Short Cut to Ventriloquism

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