Figure maker
Len Insull
1883 – 1974
The English trade's great supplier. Insull figures went out through Davenports to the ventriloquists who defined British variety.
Len Insull started a stage property business around 1918 and later made his first figure for Tom Coram. He went on to build for Peter Brough and Ray Alan. His son, Len Insull Jr., carried on the family business and was known for putting pneumatic devices into figures and for the Toby jug; the son died in 1957, before his father, who lived until 1974.
The figures were sold through Davenports in London, the same dealer that handled D.T. Ellis's work. Examples in this collection from the 1940s are signed Davenport on the underside of the body and on the neck.
The house face is a cheeky boy, and the site calls it the most popular Insull produced.
The mechanics
A well-equipped Insull cheeky boy carries lower lip and upper lip, side-to-side self-centering eyes, winkers and blinkers, raising eyebrows and wiggling ears. Bodies, lower legs and hands are papier-mâché. One figure in the collection has crying eyes.
The figures
82 photographs across 5 cataloged objects. Each object is one entry in the register — where a character name covers two physical figures, they stay two entries, because the character outlives the object more often than the record admits.
Exceedingly Rare Len 10 photographs
- Size
- 27"
- Materials
- papier-mâché; mohair
- Dates given
- 1950
Recorded owner Ventriloquist Central Collection as stated on the source page when it was written — not current ownership
Len Cheeky Boy 12 photographs
- Size
- 42"
- Movements
- self-centering eyes; winkers; raising eyebrows; crying eyes
- Dates given
- 1950
Len Cheeky Boy Spike 11 photographs
- Size
- 42"
- Materials
- leather
- Movements
- self-centering eyes; winkers
- Dates given
- 1969
Recorded owner Ventriloquist Central Collection as stated on the source page when it was written — not current ownership
Super Rare Len Female 14 photographs
- Size
- 44"
- Movements
- self-centering eyes; raising eyebrows
- Dates given
- 1950
Old Man Len 14 photographs
- Size
- 44"
- Movements
- self-centering eyes; winkers; raising eyebrows
- Dates given
- 1950
From the collection pages 10 photographs
Photographs on Len Insull’s index and reference pages rather than on a single figure’s entry — portraits, shop material and close studies of one detail across several figures. They are not counted as objects in the register.
From the collection pages 3 photographs
Photographs on Len Insull’s index and reference pages rather than on a single figure’s entry — portraits, shop material and close studies of one detail across several figures. They are not counted as objects in the register.
From the collection pages 6 photographs
Photographs on Len Insull’s index and reference pages rather than on a single figure’s entry — portraits, shop material and close studies of one detail across several figures. They are not counted as objects in the register.
From the collection pages 2 photographs
Photographs on Len Insull’s index and reference pages rather than on a single figure’s entry — portraits, shop material and close studies of one detail across several figures. They are not counted as objects in the register.
