Enjoy Vent Haven Kentucky: Ventriloquist Display – Fort Mitchell, Kentucky
Located in the center at the top of Kentucky just south of (just 5 miles south of Cincinnati) is the small community of 8000, Fort Mitchell. In this little town is the Vent Haven: Ventriloquist Museum. This unusual stop, for those touring the community, will have you revisiting experiences from when you were young and watching the talented ventriloquists bring you from the current world into the usual times hysterical world of the “dummy”.
Vent Haven is unique in the museum world. It is the only one dedicated to the art of ventriloquism. It was begun by William Shakespeare Berger in 1894 when he was just 16 years old. When he died the collection had grown to a huge size and now houses over 700 figures along with thousands of photographs and playbills, and a library of books.
Vent Haven (“vent” is slang for “ventriloquist”) isn’t a big building jammed with creations in glass cases for you to gaze at and read the individual placards. It is in a private home with many small outbuildings also home to a number of the collections and the tales they can tell. If you want to know anything about the talent of ventriloquism you can perhaps find the answer from Lisa Sweasy, the curator. She has more facts and history available to her than you will probably ever have a need, or desire, to know.
There are a few that tour ventriloquist the museum who are terrified of the dummies…seriously…they believe they are being looked at by the dummies. Yes, the eyes are focused forward (in most cases) but seriously, it’s not human, it’s a dummy. Rest knowlingly that it isn’t spending special attention to you, it looks the same way at everyone that goes through the museum..yes, everyone.
There are rooms filled with the speechless dummies in different habitates, placed along the walls, seated on chairs and then of course there are the heads on the shelves that are not connected to a body. Maybe the body has been lost or some other problem happened and so all that was remaining was the head. The museum appreciates these too, they all have a history and a history to tell.
The facial features of the dummy were very large to show the looks to everyone in the theater, even those in the back seats. If you have ever seen a show with a ventriloquist you know that they are capable to take you out of the everyday and into the world of fantasy with their humor and stories. Dummies don’t do well on TV or in videos since the features are so large, they are actually quite scary in those situations. Just remember the movie “Magic” and you will understand. How many of you have seen the movie “Chuckie”? Now how would you like to have some time with that dummy? There were even dolls made to look like Chuckie for a time. The curator of the museum, Lisa, believes that these movies ruined the minds of a complete generation of people to the experience of ventriloquism.
There are well known dummies, not so famous dummies and those that no one but the owener probably remembers at all. But each one has a history that may be of interest to you. Each one has a history to tell if you want to delve into it.
Why are people scared of the dolls? They are just dolls that have given people joy for years. If you remember Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney or Waylon Flowers and Madam you have seen some of the classics in the world of ventriloquists. If you don’t remember them you should spend a little time researaching in the achieves of TV history and you will be able to find a clip showing how they “truly seem alive.”
The museum doesn’t get their dummies from those living bond to the dolls that they won’t let them go. Their children often times honor those feelings by holding on to the dolls too but, lucky for the museum and the rest of us, the grandchildren regularly donate the dolls where they know they will be cared for and honored.
Most of the ventriloquists carved their own heads. They look so real from a distance that it’s hard to tell if they are real or a doll. It’s easy to see how the ventriloquist got so attached to their dolls that they held on to them even after their years in the business came to and end.
You need to call ahead for reservations to visit the museum since they aren’t open without an appointment. Groups of less than 15 needs to request tours at least three days in advance. Larger groups need to allow two weeks.
Hours: May 1 – September 30 (by appointment)
Admission: Please leave a donation, a $5 is requested (strongly suggested but more is welcome.)
Length of tour: Between 45 and 90 minutes.
Phone: (859) 341-0461
Location: 33 West Maple Ave.
Fort Mitchell, Kentucky
Directions: Just off I-71/75 exit 188. US 127/42/25 north a half-block, then left onto West Maple Ave., a dead-end street. Museum is on the left.