Ventriloquism found its early origins in ancient times, somewhere around the sixth century BC. Originally it is believed, when it was first known, it was used to supposedly communicate with the dead. The earliest known ventriloquist of this type was Louis Brabant. He was in the court of the French King, Francis the First. It was widely believed that the spirits of the dead went to the stomachs of the “prophets” and continued to exist there.
The “prophets” supposedly were then able to foretell the future by the spirits who were speaking from his or her belly. Hence the name “ventriloquist” which means “belly speaker” in Latin. Of course, it was the “prophets” themselves who had learned the art of ventriloquism so they could fool their listeners and claim to have divine powers. (It must be noted that throughout history there have been self-proclaimed “prophets” who only existed for personal gain. In that respect nothing has changed in that we still have that type of “prophet” today although most of those we have today do not practice Ventriloquism.)
For centuries ventriloquism was viewed negatively by people in Christian Churches. Today though it is looked upon as being simply a form of entertainment and used in many Churches to tell Bible stories. Listening to the “voices from the belly” is no longer done.
At the end of the nineteenth century, a comedian by the name of Fred Russell came up with an act which he performed with his dummy. Russell became known as the “father of modern ventriloquism.” Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy came on the scene years later in 1938 and ended up becoming an international celebrity. Buffalo Bob Smith and his cowboy dummy, named Howdy Doody, had their own television show for over ten years, starting in the 1940’s. Then, Shari Lewis and her hand puppet, named Lamb Chop, became popular on television in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Many others have had successful careers utilizing the art form. Today of course the biggest names in the business are Jeff Dunham and Terry Fator both very gifted practitioners of the art, and both credited with the recent “comeback” of the artform.
Ventriloquism is a practiced skill that is achieved by talking while appearing not to be talking and creating the illusion that a dummy or puppet of some kind is doing the speaking. The Ventriloquist uses his/her hands in the dummy/puppet to give the further illusion that the puppet is in fact alive. The ventriloquist pretends to carry on a conversation with the dummy by moving its mouth and providing its voice. The dummy’s voice actually comes from the Ventriloquist, but since there is no sign that he or she is moving his or her mouth or lips, then the voice seems to come from the dummy or puppet. Our eyes naturally focus on the source of movement and we are tricked into believing the voice that we hear is coming from the inanimate figure. We know better, but a good ventriloquist can make it seem that his or her dummy is actually talking even though we know for a fact that it is not. We all enjoy watching a good Ventriloquist perform.
Thats all for now folks, we will see you again next week.
Steve & JET