We received this email from Ron Dentinger who had the please of meeting, Dorothy Seiman, the wife of famed ventriloquist Hank Seiman.
Here’s his story:
I met 96 year old Dorothy Seiman accidentally, Tuesday. (July 16) I was visiting someone at a senior apartment complex in Waukesha Wisconsin and as I was leaving the building, Dorothy was sitting in the lobby area with some other women.
I talked with them a bit and when Dorothy heard I was a comic she said that she and her husband were in show business. I’ve been doing humor on the banquet circuit for 30 years, and I also have a considerable interest in Variety Entertainment in the years prior to it’s near death in the mid-70s. I wanted to know more about Hank and Dorothy Seiman’s career, traveling the world entertaining, but I had to leave. So I made a date to meet with her again in two days… today, July 18th.
That night at home I searched the Internet for whatever I could find on Hank and Dorothy Seiman and brought it with me for our get-together at 1 PM today. She brought an album down to the lobby with her and I had a small folder with the stuff I found on the Internet last night. Things couldn’t have gone better. A couple times she talked about a particular incident and what-do-you-know, I pulled a photo out picturing the vary thing she was talking about. In each case it was a photo she didn’t have. That happened twice. And then she mentioned a booking in 1956 where they worked a show with “The Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page” and I pulled out a color copy of the program from that 1956 booking at the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota. Dorothy said that this gave her goosebumps. Several other women were also seated at the 8-top table, listening to Dorothy reminisce.
It is not my intention to cover in detail, my visit with Dorothy, but everyone at the table enjoyed re-living Dorothy’s memories and experiences. I plan to do more of this kind of thing for a book. On May 2013 my new book came out. It’s called: “You Like It? I Do It Again.” It’s about the 60+ year career of comedy juggler, Dieter Tasso and his unique life. My interest is further piqued by today’s visit with Dorothy Seiman, I’m thinking strongly about doing a book about the history of Variety Entertainment. Its evolution from Vaudeville to it nearly dropping out of sight in the mid-70s.
(The attached picture of Dorothy Seiman was the best I could do)
Ron Dentinger
P O Box 151
DOUSMAN WI 53118
Contact: 608-574-6924 – laughter@mhtc.net
Banquet Humor: www.banquetspeaker.com
For Ron’s books go to: Ron Dentinger at Amazon.com
The American Society of Crotchety Old Men: www.crotchetyoldmen.com
The International Association of Pranksters & Hoaxers: www.prankstersassociation.com
Click here to get a feel for “You Like It? I Do It Again.”
Thanks Ron for sharing this information
Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
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Ventriloquist Central is the brainchild of Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst. Dan 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. Steve is a ventriloquist as well as builder of ventriloquist figures. He also has a background in sales, marketing, building websites and computers. Because they both love the art of ventriloquism, the website Ventriloquist Central was born. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Copyright 2013 by Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst
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