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A Short Cut to Ventriloquism
Hardcover
MagicGeneral World HistoryTechnical Theater
ISBN13: 9781445516028
Publisher: Cooper Press
Published: Aug 11 2010
Pages: 24
Weight: 0.39
Height: 0.25 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Throw your voice, work a figure, and land the laugh: this 1934 pocket guide teaches the working performer's version of ventriloquism in twenty brisk pages.
Issued in London by the magic dealers Davenport's as part of their Demon Series, A Short Cut to Ventriloquism was written for performers who wanted a second string to their act. Maurice Hurling covers the essentials of voice production and lip control, then hands more than half the booklet over to what really sells a turn: dialogue, gags, and ready-made comic routines between the ventriloquist and the figure on his knee. Distant-voice work is left out altogether, which is the short cut of the title - the aim is to get a beginner in front of an audience quickly.
Small enough for a coat pocket and cheerfully unpretentious, it is a useful record of how variety-era entertainers actually learned the craft, and a fair few of its premises still work with a little updating.
This edition features:
- The complete text of the 1934 Davenport's Demon Series booklet, reset and republished in a modern edition
- Plain instruction in voice production, breathing, and lip control, written for the complete beginner
- Comic dialogue, gags, and ready-made routines, which fill more than half of the original booklet
- A period snapshot of British stage entertainment as it was taught to performers between the wars
- A rare survival from Davenport's Demon Series, seldom seen outside specialist dealers' catalogues
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