Many years ago when I was first starting out as a ventriloquist, I would ask any ventriloquist or magic shop owner the same question. "What is the best book to teach me ventriloquism?" The answer was always the same in the Detroit area. "’You, Too, Can Be A Ventriloquist’ by Earl Gotberg." I was told the book was out of print, but the author was working on a revised edition. My mom began calling Mr. Gotberg about his book, but as far as I know the book was never republished. I did get to meet Mr. Gotberg, however, at the 1970 Vent-O-Rama in Colon, Michigan. It turned out that we had mutual friends and we became good friends over the years.
Earl Gotberg had read books on self-development and interesting hobbies ever since his child hood. As a young man around 1939, he happened across a book on ventriloquism in the public library. As he read page after page of the book, Earl could visualize himself "entertaining large audiences and could see and hear them laughing uproariously at the clever antics and witticisms of my little ‘pal’. The strangest part of it all is that at that very moment I was absolutely certain that at some future time I would be entertaining as a ventriloquist – there just wasn’t any doubt about it."
Earl began carrying a small mirror in his coat pocket so he could practice his ventriloquism anywhere. His goals were to learn to talk without any lip movement, develop a good ‘second’ voice for the dummy he would someday own, and to develop a good ‘drone’ so he could ‘throw his voice’. He accomplished all three goals and was certainly one of the best I ever saw with the telephone routine.
After accomplishing his goals Earl began searching for a figure, but none of those sold by the magic supply houses met with his expectations. One day he ran into a friend who was a professional magician and mentioned his search. He was given the name and address of a professional ventriloquist in the area that might be able to assist him. That evening, Earl went to see Fred Maher who had just purchased a McElroy figure, but still had his "old friend" that he had performed with for many years. Maher was reluctant to part with his old figure, but when he saw his genuine enthusiasm sold Earl the figure for the sum of $25 (a lot of money for the time) which was earned from selling boxes of Christmas cards so he wouldn’t have to pay for it out of his modest salary. Fred Maher certainly had a heart of gold for not only did he agree to let Earl take the figure as soon as he paid a $10 deposit, he in fact also bought the first $6 worth of Christmas cards so the figure in fact cost him $19!
Earl was always willing to help younger vents learn new technique and give wanted advice. I remember John Pattison, Dave Garrison, myself and a host of other vents informally standing around while Earl gave us examples of the distant voice and the telephone voice.
Earl passed away many years ago now, but his influence lives on in all the young vents who bought his book after seeing his performance at their school many years ago, who he informally instructed over the years, or he befriended. A truly class act in life.
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