It is always fun when I am able to share a figure with all of you. I decided today to show you this great example of figure building by Ken Spencer. Ken Spencer was a contemporary of Frank Marshall and actually worked for a bit in the Mack shop. He later went on to do great ventriloquism in his own right and built some fantastic figures.
This fellow whom I named Sailor Joe is a wonderful totally original figure never having been restored in any way by anyone. This is just the way I like to find the figures. Other than a bandage on his neck ( he cut himself shaving ) he is untouched. Unusual paint in that it is glossy. Must have been the only paint at the hardware store when Ken purchased that day.
He is 42″ in height and has ball and socket neck with the male connector on the bottom of the head stick which slides into the female connection on the board inside the body to hold the head in place. He has slot jaw, upper lip smile ( made with a piece of metal on the outside of the upper jaw and painted as the upper lip and this I think is unique to Ken Spencer), side to side weighted moving eyes and also his eyes will blink. Unfortunately the string is broken which controls that function and I have not made the repair. When repair is done I will add the pictures.
He is dressed in a 1940’s period sailor suit and also old worn shoes.
If only he would reveal to me who his original owner happened to have been!!
See the Ken Spencer Ventriloquist Figure Sailor Joe
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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