Marshall Hands And His Figure Dating

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Webmaster

Our friend Curtis Jones sent in a question about Marshall hands and asked if you can date his figures by looking at the hands.

The answer to that question is most certainly yes and I did in fact write up a blog with pictures showing the Marshall progression of his hands and in case you missed it here is a link to that posting with some very nice pictures.

The Hands of Ventriloquist Figure Maker Frank Marshall

Per Curtis’ suggestion I have also put the pictures of the hands on the Frank Marshall Figure Collection page as well.

 

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, Frank Marshall Figure (Dummy), Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | 2 Comments

Hard Figure Phobia

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Webmaster

Our good friend Bob Baker posed this question on the Magic Cafe and I just could not resist using his thought and asking the same question to all the readers here on Ventriloquist Central.

It seems that the Hard style figures have a bad rap of being creepy and I myself found that statement certainly hits home. I have my collection of over 100 antique ventriloquist figures in my room and I have had people come over and when they stand at the doorway they will say” Those are so Creepy that I can’t go in there.” I will then remind them that they are pieces of carved wood and are totally inanimate. I will compare them to a chair or a table and usually get my point across that they are just a doll. After that they have no problem and actually have a good time looking at them.

I actually once had to have my Dish Network Television system worked on and to get up to the roof where the dish is located you must go through my figure room. When the Dish Network Tech came in he froze. It took me about ten minutes explaining the wood thought, and then he went through and did his job. When he came down and back into the room he ended up staying about half an hour asking me all kinds of questions about the figures and vent history and when he left he said it was the best house call he had ever gone to. I converted him.

What kinds of reactions have you all had with your figures?

 

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, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figures | 6 Comments

Ventriloquist Figure Maker, Frank Marshall & Some of His Creations, Continued…

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Webmaster

Last week I posted a very nice photo of Frank Marshall and some of his figures and today I thought I would give you folks all the names of the owners and their figures that are in the picture. They are as follows:

frank-marshall-and-figures

 

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, Frank Marshall Figure (Dummy), Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | 1 Comment

Mack Style Bodies

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Webmaster

Theodore Mack and Son’s were architectural carvers for their main business but when the started to produce ventriloquist figures they hit a home run. Everyone was purchasing figures from them. They had a very unique design for their bodies and I thought I would share some pictures of the Mack body with you.

mackbody01 mackbody02

The first thing you see is that they used the shaped shoulder board, which Frank Marshall continued to use later on. They attached the arms to the bodies by means of a square block of wood. they tongue and grooved the slats on the from of the bodies to the shoulder and bottom board and for head movement they extended the head stick all the way to the bottom of the body and attached it wil a screw from the bottom which allowed the free rotation of 360 degrees of the head.

If you find a Mack figure in which the head stick does not go to the bottom then it has been modified and is incorrect. This did happen because later on this style changed to the ball and socket style. Ball and socket certainly gives you much move meovement of the head but this old style also worked fine.and many performers gave life to their figures with this style.

 

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, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures | 5 Comments

Ventriloquist Figure Video Collecting Series – McElroy Brothers, Happy Hazard – Part 4

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Webmaster

I hope you’ve been enjoying the video series about the McElroy Brothers and Happy Hazard.

Today, I will show you Happy’s body and talk about how the McElroy Brothers constructed their bodies and show you how the headstick “cradle” system works.

 

[flashvideo filename=http://ventriloquistcentral.com/dan-collecting-mcelroy-happy-019/dan-collecting-mcelroy-happy-019.flv /]

 

Click here for more information about the McElroy Brothers

 

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, McElroy Brothers, Personal, Ventriloquism/Ventriloquist, Ventriloquist Central, Ventriloquist Figure (Dummy) Makers, Ventriloquist Figure Building, Ventriloquist Figures, Ventriloquist Videos, Video Collecting Series | 3 Comments