Len Insull Ventriloquist Figure Body

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One of the rare items to find with ventriloquist figures from Len Insull here in the United States are his bodies. Maher Studios under Madeline Maher imported many Len Insull heads which they sold through their catalogues but Madeline always built her own bodies therefore the scarcity of Insull Bodies.

Insull bodies, like his heads, are made of paper mache with a wooden base. The upper legs and the arms were done with muslin but they were not sewn. Len glued everything.

The seams on the arms and legs were glued and the arms were glued to the shoulders of the body. The upper portion of the legs were tacked to the front bottom board. The hands and lower legs were also cast in paper mache. The bodies had the hole large enough for the head to drop through and there was no head lock.

The hole has kid leather surrounding it so that it would not rub off paint on the neck of the figure. The performer held the head up by the head stick.

The full size Insull body is 34 inches tall so when you added the head the full figure would be about 44 inches. Len Insull made his figures in a smaller size as well which was only about 30″ tall.

I hope you enjoy seeing this body as they are hard to find.

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Click here for more about Insull and his ventriloquist figures

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

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Dan Willinger is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Because of his love for the art of ventriloquism, Mr. Willinger created the website Ventriloquist Central. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com

Copyright 2012 by Dan Willinger

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

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3 Responses to Len Insull Ventriloquist Figure Body

  1. Bob Isaacson says:

    Dan…Thanks for putting up the photos & information regarding the Insull paper mache bodies. I’m sure most folks have no idea of the construction of the paper mache bodies for the paper mache heads. 20 or so, years ago , I purchased a “cheeky boy” Insull figure from a private party, that had all the various movements in the head, and it had the original Insull body, so I knew of their construction. I sold that figure many years ago. But it was nice that you put up the information regarding the bodies. Prior to my buying the Insull figure, I had never seen the “undressed body”. Good information for the Vent Central folks. thanks. Bob

  2. Tonya says:

    Great information. Thank you for all of the great information you continually share

  3. alfre says:

    Where can I buy a figure without a head, just the body, no clothes. Thank you.
    Do you sell them and for how much

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