{"id":12920,"date":"2024-09-12T16:52:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T20:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=12920"},"modified":"2024-09-18T09:03:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T13:03:53","slug":"word-of-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=12920","title":{"rendered":"Word of mouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does it take to be a ventriloquist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A good ventriloquist can make a puppet talk without moving their own lips. But an excellent ventriloquist creates a distinct personality with their dummy \u2014 the puppet says what it wants to say, and the ventriloquist doesn\u2019t have much time to think about a response. Sometimes I\u2019m so into the performance that my puppet, Maria, and I have a real conversation. It\u2019s odd; I know.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you get into ventriloquism?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a kid, I felt it was my responsibility to entertain my baby sister. I would pretend to make objects talk \u2014 her dolls, her blankets and pillows, even her food. It made her so happy, so I did it all the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us about your first real puppet.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

My parents bought me the Willie Talk doll, which had a string near its neck to open and close the mouth. Days after I got Willie, I pretended he had a dangerous fever. I stuck a thermometer down his mouth to take his temperature, but it got stuck and ruined his mouth mechanism. When I asked my parents for a new puppet, they said no. Back then, McDonald\u2019s gave out burgers in Styrofoam containers that connected in the back, which made for an easy puppet mouth. So I began making my own puppets out of McDonald\u2019s containers and my mother\u2019s beaded jewelry. Don\u2019t tell her. She still doesn\u2019t know.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you learn the art of ventriloquy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a self-taught ventriloquist. When I was younger, there were no books on how to be a ventriloquist. I watched a lot of Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop. Since then, we have seen ventriloquists like comedian Jeff Dunham and, more recently, America\u2019s Got Talent winner Darci Lynne. I am sure there\u2019s a lot more information now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you develop Maria\u2019s character?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maria is 5 years old and in kindergarten. She says things a 5-year-old would say, and she does things that a 5-year-old would do. She has no filter, which sometimes gets her into big trouble. I believe that everything has a voice and that everything has something to say. Kids think she\u2019s real. Magic is a really important part of being little, and Maria provides that suspension of disbelief. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karen Rostoker-Gruber \u201985 credits her career to baby talk, McDonald\u2019s packaging, and tight lips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":343,"featured_media":12921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-back-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12920"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12991,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12920\/revisions\/12991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}