And behold, a subset: Oscar Zamora! I wasn't expecting him to come up as I searched for Christian ventriloquist album covers. In fact, I had broadened my scope and left out the Christian part. But this evil-looking man with the handlebar moustache kept creeping in, perhaps the creepiest of them all. The album covers had a vague sense of sadism about them, and one wouldn't play well at all today:
I'm assuming it's the puppet chasing the woman in the hot pants. But I've never seen a ventriloquist's dummy get up and walk before, let alone run.
Real Twilight Zone stuff.
As with clowns, ventriloquists weren't even considered creepy back then. They weren't. I know that seems incredible now. Kids laughed, adults were delighted. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were a huge hit - ON THE RADIO, as if they could convey anything ventriloquistic with sound only. It was like doing audio card tricks. It just wouldn't play, but it did, wildly. Even in person, Edgar Bergen constantly moved his lips, and nobody cared.
This guy, though - I was unable to find out much about him, except that there are several Oscar Zamoras who aren't him. A ball player, an actor - not him. He had a shopping mall sort of career, and even ended up on TV in HOUSTON (presumably, the one in Texas) doing a sendup of his act on one of those desperate local furniture store ads. NO MONEY DOWN! NO INTEREST! Mattresses for less!
