Watching the great ventriloquists on televison in the late 60’s and early 70’s is where I saw ventriloquism for the first time. I knew I wanted to do that too, and practiced all the time with my old Charlie McCarthy and Danny O’Day dummies that I, like so many kids, got for Christmas in those days. I messed around with ventriloquism until I was about 12 years old, then gave it up for music and dirtbikes in my teens. But in the early 1990’s, I was bitten by the ventriloquism bug again after watching a biography of Edgar Bergen. He’s always been my favorite vent, and watching Edgar’s biography inspired me to take up ventriloquism again. So I learned ventriloquism all over, until my lip control, and figure manipulation were much better than it was when I was young. I’m now in my middle 40’s, and enjoy it just as much as I did when I was a kid. By the way, a couple of years ago my son, John, gave me an old 1968 model Charlie McCarthy dummy to replace the one I had as a child. You can see a picture of him next to my poster of Edgar & Charlie’s 1939 movie, "You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man" in the "pics" section of this page.
Influences
Edgar Bergen, Paul Winchell, Jimmy Nelson, Willie Tyler, Jay Johnson, Jeff Dunham, Terry Fator, and all of the other famous (and the not so famous) vents who have entertained audiences around the world with the art of ventriloquism! And another big influence is the comedy team of Howard, Fine & Howard, also known as...The Three Stooges!
Members
In the photo at the top of the page, Jimmy Smith is the tall, chubby guy in the hat. And Harry Jones is the short, bald guy in the white shoes. SMITH & JONES are the President and Vice President of the Ozarks Vaudeville Society.
SMITH & JONES's Interests
General
I like spending time with my wife, our kids and grandkids as much as possible, and playing with our pet cats Petey and Smokie. Performing and rehearsing our ventriloquist act. Watching other performers do their thing. I like retro music, movies and TV.
Music
I like traditional bluegrass, classic country from the 50's, 60's and 70's, classic rock and metal from the 70's, 80's and 90's, traditional Gospel, old Motown from the 60's and 70's, English punk from the 70's
Movies
I like comedy films from the 30's, 40's and 50's, and horror films from the 70's and 80's
Television
I like most of the sitcoms of the 60's and 70's. And old variety shows like Ed Sullivan, Carol Burnett and Flip Wilson
Books
Books I like to read are the New Testament of the Bible, How To Become A Ventriloquist by Edgar Bergen, Ventriloquism For Fun And Profit by Paul Winchell, and the paperback books that Mad Magazine sometimes puts out
Heroes
Jesus Christ, my wife Joyce, our son and daughter John and Jessica, and our grandkids Emma, Autumn, Bryce, and Lillie
About me:
Hello folks! We're SMITH & JONES, a ventriloquist act living and working in Springfield, Missouri. Our live show is good, clean entertainment for adults and senior citizens, with an old time ventriloquism style that is a throwback to the 1940's and 1950's. Even though our show is clean and family friendly, we don't really do "kid's shows". But we do have tons of fun performing for adults, seniors, and people of all ages who enjoy and appreciate old fashioned comedy entertainment. We can be the headliner in a show for your next event or party, or we can serve as the opening act for your bluegrass or country band's next show. And we do it all for a very reasonable price! For information on booking SMITH & JONES in Springfield and the surrounding area (or just to ask any questions you may have), email us at... jimmyedwardsmith@yahoo.com
Who I'd like to meet: We'd like to meet some of the great ventriloquists of the past and present. So we thought we'd show you some of their classic moments in our VENT VIDEOS feature that you can see in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
