A Very Special Guest

This vintage photo has a slightly disturbing air about it. Maybe it’s the fact that this man’s ventriloquist dummy has an extremely creepy face. We know you were thinking the same thing! Although this puppet looks pretty off-putting by today’s standards, it was a pretty common sight at Victorian-era circuses.

Ventriloquism has been around for hundreds of years, but the Victorian era is when the art form really took off and became popular in circus acts. Ventriloquist puppets were often comedic and silly, representing the ventriloquist with exaggerated features. Can you spot any resemblance between this man and his puppet?