6/21/09

How many?

Question: Have you ever looked back at how many Lovik figures were sold through Maher Studios?
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Answer: The exact number will never be known because those records no longer exist. In fact, they were never precisely kept. I would estimate that a hundred or so Lovik figures were sold by Maher Studios in the early 1970's. But that early era was followed by a period of years where the Lovik's handled their own sales. Several hundred (maybe even thousands) were built and sold by the Loviks and their dealers (including Disneyland). Then Craig sold his business to Chuck Jackson and ceased building figures himself. A decade or so later, in the 1980s, Craig re-entered the ventriloquist community and resumed figure making. He again built figures that were sold through Maher Studios - a couple hundred I would guess over the next decade. During that period of figure sales Craig Lovik (father) left his family and son (Keith Lovik) took over the business and again, several dozens of Keith Lovik figures were sold by Maher Studios until the Maher Studios closed in 2006. Since that point Keith has sold figures himself under the business name of "Lovik's Puppets" (and continues to do so). Now, if you're not confused already, there's yet another Lovik that was involved. Brian, Craig's brother, installed the more complex mechanics in many figures during the late '70s and early '80s, working for both Craig and Chuck Jackson.

So the Loviks (father, brother and/or son) built thousands of figures but only a portion were sold through Maher Studios.

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