As a life-long ventriloquist, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable when it comes to the tools of the trade, ventriloquist figures in particular. (We don’t refer to them as “dummies”…unless they deserve it! :))
A well made professional figure with basic animations such as moving head, mouth and self-centering eyes can cost you anywhere from $175 to well over $3,000. The average is somewhere arounf $950-1,100.
A famous ventriloquist from the early to 20th century was the late Edgar Bergen, father of Actress Candice Bergen.
His most famous sidekicks were Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. (Shown below) Ebay is currently listing an absolute perfect replica of the latter, and I was STUNNED to see the amount of the current bid! I had actually bid up to $3,700 on this figure, but the “reserve” was still not met…until today when someone upped my high bid by $2,400! I have a feeling that will go up before the auction is over. Wow!
If it has no provenance, wasn’t really Edgar’s own Mortimer, then it’s still a fake at some level, regardless of how well made it is. Can’t believe someone would pay that much for the non-real deal. Ventriloquism, to me, seems as much about the character you invent as about your skill in giving it voice. Would you really go up on stage with someone else’s character? If not, I don’t see the attraction of owning one of them, unless it is an appreciating collectable because it really belonged to the inventory.
The guy selling this has got to be filling his pants in awe that it’s gone this high.
The figure sold for $6,100! As I mentioned in my original post, this was a replica, and not the original. Replicas of famous vent figures are almost ALWAYS snapped up by collectors who will only display them. I have an exact replica of Paul Winchell’s Jerry Mahoney, but I have not, and never will use him in performance. He’s displayed behind glass.
PS: I wonder if the seller bid on his own item in order to inflate the bid price! That does happen; it’s called “shill bidding”. Odd how the seller’s and buyer’s usernames are so similar! Oh, and I got this email from the seller just prior to the end of the auction: <<Keep bidding! Dont give up on Mortimer Snerd! He is a little treasure!>> If he relists Mortimer then it’s a good bet that it was a shill bid!
You used to be a pro at this, so I wonder if you’ll agree with me that Edgar Bergen is about the worst ventriloquist, technically, that I’ve ever seen. In the few instances that I’ve seen of him on film or ancient TV, it doesn’t even look like he’s trying to hide the fact that it’s him speaking.
This is not to detract in any way from his fame. What audacity, to become a radio star doing an act that is normally judged, in a big way, on its visual aspect? His comedy and characters must have been really good.
I remember seeing a 12-year old “Candy” Bergen on an old rerun of You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx. Of course at that time she was only famous as being Edgar’s daughter. Was he the king of vents for his time? Surely nobody could become famous doing vent on the radio today? Maybe through podcasts???
Yes, there are collectors out there of nearly everything. Some with very deep pockets! I’m hoping that someday there will even be collectors interested in buying old unicycles. So far that hasn’t really started to happen. I’ve bought a few on eBay (Loyd, Univega), but won’t pay big bucks for them either…
To judge Bergen by whether or not his lips moved is missing the point. Bergen’s timeless and phenomonally famous characters literally had a life of their own, owing entirely to Bergen’s genius as an entertainer, actor, comedian, writer and yes, ventriloquist. When people would “watch” the act, they weren’t paying attention to his lips, but rather what Charlie or Mortimer was saying. During 40’s and 50’s, Bergen was so wildly popular and the commercial merchandising was so insane, there were hundreds of toys, games and even flatware bearing the likeness of his alter egos.
The late Paul Winchell, a very good “technical” ventriloquist, was in awe of Edgar Bergen, his life-long idol, and always considered Bergen the greatest Ventriloquist of all time, as most modern vents do, myself included, but not based on just the technical aspect, but on the timeless characters he created and the simply masterful dialoge that he wrote, and his amazing showmanship. The very best technical vent can have lousy material, and no stage presence, and he will surely fail. Besides if all you’re all you’re watching for is whether the performer moves his/her lips or not, you’re not really allowing yourself to appreciate the show. Good material, great characters and good timing is what it takes to succeed.
