Upon slackening the string the face assumes its normal expression (Fig. 4).

The bent wire in the arm can be used with any figure, provided the puppet is on a level with the performer, so that its manipulation is concealed. While standing by the side of the Colored with his arm back of the figure, the manipulator may cause the lat­ter to touch his (the performer’s) chin with its hand and at the same time give utterance to this sage re­mark, ” Nice massa needs er shave, deed he do,” or any other equally wise observation that   the action suggests.

Dancing Coloredes do not properly belong to a ventriloquial entertainment, but they may be used to create a few moments’ diversion from the regular thing and at the same time give the per­former a little rest from vocal effort.

They can be worked from a distance by a cord or from behind a screen by pedals attached to the heels of the figure.    A still better plan is to work the feet by wires running through the trousers legs from the heel and coming out under the coat tails, which conceal the hands as they pull the wires. The feet are such as marionettes have, the joint and weighted toe giving the double rap of the clog dancer.

By means of a rubber tube, large enough to hold a cigarette or cigar, fitting into the mouth and running through the back of the neck to a rubber-bulb, the representative of Dark Town society may be made to puff away like a veteran smoker. This feat may be made more effective by working the mouth with a treadle and allow­ing the figure to place the cigar, held between his fingers, in his mouth himself and take it at will. Of course the wife which lifts the arm will have to be manipulated in such a manner as to insure the cigar’s entering the end of the hidden tube; the mouth being shut down upon it helps to re­tain it as the hand, which may be a tightly stuffed black cotton glove, is allowed to drop, although by forcing the fingers around the cigar and opening the mouth the weed can be removed. The wire to the arm gives complete control of all movements, but practice is necessary to insure a precision of action.

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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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One popular figure worker has his Old Lady arranged behind a table at the back of the stage, while the Old Man sits in a chair near by, and the Irish and Colored figures are given a settee just back of the footlights.    Another has his Old Man standing and his Old Woman sitting, while still another arranges his figures, which are all of full length, in a row on a covered divan or sofa behind which he stands.

With all his modern improvements the Old Man is fearfully and wonderfully made, like unto no living creature of the heavens above, the earth beneath or the waters under the earth. His nose pulls out and is illuminated by electricity from the interior, as is his scarf-pin, and the pulling process is accompanied by a terrible squinting of the eyes. On occasion his hair raises in fright or amazement, not like ” quills upon a fretful porcu­pine,” but like a hirsute trap-door. His eyes wink at so much per wink per eye. His head turns completely around and when remonstrated with at such an unnatural proceeding, it makes the circuit again in the opposite direction while he casually remarks that ” one good turn deserves another.” His arm lifts and plucking his hat from his head with jointed fingers he waves it jauntily about. Not only does he smoke a pipe, but places it in his mouth himself, and lighting a match on the side of his own face holds it to the tobacco and puffs away contentedly, occasionally adding realism to the action, if not refinement, by expectorating a fine stream of water over the stage. When anything occurs in the audience to attract his attention his neck stretches to a frightful length, while he blithely gives utterance to the warning, ” Danger,” with a rising inflec­tion on the ” ger ” which proves intensely amusing. He also crosses his legs and uses his hand­kerchief; and, in fact, with all his accomplish­ments he must be as difficult to work as a loco­motive.

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There are two ways to make the arms look muscular. One is by means of rings sewn inside the sleeves, as is done with marionette figures. The other is to have underneath the outer cloth­ing an inner suit of silesia, with arm and leg shapes stuffed with excelsior. For the smaller figures the hands are made of wood with enough of a wrist to permit the end of the stuffed arm shape being drawn around it and tightly secured. The stockings are brought up over the leg shapes and fastened with thread, and the shoes (which are ordinary baby shoes) are drawn over the bottoms of these and also sewn. Large figures, however, sometimes have hands made simply of gloves painted in flesh color and stuffed with cot­ton or excelsior, the short wrists of these being fastened either over the arm-shape or to the in­side of the outer coat sleeves. The clothing is drawn over the shape and fastened by means of tacks or small nails to the box or if the inner shape includes a stuffed bust which also covers the front and sides of the box, the clothing may be sewn directly to that. This is much the better way, as tacks are likely to wear loose and also tear the covering. The Old Woman needs neither lower limbs nor feet, if she is to sit, a wire hoop being fastened to the bottom of the dress to give the necessary fullness. When covered with a bright cover, the box the figures travel in is often used as a seat for them.

For more details on making a ventriloquist dummy visit http://www.ventriloquistsecretsrevealed.com

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The little girl referred to in a previous chapter usually adds much to the effectiveness of a per­formance, and is made to do duty in a variety of ways. An English ventriloquist, Robert Ganthony, to whom I am indebted for many valuable hints concerning the subject, has a little girl figure which stands at the piano and sings to his accompaniment, the mouth being moved by the ventriloquist’s foot. It also plays the violin, the sound being a vocal imitation, while the bow arm is worked by means of a second pedal. Whether the girl stands, sits on the knee or on a stool, sings, plays or recites, depends of course upon the inclination and talent of the performer. Ventriloquial Coloredes have a variety of ac­complishments, ranging from dancing to smok­ing. Some even play the banjo, which is made to hook on the shoulders and is readily detach­able. In this case the arm is worked by means of a wire running from the hand on the inside of the sleeve and through the clothing at the back, where it is held by the exhibitor

 (Fig. 3)

. But the principal use .of the Colored figure is to utter an idiotic laugh whenever an interruption is wanted, an awkward pause takes place, or the proceedings generally want some little enlivenment. If laughter is to be his sole office, the top half of the head should hinge on the lower, and be so balanced that a tug at the string behind causes him to throw his head back in a fit of unre­strained merriment, which of course the ventrilo­quist supplies.

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To this movable floor is then glued a strip of sheepskin or flexible leather, completely covering the cavity from the lower lip to the chin below. Before putting in the lower jaw ” for keeps ” as the boys say, a small screw ring should be in­serted in its underside, to which is fastened a piece of gut string or flexible picture-wire, long enough to reach down through the neck and well into the interior of the body which has yet to be made ; and another screw-ring is inserted on the upper side near the back edge, to which is hooked a spiral spring strong enough to pull the mouth shut smartly after being opened by a tug on the picture wire below. This arrangement is shown at ” D,” Figure 2.

With the exception of the eyes, which may be obtained from a taxidermist at a cost of fifteen or twenty cents, and the hair, the head is then complete except for painting, which of course should be in flesh color with the cheeks well tinted in red. The teeth are merely suggested by alternate red and white stripes on the ridges back of the lips, and the eyebrows are painted in dark red or mahogany color.

The body, the length of which is determined by the size of the head, is simply a box, like that shown at ” E,” the hole in the top being for the neck. When the head is completed, the neck should be cut off at the right length and the opening in its lower end blocked with a round stick, hollow for half its length from the top. Through this extends the picture wire, termi­nating in a ring, which controls, when pulled down by the thumb, the movement of the lower jaw, as shown at ” D.”

After the head is placed in the body, a wire is driven through the neck stick close up to the top of the box to prevent the head from pulling out when in use. This may be fitted loosely enough to allow of being drawn out, making the head readily removable for packing.

For more on ventriloquist dummies construction visit http://www.ventriloquistsecretsrevealed.com

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Subsequent viewers of my puppet have also made the same mistake and I didn’t find out until I checked him out on EBay. Some newer viewers think Charlie is from a recent horror flick that was, as they say, so very scary. One went so far as to say he would not be able to sleep with Charlie McCarthy in the same room. What’s this bizarre world coming too? Go figure…

Charlie McCarthy was of course the puppet from ventriloquist comic Edgar Bergen; hence, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. I remember as a very young lad listening to Edgar and Charlie.Charlie was always a wise donkey and always saying the wrong thing. Edgar would call Charlie a dummy and Charlie wouldn’t like it and make a sarcastic reply. The audience would roar.

Charlie would bicker constantly with Edgar and the dialogue was a bit edgy for back then but somehow Edgar could pull it off by blaming it on the misbehaving puppet. And we believed him. Edgar would act upset and embarrassed by Charlie and we all felt badly for poor Edgar. The dialogue was zippy and even my mother laughed.

A few years later my attention changed focus and I fell in love with Candace, Edgar’s movie actress daughter, but then again so did every other male adolescent at that time so the competition was pretty stiff…

Howdy Doody was partners with Buffalo Bob. They had a kiddy show with Howdy doing most of the antics as if he were all wired up on speed…a nervous kind of guy, always jumping around since of course Howdy was a marionette. Buffalo Bob, a real person, would dress in a buckskin frontier suit…sort of like Daniel Boone without the hat.

Buffalo Bob would always tell the kids in the studio audience ‘No comments from the peanut gallery’ when they would laugh or heckle. It’s a term I still use today and I wonder how many in my age bracket use the same expression. And how many younger folks wonder what the heck we mean. And just what is a peanut gallery?

The Howdy Doody show was nonsense and we bright American kids knew it was nonsense but we loved it anyway. Which was good, because not too many years later we would be faced with life’s cold realities where many of us would wish we were back in the peanut gallery with our old pals Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob.

Through the years Howdy and Charlie have come and gone. As time passes we even confuse the two. But somehow we came away with a cultural legacy by growing up with these guys. They were our heroes, our friends and for some of us our first introductions to the outside world.

When Buffalo Bob died sometime back they ran clips of the shows on TV and pictures in the newspaper and somehow I could still identify with it after all those years. No one can live forever, not even Buffalo Bob or Howdy, but their legacy as culture goes on through all us kiddy fans from years past.

But of course that’s how culture works. It comes and it goes. It is the partnering of the ego with society. And maybe at some point in the future when folks are a lot smarter than we are and can figure things out a lot better, they will analyze what effect Howdy and Charlie had on the development of Modern America. And kids will catalogue Howdy and Charlie in their cultural icon database. And watch video clips and write reports on what it might have been like to be sitting in the peanut gallery, no comments and all.

We all need a sense of belonging; of having a cultural home. When I saw the clips of Howdy I said ‘yep, that’s my culture all right.’ That’s me. With Buffalo Bob and the participatory peanut gallery who needs kings and epics and revolutions and all that sort of heavy traditional baggage?

Howdy and Charlie give me a cultural place to hang my hat…and in some strange way I take comfort in being able to do that. It gives me a sense of who I am, even though I was just an adoring fan of a couple of wooden dummies…

And really, how can any snob dare say America has produced no culture when we have such cultural mega icons as Howdy Doody and Charlie McCarthy? What else do we need?

And please, no comments from all you out there in the peanut gallery.

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Having progressed thus far, the student will no doubt begin to consider seriously the desira­bility of burdening himself with a family—a ven-triloquial family—with the idea of either pur­chasing outright what he needs or of making such figures for himself.

At the outset, however, I would state em­phatically that unless you are a natural mechanic and also something of an adept at wood carving you would better wait until you can either pur­chase the figures required or can pay for having the heads made by a professional wood carver. Such work usually costs from three to four dollars per head, according to the size, and two or three dollars more must be added for the painting, hair, etc. Then the body must be made and dressed—but this you can easily do yourself at little cost.

The small knee figures can be obtained, head, body and all, from dealers in magical goods for from about seven to ten dollars, and larger ones from the latter amount to thirty or thirty-five dollars, according to the size and movements re­quired; so very little is saved by having the heads made to order, and the result is not usually so satisfactory, unless a carver can be found to whom this work is familiar.

Of course if you are handy enough with tools to make your own heads, the saving is worthwhile, and I will now give you a few hints as to how the work may be done.

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A development of recent years is the walking figure, whose legs and feet move quite naturally as it marches about the stage, its arm linked in that of the performer. At least, that is the way it appears, but in reality the performer’s arm is concealed under the dress of the automaton, while the arm which appears to be his is a false one. Sometimes the ventriloquial pedestrian ap­pears as a soldier on crutches that he uses very naturally, and again it may be a stout lady of color who, with one hand, lifts her skirt daintily as she walks and talks with her exhibitor. Of course the fingers are attached to the skirt so that any lifting of the arm by a concealed wire will lift the garment also, but it is all very ­ inter­esting and very natural and adds much to the effect of a, performance. These figures are costly, however, and usually must be made to order.

A laudable attempt has been made by profes­sional ventriloquists during recent years to get away from the conventional by giving their fig­ures novel surroundings and characteristics. One set-up, for instance, represents a country grocery store, with the puppets seated on barrels and boxes in front of the counter, from behind which, in the guise of the storekeeper in shirt sleeves, ” high-water ” trousers, boots and battered straw hat, the ventriloquist discusses with them famil­iarly about the gossip of the village. Another performer gives his figures an airing at a mimic seashore resort, where they are presently joined by an automaton nurse maid, who trundles her infant charge in a perambulator on the beach without any visible assistance except a small rub­ber hose which drags at her heels. One also has a soldiers’ camp, with a walking figure as a one-legged colonel, while as the camp mascot Jerry interrupts the conversation from behind a loose flap in the side of a tent.

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              Fig. 7           

Figure 7 shows the back view of such a body without the clothing, which of course overlaps and conceals the opening without preventing the insertion of the neck and head in A or the per­former’s hand in B. The spike C is fixed on the bottom of the figure and is hidden by the dra­pery. This spike fits loosely into a hole made in the stand or chair upon which the figure is seated, and, being loose, the body can be made to sway about by a push with the wrist when the hand is manipulating the mouth.

The neck is dropped into the body through the opening A; when the small spike of the neck-stick touches bottom the head is in position and will remain so, as shown in the figure. The right hand of the performer in the interior of the pup­pet (which in this case would be on his right) clutches the neck-stick and the thumb is inserted in the wire ring at the left, which by a down­ward movement pulls the mouth open by means of a picture wire or gut string as in the smaller knee dolls, a spring causing the jaw to close as the wire is related.    It will be understood without further illustration that if the neck-stick be held in the hand, any upward movement raises the head, a movement to the left causes it to turn to the right and vice versa. By tilting the stick toward you the head is made to look down, and by pushing it from you the head looks up. The mouth-moving head and neck is detachable, and, when packed, fits inside the body, where, wrapped in a cover, it travels without risk of in­jury. In order to make them compact for this purpose, the backs of bodies, heads, etc., are made flat, as also are the buttons on the coat.

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