During the 1940s and into the 1950s, Fred and Madeleine Maher sold ventriloquist figures converted from the commercial ventriloquist dolls of that time period. Such as the very cute dolls by Regal Doll Company. Some of you will remember the names of Russell and Dale, for example.
When I purchased Maher Studios in 1969 I began, with limited success, to recreate some of those same characters. But I had to give up their construction (or chose to do so) when my backlog of orders had extended delivery times to 12 months or more.
Today, after 40 years figure making experience and with modern material to work with, I know I can do better. So maybe to satisfy my own urges as much as the desire to produce a more accurate likeness of those early figures to market, I've set about to produce a limited series of 36" "Retro-figures". You see one such head here with final imperfections being dealt with.
My goal is to have a finished product ready to introduce by the end of the month. It will be introduced first right here on this blog.
Awesome Clinton. I was looking through my old catalog just the other day and thinking what a great idea it would be to reintroduce some of those figures. They had a great look to them!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see your final products!
I may be interested in one of those!
ReplyDeleteDitto on Gary's comments.
ReplyDeleteWonderful idea, Clinton.
I had originally wanted a "Chuck" from
those 1950's catalogs but opted for a "Skinny
Dugan" Insul figure when it was available and
offered. Didn't look much like Maher's Skinny tho.' :=(
With your updated construction methods I'm sure they'll be jewels!
Looking forward to seeing them. I spent most of my childhood drooling over the figures in the old Maher Catalog.
ReplyDeleteCharming face.
ReplyDeleteCharming face.
ReplyDeletethey look like they will be a good looking figure.......can't wait to see the finished product!
ReplyDelete