I was asked a great question. Am I able to identify a Frank Marshall figure by way of his ears? Most people seem to think that Frank’s ears are all the same. I thought it was a valid question because many of the figures do have very similar style ears but there are some by Frank that just do not fit the norm.
Frank of course learned the business from the Macks so you will see some are very similar to the Mack figures but then look at the different styles which evolved.
So to answer the question of if I can identify a Marshall just from the ears I must say no.
Click here to see the different ears of Frank Marshall’s 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. 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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I wonder if the ears differ on the figures that were carved completely by hand verses the duplicarved figures.
Even the noseys, while similar are different
Number 9 is the most detailed ear in the bunch. Some look like the were carved and added later- wiggling ears ?
A figure is a sum of it’s parts, all of Frank’s figures are works of art.
Thanks for sharing!
As I recall, either from Berger or Marshall himself, the ears were “stylized” meaning a method or manner of merely suggesting, as did Michaelangelo in some stone sculpturing. Marshall only suggested ears by general shape and couple of gouged lines, with no great attention to detail. The same was true for Spencer but whose style was more of a rounded ear and that was about it. When you emphasize everything you emphasize nothing, so Marshall paid more attention to other dominant features in matching vent to figure. I remember Berger saying as such by his example, Nelson has a long neck and so Marshall made Danny to have a long neck.