In the course of development of ideas for ventriloquist figures it seems that everything has been done. I am talking about movements for ventriloquist figures. We all know about this following functions; slot jaw, upper lip, raising eyebrows, stick out tongue, flapping ears, flip wig, spitter etc, etc, … so what else is new.
I was asked if I knew of the Shrugging Shoulder effect and had to confess it was not a new idea. Foy Brown created that effect back in the 1950’s and he also came up with the idea of a rocking clavicle which allows the figure to actually look down without showing the head stick.
I have pictured a Foy Brown body with both of these functions incorporated into one body. They work easily and are very user friendly. You can shrug either shoulder independently or both at the same time. The rocking clavicle is truly amazing in that no effort is used to make the head look down. Just move the headstick towards the rear and the shoulder collapses creating the effect.
A figure just sold very recently that had a shrugging shoulder effect and he asked me if it was an original idea. This proves what is new is old.
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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