Something New
Did you know that there was once a Ventriloquist who had a TV show for several years? This might not come as a surprise to you. He was a very good Ventriloquist, but there was another aspect to his life that most folks do not know about.
Paul was already a great Ventriloquist when his mother fell ill and passed with heart problems. Paul was very certain that she could have lived many more years if only the right devices had existed to get her through until she could have had heart surgery. In his broken hearted condition after his mother past away, Paul determined that no one else should ever experience the loss of a loved one such as he had just known. He then sat down (in between TV shows) and began drawing up diagrams for what would save countless thousands of lives in the future. Since most of us are not schooled in medical terminology we will simplify the store. Ventriloquist Paul Winchell (maybe with a little help from his sidekick Jerry Mahoney) was the inventor of the Artificial Heart. This is the device that people are put on when they are undergoing open heart surgery and their natural heart needs to be stopped while it is operated on.
We were fortunate enough to hear from Pauls lifetime good friend, Dr. Henry Heimlich, who had personal knowledge of Paul during the time of the invention. Dr. Heimlich was a key speaker at the 2007 Vent Haven Ventriloquists ConVENTion, and was himself the inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver that has saved many people from suffocation and choking.
That is all for now. We will talk again next week.
Steve and JET