Assume an air of perfect self-possession, and having seated the audience as described, stand within a foot or two of the screen and make your first bow as a ventriloquist. Put your whole heart into your work and try to imagine that there is really an old lady behind the screen whose personality is wholly distinct from yours. Act as you naturally would if you were talking to such a person, and do not rush through the dialogue as if you were in a hurry to catch a train. Stand in an easy attitude with your face partly turned toward the audience, and let your eyes dwell upon the screen whenever the ficti­tious old lady is speaking.

Probably the first desire of the student of ” Near ” after he has begun to ventriloquize will be to possess a mechanical figure, for the use of such a puppet tends to give added interest to his practice and also a greater self-confidence in his early performances. With such a figure on his knee he can make his early essays in the art of entertaining with fewer misgivings than would otherwise be the case.

But all students perhaps cannot afford to pur­chase a figure at the outset, and to such I would recommend the ” talking hand,” one which can be arranged in a few moments’ time and at no expense whatever.

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The student is now ready for actual work with the throat in the production of the different voices required in figure working.

First comes the ” Punch ” voice which, as its name indicates, is a close imitation of that used for the puppet Punch in ” Punch and Judy” shows. A Punch and Judy performer uses a little instrument (made by winding a narrow piece of cloth or tape over and between two curved pieces of tin) to produce this voice, but this is not allowable for a ventriloquist who stands in full view, and the voice must therefore be produced naturally.

To do this, recall just how the Punch voice sounds or take the first opportunity to listen to a good Punch and Judy performer; or think of the higher notes of a clarinet or the sound of a squeaking door. Then bring the teeth together and stretch the tongue until it touches the roof of the mouth near the back of the front upper teeth. Then say, ” Judy, Judy, where are you, Judy? “in as high a tone as you can command. The position of the tongue throws the sound into the cavity of the nose, thus imparting to the voice the strong nasal quality which is needed. It also has the sound of a high-pitched reed in­strument, and the more reedy and metallic you can make it the better.

If the student has difficulty in getting just the right tone, place the tongue as before and say ” Th-e-e-e-k,” prolonging the “e’s” and thinking of the punch voice or the sound made by a clarinet, as before.

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We will now consider the methods used for the production of some of the other voices employed in Near ventriloquism. In direct contrast to the Punch voice is that which is sometimes called the ” Grunt” voice. To produce this, the tongue should be allowed to lie fiat with its tip almost touching the back of the front lower teeth where they enter the flesh. In this position, and with the whole of the vocal cords relaxed, the words are simply grunted at the back of the mouth, with the lips still and only slightly apart, as when using the Punch voice. In other words, make less effort to speak than you would natu­rally, using only the back part of the tongue, so that the sound is made in the lower part of the throat.

This voice is a caricature of that used by old men who no longer have command over tongue and lips and speak with open mouths.    In figure working it is used to supply speech for the Old Man without whom no ventriloquial family is complete, in contrast to the sharp, reedy voice of the Old Woman who is usually his companion, and the less shrill tones of the Irish or the Colored figure. It may also be used for the same pur­pose when the couple are supposed to be behind a screen.

Given the Old Man, Old Woman, Irish and Colored figures, it naturally follows that there should be a little girl to make the family com­plete, and for this we revert to the Punch voice, only it should be made less reedy and more like a child’s. The young of all animals, including the human animal, uses a high key to speak or make the sound peculiar to itself.

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There is a great article and interview in The Orange County Register with ventriloquist Jay Johnson. Is starts like this:

Jay Johnson seems extremely cheery for a man who gets asked the same questions all the time.

Isn’t ventriloquism a dying profession? Aren’t those hand puppets creepy? Are you a repressed person who can express himself only through a wooden doppelganger?

Perhaps that’s because Johnson, 60, is at the top of his admittedly rarified art form. He has been a familiar act ever since his character, Chuck Campbell, and his smart-mouthed puppet pal, Bob, became famous on ABC’s opera parody “Soap” (1977-81), one of the riskiest and most popular TV comedies of its era.

Johnson gained even more respectability when his one-man show, “The Two and Only,” won a Tony Award in 2007. Pretty good for a boy from Lubbock, Texas, whose biggest dream was to land a job, any job, in show business.

Johnson brings “The Two and Only” to the Laguna Playhouse from June 11-20. (The title is deceptive – Johnson’s act includes 11 puppets.) We talked to him about his art, his show, and the love/hate relationship people have with ventriloquism.

The Orange County Register: How did a small-town Texas kid turn into one of the world’s most famous ventriloquists?

You can read the rest here http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/johnson-251605-register-ventriloquism.html#article-comments

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If you can make the sound of a dog barking near at hand you have only to assume the ” drone ” position to make it appear outside, and the same is true of the imitation of a cock crow­ing.

The next step is to obtain a sudden transition from the drone to the natural voice. Commence by saying ” Ah ” in the natural voice and follow with the ventriloquial ” Ah,” not as a pro­longed drone, but staccato fashion, and practice this with all the vowels, as in the lip practice in Part I.

By this practice you will be enabled to give with ease a conversation with some one apparently outside a window, where you speak in your natural voice and the reply is made in the distant voice. The change from one voice to the other must be rapidly and constantly made, and the re­quired facility is obtained by the practice described above.

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When you have secured the distant effect with the vowels and consonants in close contrast with your natural voice, try the word ” Hello ” and the effect of an echo is increased, not because your ventriloquism has suddenly improved, but because this word is the natural way of testing an echo. If attempted at an earlier stage, there might be danger of your remaining satisfied with the effect thus obtained, even if it were imper­fect, because to your untrained ear the sound of the word as given by the drone would seem good enough and might deter you from further effort, without which you cannot hope to excel in this branch of the art.

First call out the word in the natural voice, and try to imagine, when you repeat it ventriloquially, that the latter instead of requiring a separate at­tempt is merely the echo of an effect already finished.

When you have faithfully pursued this prac­tice for a few days you may take up the imita­tion of a person talking from behind a door, which is one of the simplest and surest acquire­ments in ventriloquism. First, you must form a correct estimate of how such a voice would sound, and if you are not entirely clear in your own mind regarding this point, persuade a friend to actually carry on a conversation with you while shut up in another room.

While as a matter of fact there is only one dis­tant voice—that produced by the so-called bee drone—this is modified in various ways for the purpose of giving added effect to whatever imi­tations are attempted. A voice from behind a door near at hand is louder and more distinct and has a peculiar hollow, muffled tone which dis­tinguishes it somewhat from one coming from a place more remote. These characteristics can be produced by pressing the tongue against the teeth while the latter are set well together and the lips are slightly apart.   Before speaking in the ventriloquial voice fill the lungs and keep the breath under good control. Of course in form­ing some of the words it will be found impossible to keep the tongue entirely still, but so long as it retains a position well forward in the mouth, the effect can be obtained.

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If instead of apparently going away on a level, you desire to have Jack descend to the cel­lar, you simply compress the larynx still more and force the sound downward instead of back­ward. If you cannot, while facing the audience when entertaining in public, easily change the position of the vocal organs to get the effect of the man down-stairs, you can cover the effort by suitable business at a door or window, if you are giving your exhibition near one in a private house, or by turning and walking to the back part of the stage, on some pretence or other, if you are performing in a hall or theatre. In using any of these voices, do not attempt to articulate the consonant sounds plainly; to be particular in this regard would very likely cause the disarrangement of the lips and cavity of the mouth. This caution is especially to be observed where the ventriloquist faces his audience, as of course he should do, at least most of the time. It sometimes happens, however, that it is unnecessary to face the audience, as when you are talk­ing to some one outside a window with your back to the people in a room. On such occasions you can move the lips without interfering with the illusion and thus articulate any word distinctly.

Sometimes ventriloquists have a heavy mous­tache to screen the lips so that slight movements cannot be detected, but it matters little to a good performer whether his mouth be covered or not, and it always creates a better impression not to rely upon such aids to hide movements which might, with a little additional practice, be pre­vented.

Frequent reference has been made to the fal­setto voice, but it should be understood that this voice in ventriloquism is somewhat different from the falsetto voice in singing. The singer pro­duces it by contracting the larynx; the more this is contracted the shriller the note. The ven­triloquist not only contracts the larynx, but di­rects the sound to that part of the mouth which communicates with the nose.

In Shakespeare’s play, ” The Tempest,” there is an excellent dialogue for ventriloquial study, in the second scene of Act III. For such a hate­ful character as Caliban the guttural voice, which is the natural vocal expression of malignity and hate, should be used; while the ” Thou liest!” and other short phrases of the ” invisible Ariel” can be given with great effect in the ventriloquial falsetto voice.

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 People do not look for great thoughts, pretty phrasing and literary finish in a ventriloquial entertainment, and the dialogue has to be written for special requirements and to fit special limita­tions. Don’t use three words where the same effect can be conveyed in one, as ventriloquial dialogue must be brief and interruption should form a strong part of it. The wit and humor of the vaudeville theatre is sometimes criticised and ridiculed by the more discriminating theatre­goers, but variety performers aim to supply what experience has taught them will succeed with the masses, and so with ventriloquism you must use such dialogue as you have found to be most effective and amusing.

It has been stated in a previous chapter that the better actort he entertainer is the greater will be his success as a ventriloquist. This is true because, like the negative adjunct of speaking with still lips, the histrionic art is an important aid to the real work of entertaining and the sus­taining of an illusion while carrying on a conversation with an imaginary person.    Although the ventriloquist is the real speaker, the listener’s thoughts and emotions are the only ones he is permitted to give outward expression to.

It is ventriloquial acting when the performer places Tommy in the chair he has just vacated and, after putting Jerry in a box at the back of the stage, apparently forgets all about Tommy and sits down upon him, whereupon Tommy cries out indignantly just as a real colored boy would do under like circumstances. Another in­stance is when the ventriloquist, with a worried expression of nervous enquiry, examines the me­chanical arrangements of his figures, while the old man follows his movements by turning his head, and apparently catching the entertainer’s anxiety, says in a low voice—yet sufficiently loud to be heard all over the house—” Is my string broke, guv’nor ?” or when the exhibitor while acknowledging the applause by a bow, causes the old man gravely to inform the audience that the figures are only made of wood.

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Squeaking Door or Gate. —Easily imitated with the Punch voice in its highest key.

As a rule the imitation of musical instruments becomes tiresome, as any imitation will, if con­tinued too long. Many performers, however, have brought this sort of polyphonism to a high state of development.

Banjo. —Say ” Pang ” in the same fashion as you say ” ‘uack ” for a duck, with the difference that the “P” is articulated. By substituting” Tang ” you can use your tongue more and give the sound of the old-fashioned roll by saying ” Trrr-ang.”

Xylophone. —Fix your mouth in position by saying ” Oh.” Then take your open hands and, holding them so that the right thumb comes a lit­tle below the left, hollow the hand slightly so as to leave a triangular opening above the latter. Separate the hands and bring them sharply to­gether, which will force the air collected between the palms through the triangular opening. This should be brought opposite the opening formed by the lips, which are in the ” oh ” position de­scribed. The result will be a note. By making the opening of the lips smaller the notes become lower; by making it larger, the notes become higher. The percussion of the air against the lips may cause the latter to swell, so it is well to practice this imitation moderately.

Cornet. —This is made by saying “ta” in the Punch voice. It should not be attempted with the lips, but at the top of the palate, ” Ta-ta-ta,” the reality of which may be increased by holding the hand half clinched and making the sound through it. By the use of the saliva you can pro­duce the burr that often precedes the clear-blown note.

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THE chief difficulty presented to the learner of Near Ventriloquism is caused by the necessity of keeping the muscles of the lips and face immov¬able. While carrying on a dialogue with his ” dummies,” the ventriloquist usually addresses his questions to them in the ordinary voice; but when the figures seem to answer there is no movement discernible of the face and lips, the mouth remaining nearly, but not quite, closed and the lips parted in the natural manner of an interested listener.

The acquirement of this ability to speak without moving the lips is the first thing to be accomplished, and although it may seem impossible at first, if the student is faithful in his practice it will not prove to be so difficult a matter after all.
   
Now to begin.
Standing before a mirror, close the lips until they are from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch apart, and while keeping the jaws rigid try to say the letter ” A.” The teeth may touch each other or they may be slightly parted. You will find that you can make the letter clearly without trouble. Then try in succession ” E,” ” I,” ” O ” and “U.” You will be gratified to find that these also present no difficulty. This is so be-cause, as you know, they constitute the vowels, or unobstructed sounds, of the English language, and thus require no movement of the lips. They may be indefinitely prolonged as in a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a, e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e, etc. There are a greater number of vowels than are usually admitted in writing; in fact, it is possible to considerably add to them by giving to some of the letters ordinarily classed as consonants, or obstructed sounds, a slightly more closed or more open sound.

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