A little over a week ago we had the first installment of ventriloquist figure maker, Ken Spencer, as told by RJ (if you missed it, click here).
Today we have part two:
Ventriloquist Figure Maker, Ken Spencer as Told by RJ, Part 2
So, after finding out about Ken Spencer, I wrote to him in Minneapolis, and he answered, sending along a fair amount of literature about his act, his history, his scripts, and his figure carving business. Obviously, I was entranced, having been bitten by the ventriloquism bug early. With this new series of events, it was if I had stumbled on a GURU, for want of a better description. At least, he became so for me.
And, after seeing his glossy postcard showing all the different figures he carved, my growing dissatisfaction with my Jerry Mahoney knock-off dummy from Sears became TOTAL; I now had a case of the ”wants” so bad, that could taste it. (I’ve never actually known what that expression meant) I just knew that SOMEHOW, SOME WAY, I had to come up with the almost-500 dollars necessary to purchase a REAL Ken Spencer FIGURE, and leave the toy world of DUMMIES behind. I began by studying everything I could about the man, and it was kind-of like getting in to a great movie when it was 3/4s over; I discovered that this man was no lightweight, having been a fixture onstage during the real ”GOLDEN AGE” of Ventriloquism, as well as having authored some of the best sight gags ever done, and his scripts for the Professional Ventriloquist were classics. What’s MORE, he learned the ”carving game”, as he called it, from none other than the Great Man himself, Theodore Mack, at the Mack Bros. shop in Chicago. (Theodore Mack carved the Original ”Charlie McCarthy”
—– to be continued—- RJL
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 2010 by Dan Willinger
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