What the heck does this mean???

I grew up in the silver age of television. There were variety shows, like "The Ed Sullivan Show," that were an extention of the long gone theaters of Vaudville. They brought into people's homes jugglers, singers, animal acts, clowns, comedians, and puppeteers. And among the puppeteers were ventriloquists. I was blessed with the likes of Paul Winchell, Jimmy Nelson and Senor Wences. There were vents hosts even on the local kid's cartoon shows. Nelson and his buddies, Danny O'Day and Farfell, sold Nestle's Quick chocolate drink. Winchell pushed the boundries of the art with a sophistocated understandings of the medium of television.

Some where along the line I caught the bug. I was maybe 12 when I realized the possibility that I might be capable of doing ventriloquisim. I bought Paul Winchell's book at a small shop called "The Magic Mart," that had long held my interest. When I went downtown with my parents, I was allowed to explore to my heart's content while my parents shopped in the old Maas Brothers department store. (Yes, you could do that ... back then.) I remember finding this treasure. Under the influence of my pleeding eyes, my Father advanced my allowance and I had my start. I devoured the book until brads had to placed to support the bindings. It gave me my start.



My next step was when I was 13. I had hoped for a figure for Christmas. I had gotten another book from the Magic Mart, which gave me my first lead on vent figures. They were English and probably commanded a dear price. The box underneath the Christmas tree that I pinned my hopes upon held not my dreams ... but a ticket to the scout ranch, Philmount. It was a trip of a life time, but my Father noted my dissapointment. He found an ad in the local classifieds for a dummy. It turned out to be a Danny O'Day vent doll ... not a true figure. But it did come with Jimmy's "Instant Ventriloquism" album. Now if you have had any thing to do with ventriloquism, you might know there are certain letters that are difficult to say with closed lips. M is one of these. Mr. Nelson's solution is to substitute "N" for "M" .... So you say "N" and think "M." The practise phrase was " Many men make money." Or ... "Nany nen nake noney"