h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The other night we watched this extraordinary documentary on BBC 4, written by, and featuring Nina Conti (daughter of actor Tom Conti), called A Ventriloquist's Story:Her Masters Voice.

Nina herself is a comedienne and ventriloquist. She inherited a collection of bizarre ventriloquist dolls from her mentor, Ken Campbell (the experimental theatre fellow, who himself was a bit of a genius)..

..and the programme follows her journey to the Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky, where bereaved ventriloquist dolls are laid to rest, because their owners have died. Owners is the wrong word. Hmm. More like their soulmates.



There is also a Ventriloquist Convention happens there, somewhere in Kentucky, near the Museum, or maybe in the Museum, I forgot, but trust me, this is one gloriously weird event. Gives me hope. .

The museum is totally bizarre. All the dolls are sitting there, they speak no more, and I would say that these dolls are spirits. Just sitting there.



There is a web site for Vent Haven Museum. If you are interested, you can find a sort of interactive facility on the website, where you can pan around, get a feel for the place. I can't do links very well, otherwise I would post it here.

It is weird, beware. Easy to get spooked by ventriloquist dolls. I think it is an actual phobia, fear of ventriloquist dolls. I can understand that, but I am fearfully fascinated. .



So what about ventriloquism then? Started as a religious ritual, something to do with the Oracle of Delphi. Later became entertainment.

One helluva way to confront the other selves and voices in the head, the alter ego, the inner demons, the shy inner actor, the imaginary friend.

Quite an art too, to throw the voice around like that.



I appreciate that ventiloquism might not be politically correct, (looking at some of the dolls in Vent Haven, makes you wonder), might be offensive in some way, I don't know, if it is, and I would be the first to object ...

(that's the disclaimer part of this posting) ...

but it was a fascinating programme indeed, like magic theatre revisited.

Revisited?

Well, there was this Actor I knew once ....at least, I called him the Actor ...


(next journal entry) .

Perhaps I should take up ventriloquism. Let the Actor speak to me.

Fascinating.

Those things spook me, too. I didn't know they started with the Oracle.

Did you ever see the series 'Soap'? There was a ventriloquist in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTeppN1PwH8

That's hilarious, I must watch Soap. .

I get it with the talking bap and grapefruit from this clip, reminds me of childhood, used to make things talk all the time as a kid, this is worrying. heheh.

Google Images has some great shots of all those ventriloquist dolls at Vent Haven ventriloquy museum, just sitting there. Are they spirits? I think they are. I am obsessed. Maybe because I am a bit scared. Perhaps I should make a poster, put it on my wall. No! No!

I think the first ventriloquist I remember was Shari Lewis, with Lambchop. Shari Lewis was so great. I loved Lambchop.

Saw a scary movie in the 70s with Antony Hopkins, and a ventriloquist doll called Fats. That was spooky. I wish I hadn't remembered it. I prefer Soap episodes. . And Lambchop.

whew, those pix of ventriloquist's dummies ARE scary..,
i think its mainly because they are old and strange to begin with...

some charming ones would be kermit, elmo and as you say lambchop...

to cleanse the visual palate...
put 'cute kitten' into google image
it never fails to cheer me up
truely

Hullo fluffykerfuffle (great name) heheh. !!

Yes, they are old, some of those dolls, how long have they been sitting there?like a weird audience, and they will never speak again .....

What do I need right now to lure me away from Vent Haven ... ... I feel strange poetry coming over me ...I think I need chocolate.

Or Kermit!!! How could I have forgotten Kermit!! Thankyou for reminding me of beloved Kermit! I see he has a entire Wiki entry to himself, a really long entry. What about Miss Piggy, I must check Miss Piggy, I bet she has a Wiki entry also. I love Miss Piggy.

It is interesting how fictional characters develop souls, how it is hard to believe they are not real, like Kermit is more than a puppet.

So those dolls in Vent Haven ...

no! no! .... ....

well, if the cute kitten in google image didnt work for you, try 'chocolate cake' it is unbelievable

.

The kittens are completely adorable in fact. And puppies too, I went from kittens to puppies ..

The chocolate cake section is something else, like an epiphany, a revelation, a cure ..

A cure! A cure! And every cake speaks to me ..... where did that voice come from??

The kittens are ventriloquists.

What??? Help! Help! Now the cake is purring.

I must return to Vent Haven.

And just when I was doing so well.

Update on ventriloquism research

(not a good idea to research the subject in the early hours, if one is prone to fears)

However, I feel I need to pay tribute to the art. Who were the original ventriloquists? Would they resent the spookification (that's not a word, I know ) of their art?

It seems that The Twilight Zone has something to do with the fear associated with ventriloquism ... (I'm too scared to research that bit). .

However, there is a series of ancient b/w portraits in the category of Vintage Ventriloquism Portraits, now available on Google Images, which are very unnerving but fascinating, if I can see them as historical documents. (Warning:These can cause nightmares). This was entertainment at that time. I'm not saying I would find it funny.



I still prefer Kermit, chocolate cake, , and Lambchop.

Could ventriloquism become a sacred art, freed from its spookification?

Or is it a dying art? Nina Conti, to me, manages to make it innocently disconcerting and yet funny, with her monkey puppet, named Monk. Perhaps the slightly edgy innocence is the sacred.

These questions I must ask myself.

yer didn't see me lips move did yah

Oh Prof help! hlep! or even help! the ventriloquised posting! ... have mercy upon the spooked out ventriloquism researcher. . teehee

(heads for Google Images chocolate cake)

And send fake Baileys. I think Peanut might have a bottle open, over on the unusual bird thread.

That was a strange sentence. Who said that?