I'm very new at ventriloquism, and practicing when ever I can. I want to learn a little bit of what's behind it. Like how long has it been around, some well known people in the field, people who are well known today, find some videos. basically I'd like to devour any info I can find. Can I get a few answers as well as some very good resources to pick up in the way of books?

Check With maher studios. Clinton Detwieler and his son are a great resourse fo info. the adress is http://www.maherstudios.com hope that helps.

Justin,
you can also chaeck out http://www.venthaven.com

Check "Dumbstruck-A cultural History of Ventriloquism" Steven Conner.

Check "Dumbstruck-A cultural History of Ventriloquism" Steven Conner.

The other books about ventriloquism history are The Other Voices by Valentine Vox and Dummy Days by Kelly Asbury.

Another source is joint Worldvents mailing list at Yahoogroups.com. You can ask anything since there are a lot of ventriloquists around the globe, pro and amateur.

Hope these helps!

Regards,

Budi Ha Ha

The late Stan Burns wrote a book entitled Ventriloquism A to Z, which I believe is another history of ventriloquism.

It is available from magic stores; I think that Hank Lee might still carry it.

Dai Bato

I agree that the Stan Burns Book is a great resource for learing the history of Ventriloquism. He covered everything from its beginnings with the Oracles up to modern day vents. Well worth the cost.

I Can See Your Lips Move by Valentine Vox is good. Stanley Burns book is also good. Both books also have good photos.

I second OTHER VOICES by Stanley Burns. A huge book on ventriloquism's rich and colorful history. I've read it a lot of times already, and it has become a constant source of inspiration for me.

Or you may want to visit http://www.venthaven.com for more info on this great art.

Happy New Year everybody!

I enjoyed reading VENTRILOQUISM OF TODAY by Paul Stadelman some great anecdotes on Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy as well as Windy Higgins

Wanlu, that book of Stadelman was THE BOOK--and THE THING!--that got me into ventriloquism. It's, I believe, still one of the best vent instructional books ever written.

And I love Stadelman's figure Windy Higgins (who's a 1913 Mack figure).

This book is truly a treasure.

Yup Ony...I'm still trying to read it and trying really hard to understand

It's a very nice book...old one I suppose because the author said a handcarved wooden figure with animations would cost about $100... I WISH!!!

The stories are really interesting and the way Mr Stadelman wrote it was quite interesting and you can feel his sincerity in promoting the art of Ventriloquism...

BTW, where's his figure now? VentHaven?

Windy Higgins is with Paul's son, Ron; and after around 100 years Windy's still in top shape--a fine testament of Mack's wonderful workmanship! I have a color picture of Windy! (I was so excited to see it because all the pictures in that book were in B&W). An "expert" (I don't know if I can say that term) on Paul Stadelman and Windy Higgins is vent Dave Boiano of the Worldvents yahoogroup.

Here are links of Dave's websites for Paul and Windy:

http://dickensndave.bravehost.com/stadel1.htm

http://dickensndave.bravehost.com/higgins.htm

Lots of vent history here!

You've described my sentiments about Paul's book perfectly, and why I created the pages about him, and the former help file/now PDF file of the instructional text to the book. I wanted to make certain that as long as I am around, none of it's lost.



Thank you Ony! Although I don't know if I'll lay claim to that "expert" title, I do know I did the best I could to get as much info on Paul as I could gather.
Needless to say, I was very pleased when I was able to contact his son and get him to send me that color picture of Windy - and you don't even want to know how excited I was when he attended the convention the same year I went and brought Windy so I could meet him "in person". And of course it was great meeting Ron too, he was SO helpful in providing me with any material he could find that I might find useful for the site. He even gave me a set of the reel-to-reel masters of Paul's audio course, which I had converted to cassette, and then to CD when CD's became the thing over cassettes.
I'm still always hoping others will come across the site who might have more info to pass on for me to add, and I'm always keeping my eyes out for anything else I can find as well.

BTW, in reference to the other books mentioned, all very good except one - personally, I didn't even find "Dumbstruck" very good. It was barely readable, as someone else said to me about it once, "it's like reading someone's college thesis, because that's what it was, put into a book".