John Schaibley's First Ventriloquist Figure

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Not too long ago I was happy to present a very rare Louis Grannat figure which I acquired for the Ventriloquist Central Collection. If you didn’t see him click here.

Today I am happy to present my second Louis Grannat figure which has a wonderful provenance to accompany same. This was John Schaibley’s very first ventriloquist figure which he purchased sometime around 1915 when he was a lad of about 15. He of course went on to use both Mack and Marshall figures but this was his first.

Along with this figure I am happy to show 10 small diaries that Mr Schaibley (Johnny Raymond) kept of his travels and they span the years from 1921 to 1932. These were diaries that I am sure he used to help himself write the book “Memoirs of a Ventriloquist” A great read and I highly suggest it to you.

This Grannat figure is very similar to the face of W.S. Berger’s beloved Tommy Baloney.

He is about 30″ tall, carved wood with leather mouth, horsehair for his wig and dressed in a great period sailor outfit. The very top of his head is open under his hat and I presume at one time there may have been a piece of wood but other than that he is totally original.

John Schaibley’s First Ventriloquist Figure

 

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 2009 by Dan Willinger

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This entry was posted in Dummy Collecting, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to John Schaibley's First Ventriloquist Figure

  1. leedean says:

    You have one heck of a collection. I don’t see how you do it. LeeDean

  2. Wanlu says:

    This is so cool!!! I have read Mr Schaibley’s book several times :)

  3. Wanlu says:

    Let me guess…somewhere in those diaries, he confirms his personal acquaintances with Mr Frank Marshall…and perhaps even expressing that Mr Marshall made figures for him…perhaps during the time when Mr Marshall worked for Charlie Mack. :)

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