Dummies and Other People

Or, how I spent my summer vacation…

As many of you know, my husband is a retired magician and entertainer.  As an off-shoot of his professional work, he owns a company that makes puppets, which we sell at fairs, conventions, etc.. And so it is that we recently found ourselves at a Ventriloquist Convention near Cincinnati, OH.

In some ways, it was radically different than my daily context.  People were walking around with Dummies (aka Vent Figures or Puppets) and talking in strange voices.  There were at least five Santa Clauses in the group, and at least one Mrs. Clause.  The venue needed more chairs than there were people, because sometimes even dummies need a chair of their own (but not always… see photo at right).

There were also some similarities to my usual world of church.  There were people of all ages (from 7 or so to 90+), though (sadly) they were mostly white.   I listened to one performer talking to another and noting that shifts in American culture (especially social media) were making him speed up his timing and shorten the duration of his performances.  (Sound familiar pastors and worship planners?)  One performer who came out of retirement to do a performance for the convention told of how he had to go back to the gym because he needed weight training to be strong enough to hold up the dummy and his fingers needed to be nimble enough to work the mechanisms.  When Jeff Dunham did his lecture, he talked about the

challenges of keeping your work fresh, lively and contemporary, and the ethical challenges of humor and self-revelation.

Some of the deep joys I experienced included not only wonderful performances by Taylor Mason, Sammy King, Nina Conti, Dan Horn and Jeff Dunham, but also observing some incredible moments of generosity — experienced vents and performers were so willing to share tips with beginners, and even to sit with them and coach them.   Though there were many professionals among the group, there was also a large percentage of people who do ventriloquism for a hobby.  As I spoke with some of these hobbyists, I discovered that most of them performed in venues like hospital children’s wards or worked with special needs children and/or the aged.  Their eyes lit up as they described how blessed they were to be able to bring joy and laughter to the ones they perform for.
So even though I didn’t do anything particularly Presbyterian on my vacation, there were still plenty of “God Things” to bless the time away.   Hallelujah!