Then again some wiseacre who thinks “he knows all about it” and discourses learnedly of the “double throat,” will walk confidently up to the performer and ask him to throw his voice to the back part of the room over the heads of the audience or to some other utterly impossible place. I have never yet heard of a ventriloquist being requested to throw his voice into the next county, but undoubtedly there are persons who think that he might do so if he wished, though just how it could be made to return to him from so long a distance they might be rather hard put to it to say.    Apropos of this:

” Did you know,” asks Jerry, the Irish boy, in one of my dialogues, ” that I was down to a party the other night? “

Vent.      ” No, were you? “

Jerry.     ” Yes, and there was a ventrisquealer there.”

Vent.    ” No, no, Jerry, you mean a ventrilo­quist, a man who throws his voice.”

Jerry.     ” Yes, that’s it, but this feller threw his voice so far it didn’t get back again.”

Vent.    “Is it possible?”

Jerry.    ” I dunno, but he did it all th’ same.”

This is probably the attitude which would be taken by the knowing ones who, while they might not believe that the voice could be heard from such a distance, might still maintain that it could be sent there and allowed to go off ac­cording to schedule, even if no one heard

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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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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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Therefore, in presenting a reliable and comprehensive treatise on ventriloquism and its allied art polyphony, I feel that I am meeting a genuine need. Handbooks on ventriloquism have been published before, but few of those published in this country have attempted anything more than a superficial treatment of the subject, and are therefore of little use to the general public.
For many years I have studied and practiced ventriloquism, and   from   the experience thus gained, have endeavored to write a genuine work¬ing manual, not only for the beginner, but for the professional performer as well. If those inter¬ested at all in ventriloquism will give to this book the amount of thought and attention which I myself have devoted to its preparation, I shall feel repaid for my attempt to shed illumination upon a subject about which little of practical value has hitherto been published.

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