I have been so influenced by W.S. Berger I just can’t tell you. He was the master at collecting ventriloquist figures and I only wish that I had his wonderful talent for getting folks to will their figures to the Ventriloquist Central Collection.
When his collection started to really take hold he would go and see performers and would always make sure he invited them back to his home and would always give them the royal treatment. Hence in the long and short of it when they would retire what better place would there be for their figures to rest.
He too was an avid business man and he would sell to purchase and he even sold a McElroy figure and then bought it back. When he commissioned the McElroy brothers to build Jacko he made payments to them. Even back then their price was high enough that it had to be paid out.
I have been contacting vents for quite some time now and have been emulating W.S.’s technique to make sure people know I want their figures. I don’t ever think I will be able to come close to the number of figures he amassed but I sure am going to try. I believe he put his collection at around 550 items before he passed on and now there is around 750. A truly remarkable achievement .
I am counting the days till next week knowing that I too will again be in the mecca for ventriloquists and will be able again to go and peruse the vast collection of ventriloquism figures that reside at Vent Haven. It is such a wonderful collection and I just hope that one day the Ventriloquist Central Collection will come close.
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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I too can’t wait to see the wonderful Vent Haven Collection its one of the high lights of the year (like chistmas)