Have you ever found yourself just daydreaming thinking about how you would love to go back in time so that you could purchase that item which was way too much for you at the time but now that you are older and have the funds want to go and purchase but at the price from the earlier time. Sounds great to me!! He Sherman get the way back machine ready!!
I look at my 1931 Marshall catalogue and wish I had been around back in the day so I could have purchased Franks figures for those prices. A figure averaged 38.00 complete. Yes there were some more expensive and some less expensive but this was the average price. I want to go back and buy one of every design!! Make that two of every design. A back up just in case!! I will take them and put them in a secure place until I reach my age today and then instant collection!! I only wish.
The fact is that prices were in real money at that time. A loaf of bread was 25 cents, a Ford was $825.00 and a home was $1800.00. A full weeks pay was $45.00 so in the time the price was not so cheap. It is only in hindsight that it seems cheap.
Well I guess I will put my head back on my hands and stare into space and dream some more. Those were the days!!
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 2010 by Dan Willinger
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I know what you mean Dan. I CONSTANTLY wish I could go back in time to experience vaudeville & old time radio! And to see the greats of yesteryear perform in PERSON!! WOW!! As far as figures go, yes, I would LOVE to own a Marshall, or one of the other great old figures. But I guess the figure I’d REALLY love to own, would be “Otto”, the figure used in the film “The Great Gabbo”. I don’t know who made that figure, but I’ve always fond that one appealing. Wonder what ever became of him. Happy daydreaming. :)
I always dream Frank Marshall made me a custom figure! I read somewhere that before he creates a figure for a vent, Marshall first would want to see his client perform live so he could design a figure based on the vent’s performance style, look, etc.
Well, that’s why it’s best that we take advantage and get figures from today’s master wood figure makers (Guyll, Hartz, etc.) because years from now things will never be the same again.
I went to a website with an inflation calculator ( http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm ) and entered $38 in 1931 dollars and the result it gave for the buying power in 2010 dollars was $509.69. Not being a collector, I have no idea of how much Marshall figures cost but this should at least give you some idea of how much it would actually cost in today’s dollars to buy one in 1931.