W.S. Berger was born on May 13, 1878 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father, Genza Berger, was an Austria-Hungary born Shakespearean actor (thus the naming of W.S. - William Shakespeare) who would sit W.S. in a high chair as a child and paint his fist with grease paint to keep him amused while Genza learned his lines. These were the earliest memories W.S. had of the ventriloquial art.
According to David Erskine in his book 'Latchstring',
"[W.S.] finished six grades in a one room school house, won a 2-1/2 dollar gold piece for spelling, considered running away from home to join the circus, entered Cincinnati Business College at age fourteen (his mother wanted him to have a business education), helped lay bricks for sidewalks, was a hypnotist and at age eighteen was experienced in psychic phenomena, was a magician, was an amateur snake charmer, worked for an ornamental wood carving company, and sold tile in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico. He was also a Shakespearean scholar."The selling of the tile is especially telling. W.S. Berger went to work for the Cambridge Tile Mfg. Co., of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1895 by sweeping floors for $3.00 per week. He eventually held every job in the corporation and was the company's first stenographer and typist. He retired from that company in 1947 as president and became chairman of the board.
When W.S. was 15 he read his first book on ventriloquism, "How To Be A Ventriloquist" by Harry Kennedy. He attended Dime Museums (the predacessor to vaudeville) as much as possible and saw most of the popular ventriloquists of his day including The Great Lester. 
However it wasn't until W.S. was in his 30's while on a business trip to New York City for the Cambridge Tile Co. in 1910 that he purchased his first figure (left). He dubbed the figure Tommy Baloney, but it wasn't until he retired some 40 years later that he began to persue ventriloquism in ernest and collected a wealth of written information, playbills, and figures.
All the greats visited his home and collection, which he called 'Vent Haven', and the door was always open to anyone with a desire to visit. W.S. loved ventriloquists to come visit, photograph and handle the collection, and pour over the library (a sharp contrast, I might add, to recent years as a museum when no photographs are allowed, a strict hands off policy is enforced, and a significant 'research charge' has been placed on use of the library). Vent Haven was incorporated in 1962 as a non-profit trust to ensure that it remained a permanent record of the history of the art W.S. loved so much.
The favorite figure of W.S. Berger was an early Marshall figure he christened 'Skinny Hamilton' (left with W.S. in 1969), but the most spectacular figure belonged to his wife 'Muzz'. Jocko (right with russian hurdy gurdy), a custom made McElroy figure made in 1938 was given to 'Muzz' when W.S. became tired of people wanting to buy him.
I had heard of W.S. Berger and his hundreds of ventriloquial figures since I first became interested in ventriloquism in 1965, but didn't acquire his address until 1969. Perhaps it was the brashness of youth, but I penned a letter of introduction to the great ventriloquial historian and was totally enthralled when I received a letter back within a few days. This began a letter writing friendship that lasted until his passing in 1972. Mr. Berger eventually had to move into the Baptist Convalescent Home in Newport, Kentucky where he would lament that they did not like him writing letters all day, so he would write them at night in the dark with the aide of a flashlight. His mind was sharp as ever, even as he now relied on a wheel chair and in his last letter to me from the home he talked about the great and upcoming figure makers.
W.S. Berger passed away on June 24, 1972 at the age of 94.
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