One of my earliest heroes was the world's greatest ventriloquist, Paul Winchell. If Paul was on TV with his dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff, I was in front of the TV. Always. I read and re-read his autobiography, which was also a kind of "how-to" book on his craft, and practiced many hours with my toy Jerry Mahoney. I loved my little Jerry and kept it long after most of my other toys of that era had gone into the dumpster or off to Goodwill. About seven years ago, the water heater in my basement burst and the only thing destroyed was my old Jerry Mahoney doll. I cried a bit, then ran to the computer, logged onto a new thing called eBay and won my first auction: $300 for a new old Jerry Mahoney doll. I have since purchased exact, working replicas of Jerry and Knuck, which sit around my house and do a great job of scaring my maid every single time she walks into the room.
Shortly before the water heater incident, I'd written this column about Paul and the current "best ventriloquist" I've seen, a talented gent named Ronn Lucas. I'll have to write another, better one since that column doesn't begin to do justice to Paul. In the meantime, you can find out a lot about him at his website. They're still erecting the new version but there's already some good biographical information posted there.