Word: ventriloquists
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Comedians were flown in from Hollywood and Florida to do two-and three-minute introductions of the different numbers. Jack Benny had an uneven skit about his troubles in buying a ticket to a Rodgers & Hammerstein hit; Edgar Bergen made only the sketchiest effort at being a ventriloquist in a pair of episodes with Charlie McCarthy and Ed Sullivan; Groucho Marx got the best laughs as a quizmaster cutting Rodgers & Hammerstein down to size...
...Ventriloquist Corder and Joe average 70,000 miles a year, making the rounds of Baptist churches and organization meetings in 19 states. Among Baptist young folk, the large-eyed Joe is as popular as Charlie McCarthy ever was. His master finds that the ventriloquist's dialogue approach is a strikingly effective way of driving home his sermon messages...
...present Jerry Mahoney is a reincarnation of a dummy carved by Winchell in a high school commercial art class. Like many another ventriloquist, Winchell got his start by answering an advertisement ("Amaze your friends, throw your voice into a trunk") which offered "The Secrets of Ventriloquism" (25?). After discovering that ventriloquists do not actually throw their voices but create the illusion that they do, Winchell proceeded to amaze his friends. At 14, he also impressed radio's Major Bowes, who gave him $100 first-prize money on his Amateur Hour and a $75-a-week contract to perform...
Into the Gap. By the time Winchell got to the big radio money in 1944, Edgar Bergen was the world's most successful ventriloquist. But was it ventriloquism? On a sightless medium, it was less an illusion than high aural comedy by a man with a natural wit and an educated larynx. Television was another matter. Bergen, his technique rusty after radio, made a few exploratory TV appearances, then went off to semi-retirement to think things over and work on his movie autobiography (From Little Acorns). Into the gap streaked Winchell, his ventriloquial skills razor-sharp...
Nagged by the thought that he might become typed as a ventriloquist and some day go stale, Winchell began taking on straight acting roles ("I want to become so flexible that I just can't get into a rut"), today does a weekly seven-minute dramatic sketch midway in his comedy show. He turns down most offers to guest-star his ventriloquist act on other television programs, but he keeps an ear cocked for calls for Paul Winchell, actor. It's not that he doesn't have enormous affection for his wooden pal Jerry, but he asks...