Frank Marshall's Bernie Birchwood

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Webmaster

bernie002S

This figure, Bernie Birchwood, was happy to pose in the Uncle Sam outfit for the July 4th celebration and after that I have had a few emails asking me about him.

He is one of the Marshall figures that I have not yet premiered on Ventriloquist Central but he has been a part of the Ventriloquist Central Collection for some time.

He is a most unusual figure and was created late in Frank Marshall’s career although he has one thing that is a throw back to his earlier creations. He has the leather under his chin but it does not attach as the leather did back in the 30’s and forties. It is shaped and allows the mouth to really open wide yet you do not see the hole under the chin.

The ears on this Marshall are also extremely detailed and his nostrils are also carved out very deep. I do not have another Marshall with nostrils like this.

The ball and socket neck is rather large but the head is also a bit bigger than normal but the total height of the figure is the standard 40″ tall. The head is secured with the normal screws though the top sides of the head and also the lower back of the neck. The center lower screw secures the head stick.

His wig is original and is a bit thin and as you can see it has a perfect part just like the hair style of the time. The card inside his head is from the Loomis Blvd address so I would date this fellow from the late 1950’s to early 1960.

His lever and head stick are original but the lever is not the common chop stick but rather a dowel . I have seen this before on Marshall’s work. He only has mouth movement but Bernie has a great look and in the right hands I am sure would crack people up. I only wish Johnny Main was still alive so that he could have used Bernie a bit. It would have been great.

I hope you enjoy seeing Bernie up close and personal.

 

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

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

Posted in Dummy Collecting, Frank Marshall Figure (Dummy), Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | Leave a comment

Bernie Kallman Contacts Ventriloquist Central

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Webmaster

I had a great email last week from Bernie Kallman. He is the previous owner of the Marshall/McElroy figure now in the Ventriloquist Central Collection.

Marshall/McElroy Figure

He was pleasantly surprised when he saw the video of me showing Dizzy Dugan and the interior mechanics. He thought it was great.

Marshall/McElroy Video #1

Marshall/McElroy Video #2

He told me of some of his ventriloquile experiences and I thought it was so interesting that I asked him to write it up in his own words and I would put it up on the blog. So here is Bernie’s story…..

 

“Born: Chicago, Ill moved to Menasha, Wi around 1945 Married/Wife Cheryl /Saw Bob Neller for the first time in Appleton, Wi at a Synogog show around 1950. I was so impressed with what I saw that my Aunt got me a Jerry Mahoney dummy with a small instruction booklet…..I put my first performance on for a school show when I was about ll years old. After that I started doing birthday parties. Somehow my family got in touch with Bob Neller who lived in the next town and he agreed to sell me his old Frank Marshall dummy that he no longer was using for $75.00. About a year later he tried to trade the dummies body for another one but I decided that I was happy with the one I already had. When I was about14 years old I appeared twice on a local TV station WTMJ called the Wisconsin House Party and from that was invited to appear in a Parade in the city of Oconomowoc, Wi. When I was 15years old I visited family in Los Angeles and while there I decided to look up the Great Lester who lived in a seedy upper apartment in downtown L.A. . He must have been in his 80’s. He was very friendly and spent a couple of hours giving me pointers. I also asked my cousin to drive me to the home of Edger Bergen where his daughter offered to take me in the house to met her famous father……stupidly I begged off mentioning that I would like to come back with my dummy that I had forgotton to bring with me….I left my name and phone number so Mr. Bergen could call me to set up another meeting… sadly I never got that call back.

I moved to Los Angeles around 1960 for 10 years……I did get an offer from a writer to appear in shows that he would set up for me but I sadly turned him down and always wonder how my life would have changed……Currently I am semi-retired where I manage about 12 commercial buildings and collect antiques.”

Bernard Kallman

 

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

***************************************************

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

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

Posted in Dummy Collecting, Edgar Bergen, Frank Marshall Figure (Dummy), McElroy Brothers, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | Leave a comment

Frank Marshall Owners Page – Revisited

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Webmaster

It has been quite a while since we started the Frank Marshall owners page here on Ventriloquist Central and I wanted to just throw this out there again for all the newbees that are now on our site.

If you own a Frank Marshall figure I ask that you send in to us a photo of yourself with your Marshall so we can add it to the list. This is a great way for us all to keep track of everyone who currently posses this great man’s work.

Frank Marshall Owners Page

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

***************************************************

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

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

Posted in Frank Marshall Figure (Dummy), Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | Leave a comment

W.S. Berger – The MASTER Collector

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Webmaster

I have been so influenced by W.S. Berger I just can’t tell you. He was the master at collecting ventriloquist figures and I only wish that I had his wonderful talent for getting folks to will their figures to the Ventriloquist Central Collection.

When his collection started to really take hold he would go and see performers and would always make sure he invited them back to his home and would always give them the royal treatment. Hence in the long and short of it when they would retire what better place would there be for their figures to rest.

He too was an avid business man and he would sell to purchase and he even sold a McElroy figure and then bought it back. When he commissioned the McElroy brothers to build Jacko he made payments to them. Even back then their price was high enough that it had to be paid out.

I have been contacting vents for quite some time now and have been emulating W.S.’s technique to make sure people know I want their figures. I don’t ever think I will be able to come close to the number of figures he amassed but I sure am going to try. I believe he put his collection at around 550 items before he passed on and now there is around 750. A truly remarkable achievement .

I am counting the days till next week knowing that I too will again be in the mecca for ventriloquists and will be able again to go and peruse the vast collection of ventriloquism figures that reside at Vent Haven. It is such a wonderful collection and I just hope that one day the Ventriloquist Central Collection will come close.

 

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

***************************************************

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

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

Posted in Dummy Collecting, Vent Haven, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figures, W.S. Berger & Vent Haven | 1 Comment

Steve Meltzer And The Cast Of Puppetolio

Posted on July 5, 2009 by Webmaster

Our good friend Steve Meltzer has a great video that I ran across and it really is something special. Although he is not doing ventriloquism, his ventriloquist figures really put on a show and I think you will all be amazed at how wonderful this video really is.

Take a couple moments and click here to see the video.

By the way all the figures you see performing in this video were crafted by Steve.

Also, check out some of Steve’s other videos on his YouTube Puppetolio channel.

 

Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com

***************************************************

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

NOTE: You may use this blog article provided you run it with the bio box intact. Please email a copy of your publication with the blog article in it to: webmaster@ventriloquistcentral.com

Posted in Puppetry, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | 2 Comments