Ventriloquism

"Ventriloquist" redirects here. For the Batman villain, see Ventriloquist (comics).

A ventriloquist entertains children at the Pueblo, Colorado Buell Children's Museum.

Ventriloquism is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to "throw" ones voice. However, the term "throwing one's voice" is misleading, because it implies that a sound's physical origin has changed, when really the change has been perceptual and not physical.

The illusion of ventriloquism is just that, an illusion. A ventriloquist is skilled at speaking without moving his or her lips. The audience therefore actually detects the sound of the voice from the ventriloquist’s mouth, but sees only the mouth of the puppet moving. Thus, two modalities are in conflict. Vision detects the location of the speaker as distinct from where audition (hearing) localizes the speaker. When these two modalities are in conflict, our perceptual system must resolve audition in determining where objects are located in space. The unconscious mind, therefore, resolves the discrepancy between these two modalities by hearing the voice as if it is coming from the moving mouth of the puppet. This short-term change in perception is called capture. This specific capture concerning ventriloquism is an example of ‘visual capture’ because the visual system dominates the auditory system. While the illusion is extremely convincing, ventriloquists do not actually have the ability to ‘throw’ their voices. However, they are skilled at deceiving audiences through their practice of speaking intelligible sounds without moving their mouths and moving the dummy’s mouth in synchrony with the sound of their own voice.

Indian Ventriloquist and Puppeteer Ramdas Padhye defines Ventriloquism as "An Art of throwing your voice and creating an illusion that it is coming from some other place"

Origins

The Greeks called this gastromancy (Greek: εγγαστριμυθία) and it was often closely aligned with aspects of necromancy in that it was used to make it seem that the spirits of the dead had returned to pass on information retrieved from beyond the grave. In the Middle Ages it was thought to be similar to witchcraft. As Spiritualism led to stage magic and escapology, so ventriloquism became more of a performance art as, starting around the 16th century, it shed its mystical trappings.

Modern-day ventriloquism

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his best-known sidekick, Charlie McCarthy in the film Stage Door Canteen (1943).

The most familiar type of ventriloquist seen today is a nightclub performer sitting on a stool with a wooden dummy on his or her lap. This comedic style of ventriloquism is, however, a fairly recent innovation, which began in the days of Vaudeville in the late 19th century. The vaudeville acts did not concentrate on humor as much as on demonstrating the ventriloquist's ability to deceive the audience and his skill in switching voices. For this reason, many of the performers used multiple figures, switching quickly from one voice to another. Jules Vernon was one of the more famous American vaudeville ventriloquists who used multiple figures. Englishman Fred Russell pioneered the use of one single figure with his dummy, Coster Joe. Perhaps the most famous vaudeville ventriloquist, however, The Great Lester, used only one figure Frank Byron Jr., and it is The Great Lester's success which paved the way for the ventriloquist-with-one-figure routine which is ubiquitous today.

Mallory Lewis is the daughter of Shari Lewis, an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, and children's television show host, most popular during the 1960s.

Ventriloquism was immensely popular in the middle of the 20th century, thanks in great part to the work of one of the Great Lester's students, Edgar Bergen. Bergen popularized the idea of the comedic ventriloquist. Bergen, together with his favorite figure, Charlie McCarthy, hosted a radio program that was broadcast from 1937 to 1956. It was the #1 program on the nights it aired. Bergen continued performing until his death in 1979, and his popularity inspired many other famous ventriloquists who followed him, including Paul Winchell, Jimmy Nelson, and Señor Wences. Ventriloquism's popularity waned for a while, due likely to modern media's electronic ability to convey the illusion of voice, the natural special effect that is the heart of ventriloquism. A number of modern ventriloquists have developed a following as the public taste for live comedy grows.

Ramdas Padhye is an Indian Ventriloquist, Puppeteer, Puppet-Maker who has performed for the last forty years in India and abroad.

Louis Albert Russo made his first network appearance in 1949. Billed as The One Man Twosome, [ Louis Russo, pseudonym [Russ Lewis]] employed as his primary figure character Brooklyn Birch. His career saw him through burlesque, circus, night clubs and vaudeville at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. There followed the Steve Allen Show, Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show, Rowan and Martin, Mike Douglas Show and Joey Bishop talk shows. In total, the ventriloquist logged over 30 national TV guest appearances. Las Vegas, major showrooms world tours with numerous legends of the entertainment world- Liberace, Jayne Mansfield, Alan King, as well as USO shows in Vietnam, and distant Strategic Air Command bases. The actor ventriloquist was a member of the first USO troupe to cross the Arctic Circle, entertain American troops, and perform for a U.S. President, Jimmy Carter. Russo Louis continued to perform into the early 21st century.

Ramdas Padhye, ventriloquist, puppeteer and puppet maker from India, has been performing for the last 40 years, and is famous all over India with his dummies Ardhavatrao and his other puppet Bunny (the rabbit that starred in the commercial Lijjat Papad). Satyajit Padhye, son of Ramdas, is a third generation ventriloquist and puppeteer who is carrying on the art of ventriloquism to next generations. Dr.A.K.Rao, also from India, is a veterinary surgeon by profession; he has actively performed ventriloquism since 1980. With his partner, "Johnny," he had staged more than thousand shows by the year 1990 all over the country; though he is still performing this art, he is more or less a quasi-professional, because of his professional commitments. Together with many other disciples, Dr. Rao learned this art from Prof. M. M. Roy, who is one of the oldest professional ventriloquists in India, responsible for making this art popular among the masses in India. David Strassman performs his ventriloquism in theaters throughout the British Comonwealth, and uses robotics to augment his characters' movements, expanding upon an idea originated in the early 1950s by New York ventriloquist Stanley Burns.

Jay Johnson co-starred on the sitcom Soap with his dummy Bob. He is currently appearing both on and off Broadway with his one man (but many-dummy) show entitled "The Two and Only." Ronn Lucas and his figure Scorch "burn up" the Las Vegas showrooms.

Terry Fator, the 2007 winner of the NBC reality show America's Got Talent, is known for impersonating famous singers through his puppets. He has repeatedly expressed that one of his goals is to bring ventriloquism back into the popular culture as a valid art form.

Jeff Dunham is a modern ventriloquist with several puppets, such as Peanut, Walter, Achmed, and José Jalapeño. He also owns a small version of himself, Little Dummy, which belongs to Peanut. His constant self-mockery and the diversity of the puppets has led him to winning “Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic” at the American Comedy Awards twice, an honor shared with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, and Robin Williams. Additionally, for the second time in two years, viewers recently voted Dunham to third place in Comedy Central’s “Standup Showdown.” Jeff tours the comedy circuit and has appeared on many television shows, including his own Comedy Central special, which was made into a double-platinum DVD titled "Arguing with Myself," and another DVD called "Spark of Insanity."

Many ventriloquists attend conferences, such as the Vent Haven ConVENTion and I-Fest, to hone their skills and to connect with others in their performing community. These gatherings offer performances, competitions, panel discussions, and workshops for beginners and professionals alike.

Making the Right Sounds

One difficulty ventriloquists face is that all the sounds they make must be made with lips slightly separated. For the bilabial sounds /b/, /p/, and /m/, the only choice is to replace them with others. The dental sounds /v/, /t/, /d/, and /n/ can replace them successfully enough that, if spoken quickly, it is difficult to notice a difference.

Ventriloquist Dummies

Modern ventriloquists use a variety of different types of puppets in their presentations, ranging from soft cloth or foam puppets, flexible latex puppets, and the traditional and familiar hard headed knee figure. The classic dummies used by ventriloquists (the technical name for which is ventriloquial figure) vary in size anywhere from 12 inches all to human life-size and larger, with the average height usually falling between 34 to 42 inches. Traditionally this type of puppet has been made from papier mache or wood, however in modern times other materials are often employed including fibreglass reinforced resins, urethanes, filled (rigid) latex, neoprene, and other materials. The most prominent and most prolific modern day suppliers of professional ventriloquial dummies include Tim Selberg, Alan Semok, Ray Guyll, Conrad Hartz, Geoffrey Felix, Jerry Layne, and Albert Alfaro. Great names in the history of dummy-making include Theo Mack and Son, Frank Marshall, Revello Petee, Kenneth Spencer, Cecil Gough, and Glen & George McElroy.

Ventriloquism in popular culture

The theme of ventriloquists with sinister puppets and/or a split personality is quite common, well known examples include:

• The Great Gabbo, a 1929 film.
• Dead of Night, a British portmanteau horror film, from 1945, whose most celebrated story involved Michael Redgrave playing a crazed ventriloquist.
• "The Glass Eye" (1957), an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
• "The Dummy", a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone.
• Devil Doll, a 1963 suspense film about an evil ventriloquist.
• "Look - (Stop Me If You Heard this One) But There were These Two Fellers", a 1968 episode of The Avengers (series 6, episode 11).
• "Frank and Marvin" is a 1973 episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em in which Frank gets a dummy to do an act at a holiday camp.
• Magic, a 1978 film directed by Richard Attenborough and based on a novel by William Goldman.
• The Talons of Weng-Chiang, a six-part 1977 Doctor Who serial starring Tom Baker, wherein a Chinese magician in Victorian London operates a ventriloquist's dummy called Mr Sin that is in fact a murderous cyborg.
• Avargal (1979), a famous film by Balachander in which Kamal Haasan played the ventriloquist's role for the Junior character.
• The Ventriloquist, a Batman villain, created in 1988.
• Shining Time Station (TV series, PBS) episode "Show and Yell" (1989) featured actor/ventriloquist/puppetmaker Alan Semok as a travelling performer.
• "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" (1990) is an episode from the series Tales from the Crypt.
• Night of the Living Dummy (1993), first in a series of books within the Goosebumps range.
• "Krusty Gets Kancelled", (1993) is an episode of The Simpsons which features a dummy called Gabbo who appears again briefly in "Bart to the Future" (2000), and again in "The Simpsons Movie".
• "The Puppet Show", (1997) is an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer which features a dummy called Sid, who actually a demon hunter imprisoned in the body of a dummy.
• Dummy (2002) is a movie about a man who expresses his feelings through a ventriloquist dummy. The title character was built by noted dummymaker Alan Semok (who also served as instructor for the film's star, Adrien Brody)
• The South Park episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head" (2003)).
• "Ventriloquist Week" and "Ventriloquist Week 2", weeklong specials on The Late Show with David Letterman where ventriloquists were brought in to perform on the show.
• The Angel episode "Smile Time" (2004) is about puppets that sucked out children's souls. Although not necessarily about dummies, but the puppets are controlling their creator by putting their hands inside a hole in the creator's back, just like a ventriloquist does.
• Mahoraba, a 2005 anime in which a main character, Yukio Haibara, uses ventriloquism to communicate.
• Dead Silence, a 2007 horror film about a dead ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who was murdered, and takes her vengeance on the townspeople through her dolls. The film is from the creators of the Saw film series which included Billy the Jigsaw Puppet, which has some of the characteristics of a ventriloquist's dummy.
• Triloquist (2007), about a boy who, since witnessing the murder of his mother, only speaks through his dummy.
• Chicago: The Musical- the song "We Both Reached For the Gun" is often displayed with Roxy sitting onBilly Flynn's lap, and Billy's voice fills in for Roxy. "Notice how his lips never move...almost"
• Superman has demonstrated "super-ventriloquism" on occasion, at one time even using it to communicate with aliens while in soundless space.
• The Saw (series) uses a puppet named Billy to send messages to victims via television or recorder.

• Americas Got Talent, On the second season, the winner was a ventriloquist.

• "Avenue Q", a Broadway musical that opened in 2003.
• Raj Kumar & Rancho(Monkey Puppet) in The Great Indian Laughter Challenge

References

• Leigh Eric Schmidt (1988) From Demon Possession to Magic Show: Ventriloquism, Religion, and the Enlightenment. Church History. 67 (2). 274-304.

• Ventriloquism, A Dissociated Perspective by Angela Mabe

• The Catholic Encyclopedia's Necromancy entry

See also

• List of ventriloquists
• Multimodal integration

External links

• Cybervent, website for ventriloquists
• What Is Ventriloquism - Ventriloquism Videos From The Greatest Ventriloquists - HowToThrowYourVoice.com
• Vent Haven Museum: Ventriloquist Museum
• Vent Haven ConVENTion in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky
• "Clean Ventriloquism Today"
• "A Tribute to Ventriloquism" at CosterJoe.com
  • "A Pictorial History of Ventriloquism, Vol. 1"
  • "A Pictorial History of Ventriloquism, Vol. 2"