Ventriloquists

Arthur Prince

Arthur Prince used a dummy called 'Jim'. They both wore the uniform of naval officers with 'Jim' as a junior rank.

Existing film of his act shows that, though he was well thought of in his time, his technique was very poor compared with more modern ventriloquists. Prince used a cigar to help to hide his lip movements - which were still somewhat apparent to the camera, although in a theatre they would have been less noticeable - and he tended to be rather rigid during the dummy's lines.

His enunciation was also poor -'m's coming out almost as 'n's, 'b's as 'g's and so on (though many vents were far worse, leading to the old joke about 'a gottle of geer' when comics wanted to take a rise out of vents). Prince's voice and that of the dummy were also rather too similar - which was no help when he broadcast. On the credit side, the dummy had a strong character, and they worked at a fairly high speed, interrupting each other, so that the act was effective when not seen from too close.

 

From Kindly Leave the Stage! By Roger Wilmut