TRICK VENTRILOQUISM

by H. R. MERTON

Invention has even displaced the old-time ventriloquist, who nowadays is really no ventriloquist at all.  When he isn't speaking his own lines, he is puffing vigorously on a big black cigar, and how in goodness can a man do that and talk for his dummy, visibly or invisibly, at the same time?  The answer is, he can't.

Yet we hear the dummy responding to his partner with a ready line of repartee, delivered in stentorian tones.  What is more, he turns and twists his head, waves his arms and kicks up his feet, while the other half of the sketch stands a dozen feet away with his hands in his pockets.

Showing the Apparatus Used by the Operator Behind the Scenes, who Does the Talking.  The receiver enables him to hear what his co-worker on the stage is saying.  Through the transmitter in his hand he speaks the words which seem to issue from the dummy.

Article 1913