Ray Arthur sends this message…
I too was in awe of Winchell as a kid, and had growing respect for his inventions as I got older and understood his contributions on a whole 'nother level. I remember as a young child (with a limited understanding of ventriloquism) having my father explain how great Edgar Bergen was on the radio. And questioning, even at 7 or 8, "but Dad, ventriloquism on the radio? Now, there's no question that Bergen routines were hysterical, but I saw the quality only from the comedic standpoint not the ventriliqual (if that's a word) standpoint. (Later, near the end of his career I saw Bergen on TV…"but Dad, his lips are moving. Paul Winchell's lips don't move." Did I just miss Bergen when he was great, as a younger performer? Or was Winchell that much better?
Well, I preferred Winchell but that may have been because I was a child of television and he was doing my kind of shows when I was growing up. Also, Charlie McCarthy with his top hat, monocle and snooty attitude always struck me as really being of another era.
Winchell was much better from a technical standpoint, and I believe Mr. Bergen even admitted as much. But not moving your lips is only one part of being a great ventriloquist. There are plenty of guys around who, thanks to diligent practice, can recite Peter Piper over and over without the slightest lip-quiver. What too many of them lack is the ability to amuse, and some even fall short in the skill of misdirection. As with a good magician, part of the art is to make unnatural actions seem natural and to get you to look where he wants you to look. Bergen was very funny and a good actor. The only part he didn't have down were the lip movements which, of course, didn't matter on radio.
There's a great old episode of I've Got a Secret where he came on with Mortimer Snerd and answered the panel's questions…only the secret was that Bergen wasn't doing the Snerd voice. Actor-comedian Chuck McCann was hidden under the desk and he did Mortimer's voice while Bergen moved the puppet and his own lips. You read that right: To make the bit work, Bergen had to act like he was speaking for Mr. Snerd so he moved his own lips and did all the usual mannerisms that he did to throw attention on the dummy. What's more, Chuck says that it was Bergen's idea to do it that way, meaning that Edgar acknowledged that he wasn't very good at not moving the old lips. I don't think it mattered to him and I suspect it didn't matter to most of the audience. It's like being able to see the wire when Peter Pan is flying on stage. It's more fun to pretend you don't see it.
By the way: The best ventriloquist I know of who's working these days is Ronn Lucas, who's currently appearing in an afternoon show at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. You can see a five minute video of him over on this page of his website. He has all the skills I mentioned, including being very funny. He bills himself as "the man who can make anything talk" and he really can. One night, we were in the coffee shop at the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, and he convinced the waitress that there had to be hidden speakers in the salt and pepper shakers, the sugar bowl, the napkin holder, the Heinz Ketchup…everything on the table. In fact, I just moved my mouth and let him order for me. If you get to Vegas, go see him…and go early so you can get a seat up front and judge how good he really is.