I was born in Geneva, Switzerland.
When I was six years old, I saw a ventriloquist who conversed with his dummy at a school party. I was spellbound and fascinated. That same year, I discovered the famous Knie Circus in Geneva. The enchantment and the magic of those two events molded the pathway of my life.
This enchantment still holds its effect after a career of forty years.
From the age of six to fifteen, my principal diversion and pastime was playing with my Punch and Judy puppets; giving them life and words was my favorite form of play.
At the age of fifteen I built my first ventriloquist doll from a wood log.It was dreadful. At that time I was not much of a puppet maker. However, it did allow me to make my début on stage in an amateur contest organized by the Swiss Circle of Magicians.
The president of the Circle was Jan Nostram, who made an exception in making me a member of the Circle in spite of my young age. From fifteen to nineteen years of age, I learned and improved my art by performing once or twice a week in various shows. At the age of twenty, I became a professional. There were at that time many cabarets and music halls, and it was rather easy to find bookings.
When I was twenty-two years old, I had the good fortune to be booked into what was at the time the premier cabaret - music hall in Paris, the NOUVELLE EVE, which still exists to this day.
I say I had the good fortune because it was there that I met Jackie Vagner, a splendid and lovely acrobatic dancer who became my wife.Together, we formed and built the first ventriloquist and acrobatic act under the name of Angela and Fred Roby. Jackie did her acrobatic dancing while I used her accessories, bag, gloves and part of her dress to make a doll. This doll, Coralie, is a small-sized Creole made of fabric with facial movements moving like latex. I still use Coralie to this day
At that time, all the ventriloquists worked with traditional wood dummies, so Coralie was an innovation. Our act was staged with music made especially for us. This artistic format helped us to begin working internationally, which was an appreciable venture; because our act depended on dialogue as well as visual understanding, and since in Europe, one changes languages every five hundred miles, I did our act in ten different languages.
Then came Micky my puppet poodle, and Rico my parrot; two puppets which I also manufacture and bring to life in front of the audience. You will be able to see the entire number on video cassette or DVD. The number is available in French, German, English and Spanish.
I have also created a score of other characters which are all put together in front of the audience. I also have some traditional wood dummies.
Our act has allowed us to work in the best cabarets and music halls of the world. Please see our work résumé for details.
Some of the highlights in my career as a ventriloquist are:
My meeting with Edgar Bergen at the SAS Hotel of Copenhagen. He came to see us at the Circus Benneweis, and after the show he invited us to dinner and we spent the rest of the evening with him. This was incredible since I had such admiration for him, and I found his kindness to be equal to his immense talent. His way of handling and bringing to life his three dummies, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and Effie Klinker was extraordinary and has never been surpassed.
Another very great ventriloquist that I had the chance to meet was the incomparable Senior Wences.
And, of course, the French ventriloquist Robert Lamouret, creator, after what we know, of the first hand puppet that was seen on stage. It was Dudule the Duck.Robert Lamouret was already working in the USA in 1948.
The present generation of ventriloquists and other puppeteers owe a lot to those three marvelous artists.
In the world today there are some very good ventriloquists.
In alphabetical order they are: Ray ALLEN, Mary-CARMEN, Mary and Jane DONSKAIA, Jeff DUNHAM, Gérard ENCLIN, Chris KIRBY, José Luis MORENO, Jay JOHNSON, Ronn LUCAS, Marc METRAL, Georges SCHLICK, SAMUEL, David STRASSMAN,TATAYER, Willie TYLER, Valentine VOX, Paul WINCHEL. And certainly many other that I do not know.
Written by Fred Roby in 2017