Frank Marshall was a genius when it came to the functions of his characters. I was asked about the winkers and how or what type of clips Frank used to attach them.
The fact is that he didn’t use any clips to attach the wire frame. Instead the wire frame was bent into the correct shape of the outer ball of the eye and the wire continued inside the head at the tear duct side a bit longer making a right angle to which he attached the spring which is attached to the head below the eyes.
He then knotted the cord to that same spot holding the spring to the wire, ran the cord upwards and over a pulley and then down through the head stick attaching to his chop stick lever. Very simple and very effective. A small nail is placed as a stop so that they travel just so far down. I have photographed this for you to see.
Frank has 2 style of eyes that he used in his figures. One was a complete glass eyeball the type you can find a taxidermist using and these were stationary. The other is a wooden sphere into which he planted a glass Iris. I am not sure where you can get glass Irises today but plastic ones are readily available at hobby shops.
Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Have you seen the Frank Marshall Tribute DVD, click here
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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 2015 by Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst
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