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Revision as of 17:49, 15 October 2007
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.
Origins
The Greeks called this gastromancy 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
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 a 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 so ubiquitous today.
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 night 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 Senor 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.
Louis Albert Russo, made his first network appearance in 1949. Billed as The One Man Twosome, Russo Louis, 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, 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 show-rooms world tours with numerous legends of the entertainment world, Liberace, Jayne Mansfield, Alan King, included as well USO 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.
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." Jeff Dunham 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 entitled "Arguing with Myself" and another DVD entitled "Spark of Insanity." Ronn Lucas and his figure Scorch "burn up" the Las Vegas showrooms.
Ramdas Padhye, ventriloquist and puppeteer from India, performing for last 40 years is famous all over India with his dummy Ardhavatrao and his other puppet Bunny (the rabbit that starred in the commercial Lijjat Papad).Satyajit Padhye, son of Ramdas is 3rd Generation Ventriloquist and Puppeteer who is carrying on the art of ventriloquism to next generations.David Strassman performs his ventriloquism in theaters throughout the British Comonwealth and uses robotics to augment his characters movements.
Terry Fator, the 2007 winner of the NBC reality show America's Got Talent (season 2), is known for impersonating famous singers through his puppets. He has repeatedly expressed that one his goals is to bring ventriloquism back into the popular culture as a valid art form.
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.
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.
- 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.
- "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).
- "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 South Park episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head" (2003)).
- "Ventriloquist Week" and "Ventriloquist Week 2", weeklong specials on Late Night 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. [1] [2]
- Chicago: The Musical- We Both Reached For the Gun [vague]
- Superman has demonstrated "super-ventriloquism" on occasion, at one time even using it to communicate with aliens while in soundless space.
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