Frank Marshall (born Frank Marzalkiewicz on March 9, 1900; died October 10, 1969) was a professional ventriloquist dummy, marionette and

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character ...

maker who created many of the most famous

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

dummies used during the United States's

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

entertainment era through the Golden Age of Television. He is colloquially known as America's

Geppetto Geppetto ( , ), also known as Mister Geppetto, is an Italian fictional character in the 1883 novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator (and thus 'father') of Pinocch ...

. Among his creations were Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff for ventriloquist

Paul Winchell Paul Winchell (''né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Paul Winchell S ...

(both known in Marshall's catalogue as "noseys" or "nosey style", a smart-aleck type character) and Danny O’Day and

Farfel the Dog Farfel the Dog is a hound dog ventriloquist's dummy created by Jimmy Nelson. The Farfel character is best known for television commercials for Nestlé's Quik which ran from 1953 to 1965. An original talking Farfel can be seen at the Chocolate E ...

for ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson. Some members of the ventriloquial community maintain that Marshall carved

Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy is Edgar Bergen's famed ventriloquist dummy partner. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930, was attired in his famous top hat, tuxedo, and monocle. The character was so well-known that his popularit ...

for the famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen while working in Theodore Mack & Sons wood shop, though that is a matter of dispute. However, Marshall's own catalog from 1931 indicated that Bergen did use a Marshall figure.

Life and career

Marshall was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. As a result of immobility as a child suffering from

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

, Marshall became interested in puppetry and wood carvings which did not require strenuous activity. At age 14, Marshall was hired by a local furniture factory, Theodore Mack and Son, which also produced and sold wooden puppets and dummies. In 1927, Marshall purchased the shop. He ran the shop (in different locations) until his death in 1969. On July 22, 1956, Marshall appeared on the television show ''

What's My Line ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' in which

(along with his dummy Jerry Mahoney) was a member of the panel of judges tasked with identifying the guest.

Present day

Today, Marshall's figures are highly collectable and can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Classic Marshall figures can be identified by their large eyes (often wall eyed) with small glass pupils, large mouth painted bright red and unique paint tones, including a shade of orange which appeared as human skin tone on black and white televisions screens and on stage when lit by a bright light (commonly known as "Marshall Orange"). Two dummies carved by Marshall (

's Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff) are currently held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Frank American puppeteers 1900 births 1969 deaths