11/1/11

"eye" spy

Ralph Green (photo right) and I got our start in ventriloquism in a very similar manner.  Both of us took up ventriloquism in the late '50s at nearly the same age (Ralph is a couple years younger than me).  I built my first dummy using the directions in Paul Winchell's Fun & Profit book.  Ralph use the information in Winchell's book to add moving eyes to his original dummy, a Jerry Mahoney purchased at a toy store.

Ralph uses his figure mainly in church services and tells the following story:
"On one occasion (while using his first dummy), one of his eyes fell back into his head during a performance and I had to have him put his face down between my neck and shoulder.  He continued to "talk" for a while and was complaining about a bad head ache so he wanted to go to bed.  I could not let the kids see a puppet with a missing eye."

A few years ago when I unboxed my original vent figure built from the Winchell instructions, I, too, found one eye had fallen back into his head!  Do you suppose there was a defect in the instructions?  (Not likely.) Ralph's current figure seen in the picture is Danny DoLittle, made by Lovik and sold by the now defunct California Maher Workshop.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous11/04/2011

    Small World Ralph lives right up the road from me in Forest, Va and has been a good friend for years. He is a great man of God and he had made me laugh many times as a kid and later on as a teen and an adult with Danny! He and His wife and two very sweet people and he a pretty good ventriloquist too :) - Joe Overfelt / Roanoke, VA

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