Name: Lester Ventriloquist Dummy by EEGEE
Made by and When: EEGEE, ©1973
Material: Vinyl head, wrists, and hands; stuffed cloth body, arms and legs; synthetic hair, paint
Marks: (On the head) ©1973 / LESTER / ©EEGEE CO. / 24
Height: Lester is 24 inches tall. The travel case measures 16 x 12 x 4 inches.
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Black curly rooted hair, black side-glancing painted eyes, pull-string-operated ventriloquist mouth, painted pink lips.
Clothes/Accessories: Lester wears a gold corduroy jacket, brown pants, and has black-cloth-covered legs and feet. A 16 x 12 x 4-inch orange travel case with venue stickers on the front accompanied this Lester version. Round-frame glasses and black shoes with Velcro flap closures are missing.
Other: EEGEE made different versions of Lester to represent the ventriloquist dummy used by the famous African American ventriloquist Willy Tyler. Received as a Christmas present, this Lester is the former childhood doll of Deborah (Debbie) Pearson whose father (Donald Pearson) donated Lester to Dee Bee Gee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum. A detailed letter of provenance accompanied Lester.
Ventriloquist Central website indicates this Lester uses a painted-brown 1950s Howdy Doody 1 head sculpt.
Gallery
A Related Installation
See another Lester ventriloquist dummy by Juro from the 1960s here.
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