Geffner

At least my kind is. Or so they say. "They" being all the tv and movie execs with whom I've talked over the years about various projects featuring me and my puppets. They see ventriloquism as an obsolete art. Passe, anachronistic, old. Quaint but kaput. I've received that kind of feedback consistently over the many years that I've pitched various ventriloquism-centered tv series and movie screenplays to producers and execs. Despite receiving much lovely praise about my ventriloquist skills and about the quality of the scripts and pilot episodes that I've written, the unending string of rejections that I've received always seem to contain either direct or veiled reference to that negative view of my art form. I don't buy it. I believe there is a huge potential market for the projects that I've written and proposed. I know this from the enthusiasm of my audiences at my live shows; from the feedback that I've gotten from my self-produced educa...

A recent phenomenon throughout the Arab world gives hope for peace. Localized, Islamized versions of classic and current Broadway musicals are becoming all the rage in many Arab countries. This heralds a refreshing counterweight to the more conservative wing of Islam. And the fact that Broadway musicals have always been largely a Jewish enterprise - the product of (more often than not) Jewish writers, composers, lyricists, directors, producers, etc. - portends well for a softening of Arab attitudes toward Jews generally. Here, then, is a list of the more popular Moslem Musicals today... Fiddler on the Mosque Annie Get Your Hookah Chitty Chitty Baba Ganoush Bye Bye Burka A Funny Thing Happened To Me On The Way To The Intifada Kiss Me, Koran Meet Me in Mecca My Fair Fatwa La Cage Aux Fanatics The Best Little Prayer House in Tunisia Barefoot in the Mosque Dreamgirls (76 Virgins) Avenue Al Qaeda Damn Yankees How to Succeed in Business without Being Jewish Now if only...

Talking to oneself. Often. For long periods of time. In different voices. With distinctly different personalities... I'd say the above is pretty indicative of insanity, wouldn't you? And it's what I do for a living. So that makes me... No, I know that my puppets aren't real, and that I'm throwing my voice... ...or do I? Well, talking to myself is what I'm doing right now. If no-one reads this blog, then I'm retroactively insane. So somebody please read this and save me from insanity. Ventriloquism is a lonely profession. Moments of intense joy and inspiration as I feel my puppet partners coming to life through my considerable skill; moments of gratification when I bring joy and laughter to an audience, giving me the fleeting feeling that my existence has a purpose. Then the show is over, the audience gone, I pack up my dummies and equipment and head back on the road. Me and the dummies, alone together. Not that my life is so lonely. My professio...