I love to dress dummies in period clothing appropriate to the age of the figure. I have found that many times at yard sales you will have boxes of children’s clothing to look through and granted much of the clothing is not usable but every now and again a great jacket or shirt or great kids bow ties will show up.
The shoes I find to be the hardest of all to find. Most of the time shoes are in such poor condition that they are not worth purchasing because they will not add to the figures look.
I was fortunate one summer to find out about a shoe store that was going out of business. I asked if they had any children’s shoes that were on the older side. To my surprise and luck I was able to purchase a large stock of fantastic children’s leather shoes from the 1950’s and early 60’s that are just great. So you just never can tell what you will find. If you need a pair give me an email!! LOL
As a fan of Frank Marshall figures I have studied his choice of clothing and he seemed to gravitate to the style of two toned suit jackets. Today they call this rock-a-billy but I am not sure that is what it was called back in the 50’s.
These type suit jackets with matching pants were usually done in cotton or gabardine and really do fit his characters looks. Jerry Mahoney wore this style suit jacket so the most popular character of the 50’s generation was a rock-a-billy. These suits are nearly impossible to find but every once in a while they will turn up.
Take a look at the Marshall figures and you will see a variety of these jackets on the dummies of the Ventriloquist Central Collection.
Check out some of the period clothing of the Ventriloquist Central Collection
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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