The GreatLester 1904 - Wielki Lester 1904

Harry Lester (8 September 1878 – 14 July 1956), born Maryan Czajkowski in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, best known by his stage name The Great Lester, was a seminal

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 ...

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 v ...

Ventriloquist act

Lester claimed to have carved his dummy, Frank Byron Jr., himself when he was young. '' Coronet'' cited Frank Marshall of Chicago as his carver. The most likely provenance of Frank Byron Jr., however, indicates that he came from the Chicago workshop of Theo Mack & Son, probably a number of years before Frank Marshall was employed there. Called the "Grandfather of Modern-Day Ventriloquism", Lester claimed to be the first to drink while his dummy spoke; however, Joe Laurie notes that this trick was first performed in 1821. One of Lester's most noted acts was a bit where he called up Heaven and Hell in search of his sister. He was also the first ventriloquist to walk among the audience while his dummy whistled.

Legacy

Lester was also a noted teacher of the art of ventriloquism, having developed a rigorous program of breathing and speech articulation exercises. Students were encouraged to make tape recordings of their sessions with Lester and, as a result, there are many examples of his course to be heard and a number of student recordings have been made available commercially.

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...

, one of the most famous ventriloquists of all time, was one of the Great Lester's pupils. Lester's main figure, Frank Byron Jr., now resides at

Vent Haven Museum Vent Haven Museum is the world's only museum of ventriloquial figures and memorabilia. Its collection contains more than one thousand ventriloquist figures from twenty countries as well as hundreds of photographs and other pieces of memorabilia re ...

Fort Mitchell, Kentucky Fort Mitchell is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 8,702 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Fort Mitchell was the site of one of seven Civil War fortifi ...

Notes

References

*Laurie, Joe Jr. ''Vaudeville: From the Honky-tonks to the Palace.'' New York: Henry Holt, 1953. p. 80, 254.

External links

Lester gallery, audio and video recordings
at VentriloquistCentral.com
Only TV appearance of Lester
'' You Asked For It'' 27 September 1951 (Windows Media format)
Harry "The Great" Lester Gallery
at Vent Haven Museum *

' at TalkingComedy.com 1878 births 1956 deaths Vaudeville performers Ventriloquists American people of Polish descent {{Entertainer-stub