During the 1950’s and 1960’s television made ventriloquism very popular with all the children and so quite a few toy companies jumped on the band wagon to make ventriloquist toys. Of course the earliest was Effanbee which produced the exact likeness of Charlie McCarthy back in 1937. But jumping ahead to the 1950’s the Juro toy co. produced the composition Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. We all went crazy over these characters in the Sears Catalogue and these toys were high on the want list of many children at this time.
The toy company Ideal also made ventriloquist figures of Howdy Doody and Reliable Toy in Canada made a want to be Charlie McCarthy.
The Ventriloquist Central Collection happens to have a very unusual toy vent figure made by The Grand Toy Co. in New York and it is of Davy Crockett. The Davy Crockett show was a very popular show back in the 1950’s as westerns were all the rage through to the late 1960’s.
This figure is in about as fine a condition as you will ever see and is complete right to his coon skin cap and original hang tag. I don’t think he was ever played with except that this particular model had moving eyes and the string is missing. There are two holes in the back of the neck one for the mouth and the other for the eyes. The outfit is all original and the fringe was made of vinal. He also has his original cardboard moccasins.
I hope you enjoy looking at this very rare ventriloquist novelty.
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. His collection of ventriloquist figures now numbers over 100 figures of which there are over 50 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 2009 by Dan Willinger
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