A Gottle of Gear - Ventriloquism - History - Ray Alan - Documentary

Here’s a lovely and unique documentary about Ventriloquism written and presented by the late great ventriloquist Ray Alan broadcast in 1986 on Channel 4. It includes numerous clips of famous ventriloquists,and. Apologies for the 3 clips I have had to remove to comply with youtubes copyright requirements to avoid having this valuable documentary blocked.
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) changes his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered “dummy”. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing, and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to “throw” one’s voice.
Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practiceThe name comes from the Latin for to speak from the stomach, i.e. venter (belly) and loqui (speak).[2] The Greeks called this gastromancy The noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist would then interpret the sounds, as they were thought to be able to speak to the dead, as well as foretell the future. One of the earliest recorded group of prophets to utilise this technique was the Pythia, the priestess at the temple of Apollo in Delphi, who acted as the conduit for the Delphic

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

I once heard Ray Alan say when he was a very young performer Oliver Hardy { Laurel and Hardy of course } climbed a lot of stairs to reach his dressing room at the top of the theater just to get HIS autograph!, now thats a compliment

[@architectofechoes4]

There are some great ventriloquists around these days, Nina Conti, Paul Zerdin, Jeff Dunham and others but none could match Ray, IMO he still reigns supreme !

[@neilfranklin5644]

Yes so many stand with a fixed grin , and hide their hardest words words behind the microphone , while distracting you with the puppets actions.

[@CricketEngland]

I loved Rodger De Courcy and Nookie Bear

[@darrylashton8428]

The best one was Dennis Spicer. But a lot had tapes hidden in the dummies and some would cheat. Not mentioning no names.

[@colinp2238]

Grilliant!

[@samhain1894]

colin Paterson 😆😆

[@trevorkeyes1639]

One of the best ray alan and lord Charles great double act.

[@posnerist]

this guy simply the best......othres moved their mouth but not ray.....

[@Mrphilharmonic]

Only worked with Ray once, but what a gentleman and consummate professional!

[@MrDavey2010]

Ray Allan was the creme de la creme. Superb!

[@CricketEngland]

I loved Rodger De Courcy and Nookie Bear

[@MrDavey2010]

@@CricketEngland Yep he was good too.

[@michaeljames4904]

A fascinating docu by the best vent of all.

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

I dont know about anyone else but I laughed all the way through this, so funny

[@twocentsopinion]

Unbelievably fantastic

[@Dallas-Nyberg]

Great stuff!... RIP Ray Alan

[@BarryAllenMagic]

I saw Terri Rogers work a couple of all male audience 'Stag Nights' in East London, back in the early 1980's. She had the crowds, not just Shorty', in the palm of her hand. An absolutely brilliant act. Terri was also a very accomplished magician, who released a number of very creative tricks to our fraternity.

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

The greatest ever, a brilliantly funny act

[@jessiehermit9503]

Which one?

[@Slashkamr]

Honestly he was the best... he only slurred his words with Lord Charles... because Lord Charles slurred his words like a real drunk English Lord... but he managed to say hospital without a slur and no mouth movement... where as I watched the other vents most moved their mouth

[@CricketEngland]

I loved Rodger De Courcy and Nookie Bear

[@lisawilliams7836]

Thank you very, very much. 😊

[@kevcar08]

Thanks for posting, brilliant memories.

[@Bob-nu3xe]

I worked in the clubs has a musician when a ventriloquist was on I would walk in the dressing room look at the dummy and was terrified, now I think of all those dummies of acts long gone so creepy

[@davidluck4608]

Lord Charles creases me up 🧐

[@jimhood1202]

Absolutely classic. Still works!

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

Ray is the all time master, there have been some very great ones but nothing like Ray. Peter Brough doing all those Royal Christmas parties and no knighthood!, what a disgrace and they gave one to Mick Jagger

[@stevebarclay3225]

Worked with Ray a few times, loverly man!

[@BackToTheBlues]

I always had the feeling he was, nice to know it was true!

[@Sabre_Wulf1]

What a wonderful era, i was the age of those kids in the church with the chaplin at the time of this recording. I loved being entertained by the vents , and still makes my heart glow when i watch uploads like Ray. I show my kids these and they love it, they are hugely into jeff dunham now. Wish there was more these days , the talent is just incredible.

[@petermetcalfe6722]

I remember that when it was first shown. I also remember Peter Brough and Archie appearing on the Russell Harty Show and Russell commented that he could see his lips move.

[@joannegray5138]

I've seen a few clips where Peter Brough (plus Archie Andrews, of course) has guested on chat shows and his lips moved more than the puppet's did. He tried to cover this up on one appearance by smoking a cigar and covering his lips with his smoking hand (must have been a late 60s/early 70s show before Health and Safety banned smoking in TV studios). It's no wonder Educating Archie worked best on the radio - Peter Brough didn't have to work so hard to cover his mouth. I say this without wishing to sound disrespectful; I'm too young to have heard Educating Archie the first time round (I was born in 1971) and have listened to what few shows are left in existence thanks to Radio 4Xtra and thoroughly enjoyed them.

[@crankbv1]

Joanne Gray. I once heard a lovely story regarding Peter Brough. It seems that Peter was very aware of his failings as a vent act and it must have concerned him. One day he was in his dressing room practicing his lines in front of a mirror when in walked Beryl Reid,who was appearing on the same show. Brough turned to her and said,' Beryl..is it very obvious when my lips move? To which Ms,Reid replied, 'Only when the doll speaks,dear!' Incidentally, could there be anything more ludicrous than a vent' act on radio. And yet Educating Archie helped to launch the careers of so many famous artistes.

[@simonprice1938]

@@crankbv1 quite true Ken Bruce on radio 2 told the same story 2 yrs ago... so funny

[@jrgboy]

@@simonprice1938 Beryl Reid, who was in his radio show, said cos it was radio he never bothered to hid his mouth..

[@jcjohnsong8570]

Most famous radio ventriloquist were very talented at the art (and keeping lips still) before they got their radio show ... But years and years of not having to worry about hiding lip movement while on radio they slowly get more and more sloppy about hiding lip movement. To judge their talents you really have to find clips of them BEFORE the radio show if you can ...

[@BuzzJones]

This is great

[@johnfraraccio99]

There are indeed clips available of Arthur Worsley in action. And Dennis Spicer is simply amazing. But study Wences: The mic stands right in front of him and the occasional camera-cut shows his mouth moves, but each character voice comes from OVER THERE.

[@jonwizard3989]

Not forgetting the so-called "incense" wafting about in temples was in fact drugs to get you stoned! A lot of Jiggery-Pokery went on back then...same as now! Well Done Ray!

[@awotnot]

brilliant such a shame about the youtube copyright stupidity - esp as entertainment is almost non-existent nowadays ... all about money and ego instead

[@blueskye6372]

Interesting January 3, 2019. 📺🎬📽️🎞️

[@dixonnegron1083]

Very informative, entertaining and funny.

[@DaveLennonCopeland]

Lord Charles is the only dummy/doll that is not creepy as...

[@markhuff6849]

Nurse Patterson in the Charlie McCarthy skit is Lucille Ball!

[@billcobbett9259]

if you couldn't find film of Arthur Worsley, how come someone found it for KZbin?

[@videocurios]

A lot of youngsters raised in the age of the internet super highway do not realise how much easier its become to do research because of the internet when this was broadcast such a thing was Science fiction,and being able to share stuff on youtube has inspired people to unearth stuff that in years gone by nobody thought was of any value. Channel 4 when this was broadcast was a fledgling TV channel struggling to find advertisers so any research was done on very limited funds.

[@jcjohnsong8570]

Bill ... ... Its not that he couldn't find film of Arthur Worsley ... Its that he to remove it to get past the KZbin copyright Police ... He'd have to have taken the whole show down if he didn't remove that part ...

[@CricketEngland]

I loved Rodger De Courcy and Nookie Bear

[@nigelallwright194]

very interesting

[@IanRowland01]

Does anyone know who 'Shirley' is, mentioned at about the 18m 38s point? I don't know why he doesn't state her full name, as he does for all the other people who featured in the show.

[@seanwilkinson3975]

I'd love to be able to perform this art with even a modicum of skill. It's projecting one's voice to seem that it's coming from another source that baffles me most.

[@totallyfrozen]

Sean Wilkinson You can learn it. There are plenty of instructional videos on KZbin. The “secret” is really just practice.

[@peterward2275]

Interesting. So Nina Conti wasn't the first to do the routine with the psychologost...

[@lotusgroup123]

Peter Ward And the clip where the two members of the audience are used, admittedly without the masks. Can’t help thinking she must have watched this as an aspiring or young vent...

[@it5617]

This is the first" Charlie bit my finger" @13:08

[@askhowiknow5527]

“That’ll learn ya dern ya”

[@Kris_Toffer]

13:06 Charlie biting someones finger.. where have I seen that before? hmm..

[@grahamparr4710]

It is a good job Peter brough was on the radio I have seen him on tv he is crap.

[@bobrew461]

7:14 Thunderbirds.

[@videocurios]

[@CHESSTERUK]

Where was Shari Lewis and Lambchop.

[@videocurios]

I may have had to edit her out to get around youtube's copyright thingy.

[@lotusgroup123]

She does get a mention and a “still” pic

[@Hotshotter3000]

I'm at the gottle of gear phase of learning. I want to get better.

[@davidwalter2002]

Don't you mean you want to get getter?

[@RonWylie-gk5lc]

dont you mean getter? lol

[@Aquaseventytree]

Why are some of the clips missing?

[@videocurios]

+Aquaseventytree KZbin's copyright blocker prevented the inclusion of a few film clips

[@Aquaseventytree]

videocurios Oh, of course. Still enjoyed it, thanks.

[@99ize18]

Our old friend copyright.

[@tomhaskett5161]

Still laughing at Sandy Powell!

[@videocurios]