Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-07
TRICKS OF THE VOICE.
VentrilOquist Kennedy Tells the Sc
cret of His Popular Art
DOCTORS MARVEL AT HIS THROAT.
How He Once Made Sailors Believe Their
Vessel Was Haunted.
4 TRAMP WAS HIS FIRST PARTNER
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsrArcH.I


ing the human voice that it seems to come
from some other direction than the right
one."
That is what Harry Kennedy, the famous
ventriloquist and song writer, said to me
the other day. While we were talking on
the stage, where had called to see him, he
excused himself and went to the door and
Immediately darted back apparently fright
ened by the hoarse barking of a teroeious
dog.
Dangerous dog that, )" he remarked as he
shut the door.
"Why don't you have it taken away"
suggested, nerVously.
81 will" Thereupon he went again to the
door, and, calling man, told him to chain
the dog up. In a minute the dogs bark
changed to howIs and ended in pitifuI
whine down in the pit of the theater near
the stage.
81 guess its all right now, continued Mr..
Kennedy.
"Ventriloquism, he said, ''is simply Q
vocal delusion. Sometimes. adVentitious
circumstances make this delusion seem al
most reality and the listeners would take
oath that their senses had not deceived them.
For instance with party of tourists once
visited famous cave in Derbyshire.
While we were at the mouth OF the cavern
a mournful wall seemed to come from the
darkness and was echoed a score of times to
the intense horror and fright of my eompan-
ions. The cave was haunted 1t is hardly
necessary to saw that / was the uneasy
ghost, but the circumstances that sur
rounded the trick made its startlings real
istic.
INSPIRED BY BOOK.
"In telling you how became a ventrilo-
quist, you will see how difficult it is to ac-
quire the art. One of the first works of fc-
ton that ever read was Valentine Vox
That book made me a ventriloquist as it has
undoubtedly started many another boy on
the same course for at least a month or
more. I used to wake nv brother up at
night trying to throw my voice into the
| farther side of the room or out of the win
| dow. 1 have no doubt that during that
| time 1 was the most disagreeable boy to
sleep with in ali England.
SIN those days we had penny readings in
a public hall and among the entertainers
who were engaged for the season was pro-
fessor of ventriloq uism. After the reading
/ sidled up to the professor and begged him
to give me a private exhibition of his art.
After some coaxing he consented. / piled
him with questions which he was not dis
posed to answer to my satisfaction. Finally
he said, Now young man I've told you all
1 intend to. If you can learn the trick come
to me in six months and tell me so.' Six
months later 1 called on him and repeated
his trick, not so we'll as he did 1t, but well
enough to merit his praise.
HRefore I was Il left home with a IittIa
money in my pocket to 90 to sea. 1 wanted
| to see the world and didn't want to see it
as most persons do. / presume if had
been an American bov would have gone
out West to fight Indians. 1 was full Of
romantic ideas-ideas which have been
knocked out of me so long that 1 can hardly
realize that ever had them.
A TRAMP FOR A PARTNER.
ST started to walk to Birmingham. On
my way 1 met professional tramp. A
courteous, educated Irish gentleman whose
fondness for liquor had sent him adrift in the
world. We became companions. As we
were passing bit of woods so modulated
nly voice that a man seemed to be calling to
us from the copse. A short search failed to
find him. repeated the trick again further
on with the same success and then en-
boldened by success 1 repeated it over too
often and was detected.
"When the tramp discovered the fraud
his face was a study. The beatifc ex-
preston that spread over his phiz was as
though it beheld a vision. He looked as
Mulberry Sellers looked when he discovered
q plan with millions in it Our fortune
was made, so he said, and few minutes
later he proved it, to his satisfaction st
least. We came to a roadside inn, and as
it was early in the evening, we went in.
The tap room was filled and the guests were
enjoying themselves with ale and gossip.
pipes and songs. 1t was the very nick Of
time. The tramp introduced me with melt
ing eloquence and gave my performance.
After it was over he passed around the hat
and collected 4 shillings pence, which he
handed to me to keep. He was my first
partner. 1 followed the sea for several
years before the mast and on the quarter
deck, and during those years / saw almost
all of the world worth seeing. Meanwhile
kept up my ventriloquism as pastime
and many trick played on my mates.
PLAYING THE GHOST.
Once when we were 27 days going from
Boston to Montreal with freight of railroad
iron, made the crew believe there vas
ghost in the hold, and we had to hire other
help to unload the cargo. 1t finally leaked
out that was the ghost and the story came
to the ears of Signor Boseo, a magician and
mesmerist. He persuaded me to leave the
sea and travel with him. In thr, e months
time could do all OF his illusions and then
started out in business for myself. In 1874
Joined the Rosario combination with j. E.
Brown, the famous mind reader, who was
Just beginning his career, and came to New
York. Since then my professional life ID
we'll known to the theater-going public.
The most difficult feat that Mr. Kennedy
does is to recite poem entitled: Listen
to the Water Mill" Owing to the many
repetitions Of the letter IN" which is the
hardest OF all letters to pronounce without
closing the lips, one of the stanzas Of the
poem is regarded as the supreme test Of
ventriloquism. Mr.. Kennedy makes the
sound "M' by what might be likened to Q
grunt which is made from the abdomen. II
you think this is easily done, practice it
once or twice.
HINTS FOR THE BOYS.
"Now," said Mr.. Kennedy, SCI will give
you all I can that will Help anyone who
wants to learn how to become ventrilo-
quist. The first thing necessary to learn the
trick is to become good mimic. After
boy has learned to do this he can begin with
real yentriloquism. Try and sound all the
letters without moving the lips. This re-
quires much practice and patience.
''Here is the one secret in learning the
art. 1t is the one thing that most boys
never think of and consequently fail in
their tuition. Always initiate sounds a.
they fall upon your ears. Ii you hear man
halloo in the distance reproduce that sound
so that when it comes from your lips 1t is
exactly like the distant sound that struck
your ears.