erely mentioning the word ventriloquist conjures for many an unflattering stereotype. Despite this, throughout the world there are organizations, associations and museums devoted to the art of ventriloquism. Yes, ventriloquism is an art and these groups aim to promote, nurture and honor individuals whose work elevate the form. In 1993, Vent Haven museum, just south of Cincinnati in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, named Dan Horn Ventriloquist of the Year for “outstanding contributions.” Later that year, Dan made a guest appearance on the popular CBS show Vicki hosted by Vicki Lawrence of The Carol Burnett Show and Momma’s Family fame.
In preproduction interviews, Dan told the producers his love of puppets began at a very early age. Once, he got into trouble with his mom when he made a hand puppet from a Styrofoam ball with pins for eyes, and hair made of fringe he cut off her good towels! He added that his desire to be a ventriloquist came at the age of five when he saw his very first one: Vonda Kay Van Dyke, another name linked with Arizona History.
Miss Van Dyke, from Phoenix, ascended to the crown of Miss America in 1965. In the summer of ’64, Dan happened to catch one of her performances on the Coca-Cola stage at Legend City. This local amusement park (now only a memory to longtime Arizona residents, where Wallace, Ladmo and Gerald put on hundreds of shows and Dan Horn himself performed years later) offered rides, games and venues for entertainers. Dan had a front-row spot as the current Miss Arizona enchanted her audience, working with the most incredible puppet he had ever seen. Vonda Kay used a traditional wooden vent figure crafted by Frank Marshall of Chicago (the creator of other famous puppets from movies to TV). It had a moving head, moving mouth, moving eyes—it even winked! And “Curlicue” excited Dan’s imagination: if he became a ventriloquist, he too would get to have the same kind of puppet.
He began trying to teach himself the technique of talking without his lips moving. TV exposed Dan to more ventriloquists such as Edgar Bergen, Jimmy Nelson, and Paul Winchell (all of whom he had the privilege of spending time with years later). Jimmy Nelson—or “Nelson,” as his character Danny O’Day called him—regularly appeared on The Milton Berle Show. However, he is most famous for a series of commercials for Nestlé’s chocolate where he appeared with Danny and his other Frank Marshall creation, Farfel the dog. Dan Horn’s birthday in December ’64, brought him a most incredible gift: a record with Jimmy Nelson teaching ventriloquism and his very own Danny O’Day dummy. He was to discover years later that the puppet he received was actually a likeness of Paul Winchell’s Jerry Mahoney, but at the time, it mattered little who it was; it was a real puppet—just like Vonda Kay’s.
On the day of taping Vicki, Dan was in for a real surprise. Unbeknownst to him, the producers contacted Vonda Kay, then living in California, with an invitation to the show to meet a ventriloquist she had inspired almost 30 years before. Of course, she brought along her puppet and there, before the studio audience and the cameras recording for thousands of television viewers, Vicki Lawrence introduced Vonda Kay Van Dyke and Curlicue to a rather awestruck Dan Horn. After the show, Dan gushed to Ms Van Dyke about how long he’d wanted to meet her and thank her for her inspiration; about how, ever since seeing her, he wanted to grow up and do just what she did. She laughed and said, “You wanted to become Miss America?”
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