Harry Lester born Maryan Czajkowski in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, best known by his stage name The Great Lester, was a seminal vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 ventriloquist.

Ventriloquist act

Lester claimed to have carved his dummy, Frank Byron, Jr. himself when he was young. Coronet

Coronet (magazine)

Coronet was a general interest digest magazine published from October 13, 1936, to March 1971 and ran for 299 issues. The magazine was owned by Esquire and published by David A. Smart from 1936 to 1961.-Typical issue:...

cited Frank Marshall of Chicago as his carver. The most likely provenance of Frank Byron Jr., however, indicates that he came from the Chicago workshop of Theo Mack & Son, probably a number of years before Frank Marshall was employed there.

Called the "Grandfather of Modern-Day Ventriloquism", Lester claimed to be the first to drink while his dummy spoke; however, Joe Laurie notes that this trick was first performed in 1821.

One of Lester's most noted acts was a bit where he called up Heaven and Hell in search of his sister. He was also the first ventriloquist to walk among the audience while his dummy whistled.

Legacy

Lester was also a noted teacher of the art of ventriloquism, having developed a rigorous program of breathing and speech articulation exercises. While some have viewed the almost zen-like teaching method with some amusement, there seems little doubt that his students for the most part came away with excellent technical ventriloquial skill. Students were encouraged to make tape recordings of their sessions with Lester and as a result, there are many examples of his course to be heard and a number of student recordings have been made available commercially.

Lester's main figure, Frank Byron, Jr., now resides at Vent Haven Museum

Vent Haven Museum

Vent Haven Museum is the world's only museum of ventriloquial figures and memorabilia. The museum is in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, just 5 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio....

 in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky

Fort Mitchell, Kentucky

As of the census of 2010, there were 8,207 people, 3,530 households, and 2,033 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,581.8 people per square mile . There were 3,744 housing units at an average density of 1,195.0 per square mile...

.

External links

• Lester gallery, audio and video recordings at VentriloquistCentral.com
• Only TV appearance of Lester You Asked For It
  You Asked For It
  You Asked for It is a popular human-interest show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled The Art Baker Show, the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959...
  
  September 27, 1951 (Windows Media format)
• Harry "The Great" Lester Gallery at Vent Haven Museum
• Vaudeville Vent - 'The Great' LESTER: 'Grandfather' of Modern Day Ventriloquism at TalkingComedy.com