Ronn :
I was born an only child... which really ticks off my brothers Steve and Michael. At the age of seven, my grandfather showed me how to build a puppet out of a sock. (He wasn't a ventriloquist, he just loved to talk to laundry.) That same year I saw Edgar Bergen on TV. I knew from that moment on what I wanted to do. So I bought some more socks...

By the time I was nine, we were living in New Mexico. For Christmas my parents ordered me a ventriloquist dummy from a Montgomery Ward's catalog. I also scored a Jimmy Nelson record called "Instant Ventriloquism". Life was good. I became skilled at talking without moving my lips. We moved to Yuma, Arizona and at the age of ten I won third place at the County Fair talent show. My prize was a gold-toned I.D. bracelet with my name engraved on it, (just in case I forgot who I was).

After my eleventh birthday we moved again, and this time settled in El Paso, Texas. I performed every chance I could (including my first TV appearance). Gradually I lost interest because ventriloquism didn't seem to be very hip. Then when a magician friend of the family needed money, and sold a paper-mache dummy to my dad for $35, I took it up again.

I graduated high school and took on a variety of odd jobs including working at a toy store, and calling substitute teachers. I even went to college for a while, subsidizing my income by teaching puppetry at a community theatre.

I was approached by an El Paso advertising agency to build puppets for a national commercial. It was for the "Billy the Kid" boys clothing company. It was to be strictly puppetry; no ventriloquism. While on the set, I made their puppets talk without moving my lips. The company's executives were stunned! They hired me on the spot to tour the U.S. as their spokesperson (spokespeople?).

I was twenty years old... and I was actually going to get paid to tour the United States and spend time in every major city. I was no longer an amateur ventriloquist. The tour turned out to be so much harder then I would have ever thought. I played over 90 shopping malls in a year!