Variety (December 1909)

VARIETY 37 THE ART OF VENTRILOQUISM WINS BY WARFIELDS "PIPE" By ARTHUR PRINCE. I have been asked to write about ven- triloquism. f Instead of writing about it, I would much rather speak about it through my "Figure." (I beg your pardon, Jim.) The art of speaking seemingly with an- other's voice is, perhaps, as old as speaking with one's own voice. The ventriloquist can also sing with another voice. For my own part I could sing with Caruso's voice, for instance. (So could anybody, i Jim.) But I do not wish to arouse any J professional jealousy, so I shall allow Caruso to live. (Isn't he kind, Jim?) t and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground and the speech shall whisper out of the ground." (He'll be a great writer "one day," Jim.) Vetriloquism as Valentine Fox gives it to us, is in most places impossible. No ventriloquist can "throw his voice" be- hind a person, the other side of a room or street. The art of "voice throwing," or distant ventriloquism, is in taking a deep in- halation of breath and then allowing it By JACK TERRY. (7A0K TERRY sad XABXL LAMBERT (Mrs. Terry). AMELIA BINGHAM. This American actrens has won pronounced puccchs In England, where hlie Is honked solid for one year, appearing In the principal mutdc halls. After finishing bcr Taudevllle contracts. Miss ningham will return to America, then to he seen In a play already selected and In which she will ttar. Well, to get back to ventriloquism, the Art, with a capital "A" (according to authentic records in libraries and muse- ums all over the world), was used by the Egyptians, the Assyrians and the ancient Hebrews, and that's going back some. The modern Hebrews know it, too; and that's coming up some! But then the modern Hebrews know everything. (Get back to the track, Jim.) Ventriloquism was formerly used in i connection with religious ceremonies in- stead of the theatrical entertainments; priests could make voices come out of idols and thus make money come out of the worshippers. In those days golden images could be made to voice the senti- ments of ecclesiastical dignitaries, just as in these days wooden dummies can be made to voice the sentiments of theatri- cal performers. Formerly ventriloquism was used to draw tears, but now it is used to draw laughs—and salaries; the bigger the laugh the bigger the salary. (A boost with an old joke, Jim.) What is undoubtedly a reference to ventriloquism may be found in Holy Writ, in Isaiah, xxix, 4, which reads as follows: "And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground, to escape slowly, the sounds of the voice being modified and muffled by means of the muscles of the upper part of the throat and of the palate, the tighter the throat is closed the farther away the sounds (seemingly). It is then up to the ventriloquist to mislead you as to the man being "on the roof," "under the ground" or "in the box." Maccabc and Kennedy were wonderful in the old days at the "distant voice," so was Lieut. W. Oole with his "street cries." I used to watch Cole quite a lot. The only man you have nowadays rely- ing on the distant voice as his best work is A. O. Duncan. I should like to hear Duncan do a little more of this in his show; it's clever. I remember doing a show of distant ventriloquism at a private entertainment, and had just finished the imitation of two men talking outside the window when a woman laughed heartily in the next house. The room where the laugh nunc from was situated at the back of the audience. Everybody turned, then looked back at me and the applause fell thick and fast. Of course, I bowed (Mean sramp. Jim), and to this day I thank the (Continual on Page 114.) I ran away from home and went to San Francisco when I was a young boy to try my luck at becoming an actor; for to act—with anyone, anyhow, anywhere, was my great ambition. But to sing I was destined against all my natural de- sires, because I was the possessor of a tuneful high voice. I was one of several young aspiring thespians who hung around the old Bald- win Hotel, trying to copy the mannerisms and vernacular of (to us) the wonderful I'ncle Tomites. Two of the then youthful party are now among our five most promising man- agers. A third, David Warfield and my- self formed a sort of mutual admiration society. I always thought Dave most wonderful with his mimicry and character skits while he said I could charm snakes with my top notes. One afternoon, at very low tide, we were "put next" to a chap of the well- to-do dude class, willing at the least sign to "dip down" for the best at the Bald- win Cafe. He also believed if given the opportunity he could act and wanted to star at the head of his own company. Dave and I were commissioned to write him a play, price not mentioned. We were invited to the home of our new found acquaintance. It was a "swell" Turkish bath. There we lived, cat, slept and bathed for a week, without money. It was very fortunate; we had none. looked ripping. I also had had a glorious season. "Hello, Jack!" said Dave. "Con- gratulate me. I have just received a legacy of $80,000," and he looked me straight in the eye when he said it. I was dumbstruck. "What will you do with it T" I asked. "Oh, I'll just put it in the safe deposit," he replied, and invited me in to drink a pail of tea with him. Three years passed before we again met, this time in Milwaukee. Almost im- mediately I inquired what had become of the $80,000. This time Dave laughed. He told me he was something of a psycolo- gist and had formed the desire for $80,000 so strongly in his sub-conscious mind that he actually believed he possessed it. During the next few months Miss Lam- bert and myself were engaged by a London agent, (the late Harry Cadle) to appear for six weeks in England on the Moss-Stoll tour, and we were among the few fortunate American acts of that year to score, and booked tight for four con- secutive years immediately (the mistake by the way usually made by an Ameri- can act when it makes good before an English audience). "Four years continu- ous" sounds so nice. Like all other artists we made desper- ate efforts to raise our salary after the four years with the usual consequences; big gaps in our dates and every now and then an enforced holiday. Talking it over one morning at break- KOLLINS and KLIFTON. KING KoLLINS and MABEL KLIFTON have ban Joed their way Into the heart a of the American public for the lnst Ave yearn and are recognized as the leader* of the acts of that claaa. Mil. KOLLIN8 was formerly of Polk and Rollins, who converted the hsmjo from a humble negro Instrument to ft posi- tion In the music world, which It well retain* with KOLLINS and KLIFTON playing the best boasts lr America year after year. POLK and KOIJJNS were the flrwt to render heavy overtures on banjos, and the act waa featured for a decade In the two-a-day Iiousck. DAN POLK died two years ago. Three years previously MABEL KLIFTON aro«» to a point where she vied with the older banjo players In ability, and Mr. KOLLINS found a partner for IiIh act aa well aa a partner for Ufa. Mr. KOLLIN8 writes many banjo selections and Is the author of xcveral Instrumental numbers, among them "THE TWIKLER," "SLOW DItA(J." '(IRANI) ENTIIV" (march), "WHIZZER." "THE GYPSY'S SERENADE" (concert waits), etc.. etc. We wrote reams of play. I felt the importance keenly because 1 had been an actor of six months experience. I believe he really produced the farce, fortunately when the authors were safely in distant parts. About four years later I nut Dave on Broadway. My prophecy about bin future was becoming very apparent. Dave fast my wife suddenly struck upon the idea of trying Warfield's $80,000 dodge to Ket ourselves talked about. We would try his psycological scheme and see how it panned out. The first person I met I repeated Dave's words but I trimmed down to $30,000, thinking I could worry along on that for (Continued on Page 102.)