As a rule be more loquacious in your natural voice than in the ventriloquial voice. This will cause you less fatigue and the audience appreci­ates most that which it gets the least.

When you have got the man down from the roof you may send him away on a level by com­pressing the vocal cords and throwing the voice backward, as it were, speaking neither against the palate nor down the throat. ” Good-night ” are the best words for this effect, ” Good-morn­ing,” ” Good-evening ” or ” Good-bye ” being im- practicable. Close your dialogue in some such manner as follows:

Vent. That is all I want of you, and you may go now. Goodnight.

Jack. Goodnight. {A little fainter.)

Vent. Goodnight. {Loud natural.)

Jack. Goodnight. {Still fainter)

Vent. Goodnight. {Almost shouting.)

Jack Goodnight, ha, ha, ha! (Very faint indeed.)

As your own voice becomes louder and the ventriloquial voice fainter, the pauses between the salutations are longer, as would naturally happen were you really calling to a departing caller or workman when, after the last faint, far-away cry you would yell and the answer would be inau­dible. Besides giving, by contrast, greater effectiveness to the ventriloquial voice in this manner, it is necessary in order to fully carry out the deception, as it must be made to appear that the man could not hear your own calls unless you uttered them in an increasingly louder voice as he went away.

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There are countless other ways in which your figures may be arranged. You might have the representation of a police court, and as the judge work from behind your desk a miscellaneous as­sortment of characters, including policemen, wit­nesses, culprits and hangers-on; or you could act as the teacher of a district school with your fig­ures as scholars. You might even make yourself the interlocutor of a small minstrel troupe by blacking your face, and using a pair of false arms that would allow your real ones to work the strings for the rest of the company.

Before leaving this part of the subject, we will consider briefly some of the animal automata which are occasionally used by the ventriloquial entertainer. Of these the cat is the most com­mon, and may be made to spit, yowl and claw in the most lifelike manner, the spitting and yowl­ing of course being supplied by the performer.

A French ventriloquist who appeared in America a few years ago, carried with him a large papier-mâché cow which opened its mouth and moo’d quite naturally. A dummy parrot suggests nothing unreal when used for ventriloquy, and as much entertainment can be obtained from it as from a real one, which is saying a great deal and if you can give a good imitation of a barking dog you might have the figure of such an animal interrupt the dialogue instead of having the Colored do this.

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Note how the same sound differs when the hands are removed and observe how it is ob­scured when the ears are again stopped. Then with open ears try to imitate the sound which was heard   when they   were muffled.    In this manner try all kinds of tones and noises, and accurately observe their several characteristics. This exercise will bring to the ventriloquist a realization of the range, modulations and capa­bilities of the human voice such as he has never had before. The principal difficulty with the beginner is lack of knowledge concerning the latent possibilities of his own vocal powers, but this can be obviated by practice and the use of the method herein suggested. Because of the fact that ventriloquial effects are produced by using the voice in an unnatural manner, such efforts require greater attention and energy than in ordinary speaking, where the mind is intent upon the subject of the conversation, and the words are uttered without conscious effort.

Some one has said that, ” As perspective is to the eye, so is ventriloquism to the ear,” meaning that as the eye is deceived by the skill of the artist in so painting a landscape as to give the effect of distance, although the whole composi­tion is limned on a perfectly flat surface, so the ventriloquist deludes the ear by speaking in such a manner that the voice appears in the distance, although created close at hand.

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The idea is to make the sound as far back in the pharynx as possible, and to prevent it from rising into the cavity of the mouth by compress­ing the vocal mechanism. Note well that this voice is low-pitched and is not exploded against the palate as in voice No. 2, or simply muffled as in voice No. 1.

In other words, you always send the sound originating in the larynx in the direction from which you desire it to come—if from above you pitch it high and force it against the roof of the mouth, or hard palate; if from near at hand you make it near by confining it in the cavity of the mouth; and if from below you pitch it low and send it downward. From this it follows that the ordinary drone effect represents distance, while the method used in the projection of that sound suggests direction. In developing these voices, use the vowel and consonant exercise already rec­ommended before taking up the vocabulary.

Some ventriloquists use one distance voice for every effect, and in justification of this plan ex­plain that it is so difficult to execute the distant voice in different keys that, where it is desirable to introduce a number of characters, it is best to do it by transition. That is, they alter the nat­ural tones of the voice so as to make a very ap­parent distinction between it and the mimetic voice. This can be done so skilfully that the audience will not realize the change, and enthusiastically declare this to be one of the great­est secrets of the art.

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Polyphonism, in its entertainment sense, is the imitation of sounds other than speech, such as the humming of bees, the bleating of sheep, the lowing of cattle, the braying of a donkey, or the noise made by planing, sawing, the drawing of a glass of soda, etc., many of which cannot be made ventriloquially, and so form no deception as to the source from which they emanate. A few general hints will aid you in making a be­ginning, and with practice you can produce most of the imitations with sufficient accuracy simply by following the instructions given.

The Mosquito. —Beginning first with the sim­pler sounds try that made by a mosquito. For this you hold your throat and mouth in exactly the same position as for the ventriloquial drone, only you make the sound very shrill—in fact, at the very highest pitch you can reach—while at the same time straining with the chest.

A Bee. —With the vocal organs in the drone position use considerable pressure upon the chest and make the pitch lower than for the mosquito. Produce a handkerchief, and as you sound the drone chase the imaginary bee about the room. After pretending to catch it, put the handker­chief containing the bee (?) into the pocket. Then, apparently forgetting that it is there, pro­duce the handkerchief and appear to allow the bee to escape.

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