It's interesting to witness how ventriloquist terminology develops over a period of time until certain terms become industry standard. For instance, when describing styles of ventriloquist dolls today, you'll often see them advertised in this manner:
Basic: Stuffed body.
Standard: Hollow body with turning head on headpost.
Deluxe: All the features of standard plus moving eyes and a wig.
Super Deluxe: All the features of Deluxe plus raising eyebrows.
With those terms in mind, I guess this Danny O'Day I upgraded several weeks ago must be a "Super SUPER Deluxe" because he has all the features of the Super Deluxe plus repainted head and hands. The result is a pretty amazing pro-style doll for the young ventriloquist (in this case, Lee Cornell's son).
Hi Clinton! I'm having a big flashback right now. I had a few puppets from the Maher catalog over 30 years ago (I was 14). My first figure was one like this--a modified Danny O'Day; I called him Cuthbert. I was really excited when I finally saved up and bought the pro figure. He was Buford Buckworth in the catalog but I renamed him Oscar. (I can still remember the new dummy smell when he arrived.)
ReplyDeleteI was just trying to dig up a picture of Cuthbert at the request of my neice and Googled "Maher". Glad to see you're still at it.
I was pretty good at animating the puppets and passable at actual ventriloquism, but never really developed any kind of an act. I gave it up for super-8 film making but it will always have a place in my heart. (and I do still throw my voice for the dogs, sometimes.)