Recently, an original long lost manuscript resurfaced having been discovered in an ancient bookshop in the back waters of the southern states.
Archive for February, 2010
Ventriloquist Has Many Voices
An actor impersonates only one role at a time, but the ventriloquist who uses figures must speak the lines of several different characters in as many different voices, and must at the same time be ready to question, argue, re-prove or interrupt in his natural voice. In fact, he assumes the attitude of an interested spectator to whom everything said by the figures is as new and unexpected as to the audience itself; and al-though he is carrying on the whole conversation and constantly changing from one voice to another, he must be so thoroughly trained that no effort is apparent and no confusion results. The tyro is likely to make some amusing mistakes such as making Tommy talk with the voice which has been associated with Jerry, or interrupting with his natural voice when he should have done so ventriloquially. Because of the fact, however, that this branch of the art is more easily learned and not so difficult to practice, most professional exhibitors confine themselves strictly to it, but a more interesting entertainment can be given by combining figure working with feats of natural ventriloquism.
The farther removed a ventriloquist is from his audience, the greater the illusion he creates, and yet it is remarkable how near the auditor can stand to the performer without being disillusioned. During a performance given at a fair in Masonic Temple, Boston, several years ago, I had for my stage only a round dais at one end of the hall, raised scarcely two feet above the floor