Rudy Vallee sang for a living. Everybody agrees on that part. He fronted the Connecticut Yankees, hosted the Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, and turned the megaphone into a piece of American furniture.[1] Nobody puts "ventriloquist" on his marquee, and they shouldn't. But open this family's own records, the ones this archive keeps, and a second Rudy Vallee walks in. A man who placed an urgent custom order with the McElroy Brothers in 1938, who named his own figures and gave them their own voices, who worked them into his night club act, and who stayed close enough to this world for the rest of his life that its own newsletter kept printing his name. Pull up a chair. This is the Rudy Vallee the vent world remembers.
The order that held up the boss's own monkey
In 1938 Vallee placed an urgent order with the McElroy Brothers, the shop whose mechanical heads were already the standard the rest of the trade measured itself against. He wanted three figures, and he wanted them badly enough that his order jumped the queue: it pushed back another commission already waiting, W.S. Berger's own monkey figure Jacko, by a full year.[2] By March of 1950 he was booked at the Olympia Theater in Miami, and the trade press already had him down as carrying three McElroy figures in the act.[3]
The shop's own later accounting put a number on the whole relationship. By the time the McElroy Brothers tallied it, they had built four figures for Rudy Vallee to work into his night club act, more than for any other single customer this archive has found on record.[4] Fred Maher, who ran a well-known home-study vent course of the era, got a testimonial out of him too: "Yours is a fine course," signed Rudy Vallee, and Maher's own catalog claimed Vallee had sought him out.[2] A man that busy doesn't order four custom mechanical figures and sit for a testimonial photo as a passing fancy.
Linoleum, Sally Ann, and Ezry
The names are the best part of this story. Vallee's cast had a girl figure named Sally Ann, a country boy he called Ezry ("Mortimer Snerd's brother," by his own description), and a figure named Linoleum, so called, in Vallee's own words, because his wife walked all over him. When Vallee saw the eyebrow mechanism the McElroys had built into Bob Neller's figure Dizzy Dugan, he asked the brothers to add the same movement to all three of his own.[5] These weren't shelf pieces. They were characters with names and jokes attached, built by their owner, the way this whole trade has always done it.
By May of 1951 the Oracle had him down as recently taking to television, introducing his three vent figures to the public.[6] Elsewhere in the record, Vallee and Bob Neller shared a bill and a stage, each working his own McElroy figure from a stool at a microphone, in a photograph that survives in this archive. Same shop, same era, two performers who bought into it.[7]
The night he put Bergen on the air
Here's the one line in Vallee's file that matters most to this family. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy made their radio debut as a guest spot on Rudy Vallee's own program, at a moment when, in the vent world's own account of it, "all other radio talent scouts considered a ventriloquial act not suited to radio."[6] Vallee booked him anyway. The guest spot landed so well that Bergen and McCarthy had their own show within the year, and stayed on network radio for two decades after that.[8] The Oracle, ventriloquism's own trade paper, didn't undersell what Vallee had done: "How wrong Rudy proved them to be."[6]
History files Vallee as a bandleader who happened to book a ventriloquist once. This family remembers him as the man who put his own show behind an act every other talent scout in the business had already turned down, and won big enough that it launched Bergen and McCarthy's own two-decade run on network radio.
Vent Haven kept him close
Vallee wasn't a guest who wandered through once and vanished. In November 1950, freshly married to his bride Eleanor, he brought bandleader Clyde Dupont along to visit Vent Haven itself, and the museum's own newsletter noted he "still retains a great interest in ventriloquial presentations" and "possesses three McElroy figures in his cast."[9] The following spring he aired a segment on W.S. Berger, Vent Haven, and the Oracle on his own broadcast, and was readying a second program to go deeper into the museum's own collection, with recordings of both broadcasts kept at Vent Haven itself.[6]
The relationship outlasted the decade. At Christmas 1955 Vallee sent Berger an album of his own song recordings. At the New Year in 1957 he sent another package of records, this time named: "The Kid from Maine" and "Let's Do It."[10] By March of 1955 the Oracle's own summary of him read like a proud friend's report card: he was the man "who publicized the Vent Haven on radio, got Edgar Bergen started in radio, is now back, after too long an absence, on radio, and who has made a few TV appearances, too."[11]
Where the figures went
Ansel Willinger's 2012 census of the surviving McElroy figures traced all three of Vallee's originals, decades after Vallee himself was gone. Linoleum belongs to the collector Alan Ende. Sally Ann belongs to the magician David Copperfield. And Ezry belongs to the ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, who renamed him Ollie on a friend's suggestion the first time he saw the figure in 1984, and later used Ollie as the model for a copy built for fellow performer David Erskine.[5] Twenty-eight McElroys are known to survive out of a shop whose full output the trade never kept a sales ledger for. One collector's figures, all three accounted for, in a business that almost never allows that. It's the exception that shows what the missing records for the other twenty-five would have looked like.
The partners
Ezry (believed)
The country boy Vallee called "Mortimer Snerd's brother." James J. Kriegsmann's New York studio shot the portrait.
Linoleum (believed)
Named, in Vallee's own words, for a wife who walked all over him. A Murray Korman studio portrait, New York.
On the road with Bob Neller
Neller, left, works Dizzy Dugan. Vallee, right, works one of his own McElroys. Same shop, same stage.
Four figures, one crooner, and poor old Jacko the monkey bumped a whole year down the waiting list. I always said the megaphone had competition.— Freddy Fiddlesticks, spokesdummy
Sightings in the newspapers
33 dated notices between 1937 and 1963. Each links to the scanned page at the Library of Congress. Browse all Career Snippets
- 1937Mar 3 According to the March 3, 1937 New York Day by Day column, Rudy Vallee gave Edgar Bergen a big career boost. page
- 1941Jan 30 Rudy Vallee makes his debut as a ventriloquist in Pathe's "Picture People," according to a 1941 newspaper item. page
- 1941Jan 30 Rudy Vallee makes his debut as a ventriloquist in Pathe's 'Picture People.' page
- 1941Jan 30 Rudy Vallee makes his debut as a ventriloquist in Pathe's 'Picture People,' according to a 1941 newspaper item. page
- 1941Jan 30 Rudy Vallee makes his debut as a ventriloquist in Pathe's "Picture People" (noted in a 1941 newspaper column). page
- 1941Jan 31 Rudy Vallee makes his debut as a ventriloquist in Pathe's 'Picture People' (reported January 31, 1941). page
- 1941Jan 31 Rudy Vallee makes his debut as a ventriloquist in Pathe's 'Picture People,' as reported in a Jan 31, 1941 newspaper column. page
- 1941Aug 1 A 1941 newspaper trivia column states that radio-screen crooner Rudy Vallee had recently taken up ventriloquism, with a dummy called Sally Ann. page
- 1941Aug 1 A newspaper trivia column (Aug. 1, 1941) states that radio-screen crooner Rudy Vallee had recently taken up ventriloquism, with a dummy called Sally Ann. page
- 1941Aug 6 As reported in a 1941 newspaper trivia column, Rudy Vallee has recently taken up ventriloquism, with a dummy called Sally Ann. page
- 1941Aug 6 According to a 1941 newspaper trivia column, Rudy Vallee had recently taken up ventriloquism, performing with a dummy called Sally Ann. page
- 1941Oct 17 According to a 1941 newspaper trivia column, Rudy Vallee had recently taken up ventriloquism, with a dummy called Sally Ann. page
- 1941Oct 17 A 1941 newspaper trivia item states that Rudy Vallee had recently taken up ventriloquism, with a dummy called Sally Ann. page
- 1946Oct 31 Rudy Vallee, having learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen, has three dummies: Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Bergen's famous Mortimer Snerd), per a 1946-10-31 newspaper item. page
- 1946Oct 31 According to this 1946 column, Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen (who got his radio start on Vallee's program) and is now described as fairly proficient, owning three dummies: Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd, brother of the famous Mortimer (Snerd). page
- 1946Nov 1 Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now fairly proficient, according to a November 1946 newspaper item. page
- 1946Nov 1 Rudy Vallee has three dummies—Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Edgar Bergen's Mortimer Snerd), per a November 1946 newspaper item. page
- 1946Nov 1 According to the article, Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now 'fairly proficient.' page
- 1946Nov 1 Rudy Vallee is said to have three ventriloquist dummies: Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd, described as brother of the famous Mortimer (Snerd). page
- 1946Nov 1 Rudy Vallee reportedly learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now fairly proficient, with three dummies: Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Mortimer), per this Nov 1, 1946 item. page
- 1946Nov 1 According to this 1946 column, Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now fairly proficient, with three dummies named Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Bergen's Mortimer). page
- 1946Nov 8 Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now fairly proficient, owning three dummies: Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Mortimer), as reported in 1946. page
- 1946Nov 8 Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now fairly proficient, according to a 1946 newspaper item. page
- 1946Nov 8 Rudy Vallee has three ventriloquist dummies named Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Mortimer Snerd), per a 1946 newspaper item. page
- 1946Nov 21 Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now 'fairly proficient,' according to this 1946 newspaper column. page
- 1946Nov 21 Rudy Vallee has three ventriloquist dummies named Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (described as brother of the famous Mortimer), per this 1946 newspaper column. page
- 1946Nov 21 According to this 1946 column, Rudy Vallee learned ventriloquism from Edgar Bergen and is now 'fairly proficient,' owning three dummies named Sally Ann, Linoleum, and Ezra Snerd (brother of Mortimer Snerd). page
- 1949Nov 5 Rudy Vallee includes a spot of ventriloquism, done in fun rather than as competition, as part of his current act observed at the Shoreham (reviewed in a Washington newspaper dated 1949-11-05). page
- 1950Oct 12 Rudy Vallee's night club act featured 'a smoothly blended mixture of songs, reminiscences, shaggy dog stories and a dash of ventriloquism.' page
- 1950Oct 12 Rudy Vallee performed at the Shoreham Blue Room, where he had previously been the stellar first-night attraction when the hotel opened, and returned there again last year. page
- 1950Oct 12 Rudy Vallee's night club act, including a return engagement at the Shoreham Blue Room (where he had been the opening-night headliner years earlier), featured songs, reminiscences, shaggy dog stories, and 'a dash of ventriloquism.' page
- 1963Jul 17 Article says Rudy Vallee 'over the years, has become an actor, a comic and a ventriloquist.' page
- 1963Jul 17 A 1963 newspaper profile states that over the years Rudy Vallee 'has become an actor, a comic and a ventriloquist.' page
Sources
- "Rudy Vallée," Wikipedia and "Rudy Vallee," Magicpedia (Genii Magazine)
- "The McElroy Brothers Collection," Ventriloquist Central, corroborated by Figuring: The McElroy Brothers' Ventriloquist Figures (Amazon listing)
- The Oracle, March 4, 1950 (International Brotherhood of Ventriloquists)
- Photograph, Jimmy Vee collection — McElroy Brothers feature, Procter & Gamble employee magazine
- "Evolution of Raising Eyebrows in McElroy Ventriloquist Figures," Ventriloquist Central Blog
- The Oracle, May 6, 1951 (International Brotherhood of Ventriloquists)
- "Ventriloquists of the 20th Century," Ventriloquist Central — Bob Neller entry, "Neller toured with Rudy Vallee"
- "Ventriloquists in Old Time Radio," OTRCAT and "December 17, 1936: Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy's Debut on Rudy Vallee's Show," Old Radio
- The Oracle, November 12, 1950 (International Brotherhood of Ventriloquists)
- The Oracle, January 2, 1956; January 2, 1957, page 2; and March 4, 1957 (International Brotherhood of Ventriloquists)
- The Oracle, March 4, 1955 (International Brotherhood of Ventriloquists)