Ventriloquist Central Blog

The English style mouth was made popular by Len Insull. Most all the pro vents from England used this type figure. I also believe that the mouth movements with the English figure are just as visible as the slot jaw.

A perfectly working Insull lower lip opens wide enough to show that the mouth is open and in conjunction with the upper lip I feel that the look is about as real as you can get for a dummy showing those great white teeth.

Craig Lovik back in the early 1980’s coined the phrase “Living Mouth” which is the English mouth but he was not the first American builder to do this style.

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Frank Marshall was a genius when it came to the functions of his characters. I was asked about the winkers and how or what type of clips Frank used to attach them.

The fact is that he didn’t use any clips to attach the wire frame. Instead the wire frame was bent into the correct shape of the outer ball of the eye and the wire continued inside the head at the tear duct side a bit longer making a right angle to which he attached the spring which is attached to the head below the eyes.

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If you love Charlie McCarthy then you will love the Effanbee Charlie McCarthy put out by this co with permission from Edgar Bergan, and so marked on the back of its neck, back in the late 1930’s.

This figure had a likeness that is almost exact to Charlie McCarthy and was sculpted for Effanbee by Virginia Curtis . This doll had a working mouth by way of a string out the back of the neck and came in 2 different sizes.

The 20″ tall version came dressed in a full black tuxedo with tails, white shirt with pearl buttons, bow tie, top hat and a pinback that said an Effanbee product with a picture of Charlie McCarthy.

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Back in the mid 1950’s there was a figure maker named William Kirk Brown who made some pretty interesting paper mache ventriloquist figures. Paper mache was not being used very much by this time with figures now being carved from wood or done in wood dough.

William Kirk Brown was inspired by W.S. Berger who gave him a book from England showing some puppets and Mr Brown copied their look. Although his figures are rare today (I have only been offered one of his figures) they are not too valuable and you can purchase them usually under the $700.00 price range.

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As you know Paul Winchell was a true genius and so to be able to view one of his original scripts with his own markings is a real treat. You will be able to see how his talent was not just in the performance of ventriloquism but in the actual production of the art.

Here is a script that Rick Tolomei kindly donated to Ventriloquist Central back in 2007. This is a wonderful original script for one of Paul Winchell’s early 1960’s shows.

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