By: Abhishek Shah 7.3

Ventriloquism is the art of "throwing" one's voice in such a way that the sound seems to come from a source other than the speaker. A dummy or doll is commonly used to assist in the deception, with the ventriloquist moving the dummy's mouth while speaking through closed lips.

Ventriloquism got its start in the ancient times, around the sixth century BC. It was supposedly believed to be a way to communicate with the dead.

The first known ventriloquist of this type was Louis Brabant.

He was in the court of the French King Francis the First. It became a widespread belief that the spirits of the dead

went to the stomachs of the prophets and continued to exist there.

This belief helped the prophets to foretell the future, and made the people believe that the spirits were speaking from his or her belly.

The spirit would make its replies from the priest's belly while the priest's facial expression and lips remained fixed, to show the illusion.

The origin of the word "ventriloquism," is a blend of two Latin words: "VentreVentre" (the belly) and "LoquiLoqui" (to speak). Thus ventriloquists were originally known as "belly speakers."

Substitution of some specific sounds (or combinations thereof) by others that sound similar, but need no lip or chin movement.

Avoidance of those sounds which cannot easily be substituted. This is feasible because the text to be spoken is known to the artist in advance, and he therefore can choose synonyms for difficult words.

Keeping one's mouth almost closed (with the lips frozen in a 'keep smiling' position), which serves to hide movements of the tongue.

Hiding the movements of the chest while breathing; Distraction of the audience, which in itself consists of two elements: Gesturing with some fancy puppet, which the audience is made to

believe to be the originator; Significant changes in the pitch of the speaker's voice, seemingly to

better fit together with the puppet and to distinguish between a multitude of them, but mainly to cover the sounds that have been replaced. People will more easily forgive a puppet for using a somewhat weird pronunciation.

Sound  

Example Treatment

pp supper avoid, or try a soft 'dd'

mp  ampersand  

avoid

pl replaceavoid, sometimes 'kl' will do

ps lips avoid, or try 'ts' or 'ks'

sp speakavoid, sometimes 'sk' might work

qu quantityone more 'th' derivative

gh laughingsame as 'f', replaced by 'th'

Sound   Replacement

b soft 'd' or 'g'

fvery soft 'th', with the tongue retracted a little back from 'th' to the 'h' position

m 'ng' like in 'singing'

p

'kh' or a sound halfway between 'd' and 't', spoken with the tongue touching not the teeth, but the upper gums. Difficult at word beginnings

v another form of 'th'

wyet another 'th' variation, even softer than the 'f' substitute

mb'ng', ie: same as 'm' alone, forget about the 'b' in there

Cindy Robinson Edgar Bergen Charlie McCarthy Mortimer Snerd Effie Klinker Shari Lewis Lamb Chop Jeff Dunham Terry Fator Ray Alan Peter Brough Nina Conti Otto & George Tom Crowl Roger De Courcey Shirley Dinsdale Jim Barber Wayne Federman Wayland Flowers Ramdas Padhye Terry Hall Paul Zerdin Dan Horn

Keith Harris Jay Johnson Kevin Johnson The Great Lester Ronn Lucas Sandy Powell Carla Rhodes David Strassman Jez Rose Fred Russell Saveen Ian Saville David Strassman Max Terhune Willie L. Brown Willie Tyler Meghan Miller Jules Vernon Señor Wences Paul Winchell Arthur Worsle Satyajit Padhye Karl Jeffery

 1939: You Can't Cheat an Honest Man - W.C. Fields comedy with Bergen & McCarthy

 1964: Devil Doll - Horror (British); Bryant Haliday plays an evil ventriloquist/hypnotist

 1978: Magic - "A Terrifying Love Story" starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret

 1988: Pin: A Plastic Nightmare - Canadian "low-budget descendant of Psycho" (IMDb)

 1988: Child's Play - Horror; first in the Chucky series 1990: Child's Play 2 1991: Child's Play 3  1995: The Dummy - Horror; director Dante Falconi  1998: Bride of Chucky 1999: Cradle Will Rock - true drama of politics and art in the

1930's; Bill Murray is a vent  2000: The Dummy - Horror; writer/director Steve Singleton  2002: Dummy - Adrien Brody plays a ventriloquist;

writer/director Greg Pritikin 2004: Seed of Chucky

 2005: Dummy - Low-budget horror; writer/director Matthew Graves

1949: Studio One (The Rival Dummy) 1950: The Edgar Bergen Show Featuring Charlie McCarthy 1956: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (And So Died

Riabouchinska)  1957: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (The Glass Eye) 1962: Twilight Zone (The Dummy) 1964: Twilight Zone (Caesar and Me) 1977-1981: Soap 1990: Tales from the Crypt (The Ventriloquist's Dummy) 1990-1991: What a Dummy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TDAuSLqnpA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NB4hUUoGDw&feature=related

Reference Datehttp://houseofdeception.com/Ventriloquism_History.html 31-08-

09http://www.vpuppets.com/images/ramdas.jpg 31-08-

09http://www.leapfrog-entertainment.com/Artists/Big/GeneC/Gene.jpg 1-09-

09http://www.alstevens.com/ventriloquism/pics/fred/00jayjay1.jpg 2-09-

09http://blog.nj.com/entertainment_impact_arts/2007/11/medium_Achmed_Jeff.jpg 2-09-

09http://www.essortment.com/all/ventriloquismhi_rlty.htm 3-08-

09http://www.kimn.net/vent/history.htm 3-09-

09http://www.answers.com/topic/ventriloquism 3-09-

09http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ventriloquists 3-09-

09

http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/e2c4d58f/arts_feature-36601.jpeg 3-09-09

Thank You Ms. Antra for your help, guidance, inspiration and cooperation.

What presentation? I thought you were talking about me?

What presentation? I thought you were talking about me?

I bet you have enjoyed my

belly talk presentation!

I bet you have enjoyed my

belly talk presentation!

No, I was talking

about my skills!

No, I was talking

about my skills!

No, mine !!No, mine !!