following. Always returning to the Chica- go area when his tours were over, he soon found that he had a following of young men who wanted to learn what he had developed over a very short period – the art of “throwing ones voice” or ventriloquism. He decided to teach a few of them. One such student who years later would
become world famous on stage and a new medium called radio, was Edgar Bergen. Both the student, Bergen, and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, were one of the highest paid and viewed acts in the history of showbiz.
Lester could have been a bigger star with his act, but he had health problems
with depression. Besides vaudeville, he was headlined in Chautauqua and Lyceum circuits that were the showbiz of the small cities and rural areas. Often he would cut his tours short to return to Chicago to con- tinue teaching the art that he loved.
Lester had a very religious upbringing in the Catholic Church, and at one point he was studying to become a priest. He soon learned that he was not cut out for that life, and that the call of the audiences was just too much.
As the vaudeville theaters died, first radio and then movies pushed the live entertainers into a new field called the “nightclubs.” Lester was soon to find that the audiences were smaller to work to and inattentive, with waiters delivering food and drink.
In 1937, Lester moved to New York City hoping that there would be work for his act. But, New York proved fruitless, as well as his next move to San Francisco.He got to thinking about his ventriloquist course that he started writing when he was in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The logical place to continue his work on this project was in the Los Angeles-Hollywood area where his former student and friend was finding great success with radio.
By 1951, with Joe Berg moving west, Lester, too, decided to join his friend and set up a studio of ventriloquism. I doubt that it was an accident that Lester opened his studio within walking distance of Joe Berg’s magic shop on Hollywood Boule- vard and Edgar Bergen’s offices around the corner from there. Lester wanted to get Edgar to endorse and finance his course in ventriloquism.
Within a few months of writing and set- ting up his studio, Lester called on Edgar and laid out his plans for his course. At that time, Bergen was all over the new medium of radio and was considered a superstar with his guest appearances and his own weekly radio show; plus, the motion pic- ture industry was calling on him to make movies. He told Lester that he was willing to help him with writing, publishing, and
endorsing the ventriloquist lessons, but he wanted it in book form. After months of recordings made by Lester and changes by Bergen’s representatives, the manuscript was partly finished, but the book was never published. Lester would continue to make changes.
Lester’s act with his figure was a big hit in vaudeville and other early theaters because he had a powerful character voice. Without amplification, he could do his numerous voices and be heard on the last rows of the large theaters. When he picked up a telephone on the stage and pretended to be talking to the operator who would then connect him with another “person,” the conversations would continue, and the audiences would break into big applause. His voices were truly magical.
The Great Lester has had a profound impact upon ventriloquism for the past ninety years. The list of hobbyists and pro- fessional ventriloquists he influenced is very long.
Beginning in 1960, David Erskine decided to collect as much of Lester’s writ- ings and recordings that he could find and write a book on the man’s life, The Great
Lester: Ventriloquism’s Renaissance Man,
available in paperback on Amazon. In the book, David goes into the early life of Lester in developing his act and the scores of ventriloquists that he taught his techniques. David also listened to hours of recordings that Lester used to teach stu- dents and included transcripts of them, too.
Lester’s life story is a good lesson in trouping a show, even today. He covers the problems that he encountered and the solu- tions he used to move forward. There is a section that tells of his first meeting with Edgar Bergen and the advice he gave him about being a performer. That advice should be printed out and put on every per- former’s bulletin board, then read over and over, every day. Whether you wish to be a “voice thrower” or just a better entertainer, David Erskine’s book should help you.
Bev Bergeron
Bruce Walstad started performing magic at age eight. During his high school years, magic was put on hold, but in his late teens, his interest in magic returned. He started performing at birthday parties for family and friends. Bruce joined the Inter- national Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians in the mid- 1970s. He was fortunate to live in the Chicago area and was able to meet and learn from many of the great Chicago magicians, including Jay Marshall, Billy Bishop, Don Alan, John Shirley, Hank Moorehouse, Ed Marlo, Sam Berland, Marshall Brodien, and many others. Liv- ing in the Chicago area also provided Bruce with the opportunity to perform on the Chicago Bozo’s Circus several times.
As the years passed, Bruce found his niche in school assemblies. For over twen- ty-five years, he performed at elementary schools, averaging seventy-five appear- ances per year. Over time, the show grew and several illusions were added. His favorites were the Zig-Zag Lady, the Hindu Basket, and Chair Suspension. Bruce’s magic has been influenced by Jay Marshall, David Ginn, J. B. Bobo, Hank Moorehouse, Gene Gordon, John Booth and Edwin Hooper.
In the real world, Bruce worked the night shift in a steel mill for six years after high school. In the mid-1970s, Bruce went to work for the Franklin Park Police