| Senor Wences | Wenceslao Moreno | Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Salamanca, Spain |
| Apr 17 1896 - Apr 20 1999 age 103 | Official Site | Wikipedia |
Performing
under the stage name "Señor Wences", Moreno was known for his speed,
skill, and grace as a ventriloquist. His stable of characters included
Johnny, a childlike face drawn on his hand, placed atop an otherwise
headless doll, with whom the ventriloquist conversed while switching
voices between Johnny's falsetto and his own voice with great speed. He
opened his act by drawing Johnny's face on his hand, on stage. He would
first place his thumb next to, and in front of, his bent first finger;
the first finger would be the upper lip, and the thumb the lower lip. He
used lipstick to draw the lips onto the respective fingers and then
drew eyes onto the upper part of the first finger, finishing the effect
with a tiny long-haired wig on top of his hand. Flexing the thumb would
move the "lips."
Another popular Senor Weñces character was the gruff-voiced Pedro, a disembodied head in a box. Wences was forced to suddenly invent the character when his regular, full-sized dummy was destroyed during a 1936 train accident en route to Chicago. Pedro would either "speak" from within the closed box, or speak with moving lips – simply growling, "s'awright" ("it's all right") – when the performer opened the box's front panel with his free hand. A large part of the entertainer's comedy lay in the well-timed, high-speed exchange of words between himself and his creations, and in the difference in their voice pitches.
Part of his act involved throwing his voice while his mouth was otherwise engaged (i.e. smoking or drinking.) Another favorite prop was a telephone, with the ventriloquist playing both sides of a telephone conversation. For the "caller" he simulated a "filtered" voice, as it would sound over a telephone wire. This voice always began a conversation with a shouted "Moreno?" – using Señor Wences' true surname. He would respond "No, Moreno is not here."
He usually built to a big finish that combined ventriloquism with juggling and plate-spinning. As he performed his routines, Pedro and Johnny heckled him with flawless comedic timing.
Another popular Senor Weñces character was the gruff-voiced Pedro, a disembodied head in a box. Wences was forced to suddenly invent the character when his regular, full-sized dummy was destroyed during a 1936 train accident en route to Chicago. Pedro would either "speak" from within the closed box, or speak with moving lips – simply growling, "s'awright" ("it's all right") – when the performer opened the box's front panel with his free hand. A large part of the entertainer's comedy lay in the well-timed, high-speed exchange of words between himself and his creations, and in the difference in their voice pitches.
Part of his act involved throwing his voice while his mouth was otherwise engaged (i.e. smoking or drinking.) Another favorite prop was a telephone, with the ventriloquist playing both sides of a telephone conversation. For the "caller" he simulated a "filtered" voice, as it would sound over a telephone wire. This voice always began a conversation with a shouted "Moreno?" – using Señor Wences' true surname. He would respond "No, Moreno is not here."
He usually built to a big finish that combined ventriloquism with juggling and plate-spinning. As he performed his routines, Pedro and Johnny heckled him with flawless comedic timing.
01 Deefeecult For You, Easy For Me
02 'S-all Right" 'S-all Right!
 |  |  |
 |  |
Stand-up
|
Joy Records 45-228
| |||||
Enjoy!
| ||||||
Other material on this blog is tagged to the right of this post
| ||||||
.
0 comments on "Senor Wences - Deefeecult For You, Easy For Me and 'S-all Right, 'S-all Right (45) 1959"
Post a Comment