While not ventriloquism, it was an early use of a “dummy” to focus the audience’s attention on a miraculous voice. Not so captivated was the skeptical writer Lucian, who declared that the head was made from linen, mounted on a snake’s body, and made to speak through a tube operated by a concealed assistant. In 150 A.D., a man called Alexander of Abonoteichus captivated contemporaries when he discovered a talking serpent with a human head. (Photo: Library of Congress/LC-DIG-ggbain-03135) But back to the snake.Ī medium conducting a seance in 1900. Pioneering ventriloquist Valentine Vox writes in his book I Can See Your Lips Moving: The History and Art of Ventriloquism that the art’s roots lie in necromancy-the ancient art of allowing a dead person’s spirit to enter the necromancer and speak to the living.Īny way you slice it, the supernatural was involved. Engastrimyths plied their trade for entertainment (what could be more thrilling than demonic tummy talk?) and as divination. Writes Steven Connor in his book Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism, this was a mashup of “ en in, gaster the stomach, and mythos word or speech.” Basically, people believed engastrimyths had demons in their stomachs who belched words from their host’s mouths. in the Act of invoking the Spirit of a Deceased Person.” (Photo: Public Domain)īack then, ventriloquists were called “engastrimyths”. The heyday has passed, but there are still bold name acts like comedian Jeff Dunham, who tours the world and makes frequent television appearances, such as one on 30 Rock in which his character’s dummy calls Liz Lemon a “ferret-faced skank”.īut ventriloquism is not a modern art-it dates back to at least the classical Greece, when it really freaked people out.Īn engraving from 1806 showing ”Edwd Kelly, a Magician. It was a smash on the vaudeville stage and stayed popular through the 60s.
Performers beguile audiences by making their voices seem like they belong to a dummy (or some other figure like Lamb Chop), chatting with their playful, inanimate partner. Ventriloquism-altering your voice to make it sounds like it’s coming from somewhere else-is familiar to most as entertainment.
You might not think of Lamb Chop, the adorable hand puppet that graced the appendage of world-famous ventriloquist Shari Lewis or the impertinent wooden dummies operated by Edgar Bergan as having ancestors, but they do.