I have written blogs in the past about this subject but again it has been brought to my attention that a situation has again arisen concerning the purchase of some very expensive and collectible ventriloquist figures but then, after commitments are made, no funds are forth coming.
James Tattersall was a ventriloquist that may have been unique to the ventriloquist world. This performer was popular in England in the 1940?s and 1950?s and built all of his own figures and to my knowledge never sold or made his figures for anyone else. They are truly unique and are very large in size.
Since I posted pictures of the Tattersall ventriloquist figure coming back to the Ventriloquist Central Collection, I’ve had many requests to see a video.
My good friend ventriloquist and Mr. Puppet, Bob Abdou will be performing at the Ventriloquist Central Birthday Bash.
At an early age, Bob has been fascinated with performing with puppets. Bob’s first experience of performing was when he watched a movie with Dick Van Dyke called “The Comic”. Now bitten by the stage bug, Bob wanted to perform when he received his first ventriloquist dummy of Jerry Mahoney from his Aunt Joann & Uncle Jack. From there television played a major role in becoming a better entertainer by watching the Uncle Floyd show in Fairlawn New Jersey and later meeting his role model Floyd Vivino years later.
I was quite surprised to see the Frank Byron Jr figure listed for sale on eBay. They are a rare figure for sure but the seller unfortunately is wrong about his facts. I actually wrote in to him and my email, which he posted at the bottom starts with FYI.
The Original Frank Byron Jr figure resides at the Vent Haven Museum. This figures duplicarver head was acquired by Frank Marshall with his acquisition of the Mack Shop.
Here’s more about the Texas Ventriloquist/Puppetry gathering that was held last weekend.
This time, Charles Prouty sends us this email and a photo showing his latest acquisition:
