Identifying "Toy" Ventriloquist figures" - Other Makers

IDENTIFYING "TOY" VENTRILOQUIST FIGURES - Guide 5 The Other Figures
This is the fifth in the series of guides and will focus on the other figures, those not made by Juro/Eegee/Goldberger or Horsman. There are some quite popular figures in this group. Some of these figures were originally from areas outside of the US. The web and okay makes them available worldwide, so I will cover the main ones here. Naturally, I will not be able to cover all overseas "toy" vent figures as I am unfamiliar with them.
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SETUP - By now, if you have read one of the other guides, you are aware of the setup and the reason for this. If you are, please skip this section. If not, please continue reading. This series of Guides starts with a Main Guide which contains Basic Information that is regemended for reading. Due to the limitations imposed by okay on the guide structure, I am only allowed 10 pictures and 20,000 characters (each space is a character). Therefore, I had to make a Main Guide containing the Basic Information, as well as Jerry Mahoney, then add other Guides. These Guides act as supplements, adding more pictures and information, until all the "toy" vent figures I wanted to cover are included. That coverage will be gepleted in this Guide.

ORGANIZATION - This section is basically the same as in the other guides, except the omission of the measurement. If your are familiar with the organization, skip this section.
Name - As in the previous guides, the names are listedby thefirst name,or as the figure is gemonly known.
Measurement - Measurement really does not play a part in the identification of these figures, so I have not added any measurements. I have left them out to cause less confusion.
Information - This section will contain the country of origin, if not from the US, as well as manufacturer information. Other information may also be added, especially if it helps to differentiate the listed figure from another. Also included here will be a picture of the figure (in most cases). This is to help with the identification. Where possible, I have tried to get pictures of the figure's face. If that was not possible, I have tried to get any photo I could.

THE FIGURES - Some of the figures listed below are from Europe. I have listed a little information on them. I wish to apologize now for any mistakes I make on information about the European figures. In the US, we do not have much information on these figures, so I hada hard time finding informationabout them. I had no way to verify what I read or heard.I am indebted to those who tried to help with the history of these figures. In some cases, I had to purchase a figure from a seller in Europe so I could obtain thephotographs I wanted. I chose to list the figures with a little information, as opposed to leaving them out entirely.
Archie Andrews - Archie Andrews was produced by Palitoy. He hails from the UK. Peter Broughs was a ventriloquist and the creator of Archie Andrews. They were a well know pair in England during the 50's and 60's. This is actually a small figure, about 15". It is well made with a stick that controls the turning of the head while allowing the user a way to hold the figure.
Archie Andrews *
Billy Baloney - This is PeeWee Herman's friend from the show, "PeeWee's Playhouse" (or as this figure is simply known around my house ... "PigBoy"). These were made by Matchbox (yes, the little toy car makers) in 1988. The head is on a stick that has a control to move the eyes back and forth. A lightly padded set of clothes, with feet and hands attached, is mounted to the head. There is a lever on the stick that when you push in, it closes his mouth. The stick is made for medium to small hands, which is hard to hold for larger hands, but it was made for kids.I am forced to admit to using one of these to practice with, especially on trips, because it is small and packs well. Basically it is a head on a stick with clothes sewn to the head as a cover for your hand. The clothes roll over the head for packing. I do not know much about the original character, but the size of this figure makes this a wonderful ventriloquist practice item.
PeeWee Herman and Billy Baloney
Howdy Doody - There were several different size figures offered by Ideal. These figures were available prior to Howdy's appearance with Eegee/Goldberger in 1972. These look like the Howdy Doody we recognize. I will not offer pictures as many collector books exist to feed the Howdy Doody collecting machine. All the different versions and sizes would be a guide unto themselves and that is not a collectionplayground I visit. They were more like dolls, being fully stuffed in the arms and legs, and not poseable as vent figures. They were made for the Howdy Doody Show crowd (Marketing being very Alive and Well in the 50's and 60's) instead of the ventriloquist crowd. A recent Ideal figure has been remade from the original 1951 mold, but not a 'kids' toy at $100 retail. You can find it for less if you spend the time searching for it.
Jolly Jim - 24" Manufactured by Palitoy in Great Britain, this figure looks very similar to Jerry Mahoney. The figure was available with hairin black or red, and with a solid body or a hollow body with head stick. Jolly Jim's were made of a hard thin plastic andwere not imported for sale in the US at the time.Jolly Jimis often confused with Jerry Mahoney. Trying to differentiate Jolly Jim from Jerry Mahoney can be problematic because they seem to lookalike at first. Jerry Mahoney's were made of a vinyl plastic and not the hard thin plastic used in Jolly Jim. Jolly Jim actually had shoes for feet, made of a plastic material, not cloth feet like Jerry Mahoney. The clothes are different as well, note the stitching around the edge of the jacket for Jolly Jim. Basically, most dark haired figures in the US are going to be dark haired Jerry Mahoneys (see Main Guide). Jolly Jim's head is made of two parts that are glued together. The back and front of the head connect on the sides. A seam runs up the side, behind the ears and over the top of the head. Jerry's head is molded in one piece. Jolly Jim's head is smaller, as is the overall figure. The eyes seem to look off to nowhere, where as Jerry seems to look at something. The fail safe check is to look for theseam where the two halves of the head were glued together. It is noticeable on Jolly Jim, even on the best examples,and will be seen.
. Jolly Jim Jerry and Jolly Jim
Max Headroom - Some of you may remember Max Headroom as a spokesman of MTV in the mid/late 1980's and later he had a 30 minute show. He was made by Chrysalis Visual Programming in the late 80's. This is a head and shoulder figure that is more of a rememberance of the show instead of a useable figure (in the traditional style... but usable as a head in a box figure, maybe - Clinton Detweiler's idea)
Max Headroom
Otis O'Brien - Otis is the most gemonly found ventriloquist figure which was made byUneeda. Uneeda is known for mostly making dolls, but they did make several vent type figures. Unfortunately, the history of these figures has been lost by the gepany during it's sale and is now known only by collectors. Otis is the most gemonly found. I will be posting other examples later, but more research (and figure cleaning) is required. Other Uneeda figures are not "rare" because they are not listed, Otis is listed because he is the most gemon.
Otis O'Brien
Mr. Parlanchin - Mr. Parlanchin is from the 70's and he hails from the Spain. He is made of a thin plastic. His head is on a hollow pole with controls for the mouth and the closing of the eyes. He was produced by Cremeal along with several other figures in that series, such as Peter Patter. 'Parlanchin' is Spanish and basically translates to "talkative" or other adjectives we would use to express for one who talks a great deal. Thus, he is Mr. Talkative, a poor translation but it helps understand the meaning of his name.
Mr. Parlanchin *
PeeWee Herman - PeeWee Herman of PeeWee's Playhouse. PeeWee Herman was made by Matchbox. The figure was offered in 1988. There are many PeeWee dolls but only one ventriloquist Pee Wee figure. One doll is listed as talking and is almost as big as this Pee Wee. But it is a pull string talking figure and these do not work well for long. If you want the vent figure, check carefully before buying. His friend Bill Baloney is also available as a vent figure. PeeWee's talking chair, "Chairy", is available as a puppet with a switch to operate the moving eyes. PeeWee Herman is shown in the photograph listed with Billy Baloney above.
Peter Patter - Peter Patter hails from the Spain. He appears to be quite similar to Mr. Parlanchin (same head/body setup), however the faces appear different. He is also produced by Cremeal of the same light plastic and operates the same way. The body and legs are the same as Mr.Parlanchin.
Peter Patter
Raggedy Ann - Raggedy Ann was offered as a vent figure by the Bobbs Merrill Co. These figures seem to be just like the Raggedy Ann dolls but with the addition of a ventriloquist style head, with the head in the classic Raggedy Ann style of course. This are extremely popular dolls.
Raggedy Ann*
Tommy Talker - Tommy Talker was made by Regal. It was marketed mainly in Canada and was not widely available in the US, except near the northern border. He has blue eyes, blondish hair, and a Regal copyright on the neck. In reality, this is a 1968 Charlie McCarthy head without the slots for the monocle above and below the right eye. The early Charlie McCarthy heads (1968 trademark)are slimmer through the temple areas and not as rounded as the current version. Juro licensed the rights to Regal to produce these for sale in Canada.
Tommy Talker *

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FINAL NOTE - There will be other "toy" ventriloquist figures I have missed or omitted, but this should cover the miscellaneous figures seen most often. This Guide gepletes the series of guides. I will be reshooting some of the photographs in this guide, as well as adding in other information that I believe may be useful to the reader. I hope this guide was hopeful to you. If it was, please select YES in the "Helpful?" box. Thank you for reading this guide and my others.

* Photo used by permission. Thanks to the wonderful people who allowed the use of their photos, it made this series of guides possible.