Dummy Days: America's Favorite Ventriloquists From Radio And Early TV

Download Free (EPUB, PDF)

Bringing back the best of the Golden Age of ventriloquism, Dummy Days profiles the five consummate performers who turned a vaudevillian gimmick into an American art form: the legendary Edgar Bergen, the surreal Senor Wences, the innovative Paul Winchell, the versatile Jimmy Nelson and the invincible Shari Lewis. Also featured in Dummy Days: *Over 200 rare photographs *Foreword by Leonard Maltin *Afterword by Jeff Dunham *"Flip book" corners to see the ventriloquists in action

Hardcover: 128 pages

Publisher: Angel City Press (July 25, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1883318289

ISBN-13: 978-1883318284

Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #824,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #47 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > Puppets & Puppetry #746 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Comedy #2277 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Television Performers

It has been said a book about ventriloquists could never attract interest beyond the small clique of ventriloquists practicing the quirky art today. A major publisher's book would more likely be a "best smeller" than a "best seller," with little "cross-over" (non-ventriloquist) appeal -- a nostalgia piece with little relevance to modern day generations. They said it couldn't be done. And DreamWorks' animation maven Kelly Asbury, author of Dummy Days, has proven them totally WRONG. Dummy Days matters-- and it works on every level. Dummy Days is a book with INCREDIBLY wide appeal. In wonderful, painstaking detail, Asbury takes you through the lives of the 20th century's greatest "belly talkers" Edgar Bergen, Paul Winchell, Jimmy Nelson, Senor Wences, and Shari Lewis. Lovingly crafted bios of these five performers (plus mini-bios on variety show host Ed Sullivan and legendary dummy builder Frank Marshall) make you feel you actually KNOW them personally, and you learn surprising never-before-disclosed details about them and the evolution of their acts. But the underlying and skillfully developed subtext is the entertainment industry's brutal, take-no-prisoners evolution through the early to mid-late 20th century and how top "vents" adapted to it, then largely vanished from mainstream entertainment media's radar screen once Sullivan's landmark CBS TV show (a vaudeville show) was canceled in 1971. Dummy Days is a book about highly-adaptable performers' sometimes roller-coast-like lives -- but it's also a vital entertainment history book. This makes it of interest not only toventriloquists and aspiring ventriloquists, but to ANYONE seeking to understand modern entertainment's roots -- from vaudeville, to radio, to vaudeville-influenced early TV.

Dummy Days: America's Favorite Ventriloquists from Radio and Early TV Who's the Dummy Now?: Winner of America's Got Talent My Favorite Husband, Vol. 1 (Hollywood 360 - Classic Radio Collection)(Original Radio Broadcasts) Who's the Dummy Now? Portishead's Dummy (33 1/3) Early Readers : Lisa can Read : children, Early reader books level 1. Easy reader book. Beginner reading books level 1 (Step into reading book series for early readers : childrens books) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Focus on the Family Radio Theater) (Focus on the Family Radio Theater) Romeo and Juliet: A BBC Radio 3 Full-cast Dramatisation. Starring Douglas Henshall & Cast (BBC Radio Shakespeare) The Jane Austen BBC Radio Drama Collection: Six BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisations Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles: A Radio Dramatization (Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air) Murder On The Orient Express: A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection) Agatha Christie: Twelve Radio Mysteries: Twelve BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations "The Big Sleep: Two Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisations (BBC Radio Collection) Raymond Chandler: The BBC Radio Drama Collection: 8 BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations The Complete Miss Marple Radio Dramas (Twelve BBC Radio Dramas Starring June Whitfield) Sherlock Holmes Essentials, Volume 1 (Six Full Cast BBC Radio Dramas) (BBC Radio Series) Charles Dickens: The BBC Radio Drama Collection: Volume One: Classic Drama From the BBC Radio Archive Bonecrack: BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (BBC Radio Collection) The Secret Pilgrim (BBC Full Cast Radio Drama)(George Smiley series) (BBC Radio Series) The Honourable Schoolboy: A BBC Full-Cast Radio Drama (BBC Radio Series)