriloquism" in 1930.

  

WALTER WALTERS

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Figure: Frankie.  See description of Emily Walters (above).

WEGENAER

Germany.  Before or after 1900?

PROFESSOR WHYLEY

Magician and Ventriloquist

WILLIAM WOOD

American ventriloquist, circa 1900.

1904 ETCHING

Entitled THE TRICKS OF A VENTRILOQUIST.  A  ventriloquist tricks an innkeeper by having his dog order dinner.  Published in Chatterbox 1904.