Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 17, 1994 TAG: 9405170140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE KNEPLER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Deputy Matthew is such a dummy that he even boasts of having ``a head full of sawdust.''
Lots of children giggle at that.
So does Deputy Bob, even though he's the ventriloquist in this act and wrote the script.
It's one of the lighter moments in this vaudeville-style routine in which Bob Walsh - and his dummy, Matthew - encourage children to stay away from drugs and crime.
Their comic banter often leads to sobering messages.
A typical scene: Bob and Matthew, wearing matching sheriff's deputy uniforms, are chatting about how Matthew picked some pretty leaves for his girlfriend.
Only Matthew didn't realize they were poison ivy.
``My wooden pal itched in places I never thought you could itch,'' Walsh told some 300 howling youngsters recently at Granby Elementary School. `` ... On his tongue, inside his ear, up his nose, under his armpits, on the bottom of his feet and in between his SMELLY toes. ... Pew!''
Then Walsh and Matthew became serious.
``What lesson did you learn?'' Walsh asked his buddy.
``Things don't always look the same on the outside as they do on the inside,'' Matthew replied.
Like drugs and alcohol, and how they're glorified in some movies and television shows, Walsh added.
The giggling in the audience stopped, but the young faces stayed fixed on Walsh and Matthew as the two continued to alternate anti-drug messages with jokes and songs.
``It's somebody they can see and they can even touch,'' Walsh later explained offstage. ``I think it's a thrill for them just like it was for me when I was about that age.''
Although ventriloquism is an old-fashioned stage skill, it's a novel tactic for steering children from crime and drugs.
Sure, it seems corny, especially when many other social crusaders use rap songs or flashy videos.
But not Walsh.
``It's a very simple art,'' he said. ``Yet it's very, very effective for communication. And that's the whole thing that we need to do with our young people - communicate. I think that's what we've lost. That's why our kids are getting into trouble and homes are splitting up - a lack of communication.''
Don't look for any fancy titles or high academic degrees at the end of his name. Walsh, 44, really is what you see - a deputy sheriff from Norfolk City Jail. He's also a retired chief petty officer with 21 years in the Navy.
His common sense comes from years of experience in youth programs, church organizations and volunteer community activities such as his ventriloquism performances.
``Kids aren't like the kids of 20 years ago,'' he said. ``The average age that kids start using is 12 for alcohol and 13 for other drugs.''
Walsh said he and his dummies have played all around the world as he traveled with the Navy. His acts, Walsh said, were translated into foreign languages, including Chinese and Swahili, as he performed.
Walsh's interest in ventriloquism began at age 8, when he watched Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney television shows every Saturday.
But he didn't pursue ventriloquism until his mid-20s, while serving in the Navy.
Matthew, Walsh's first dummy, started out as a ``city slicker from Whatta, Texas,'' sporting a tuxedo.
He was converted into a deputy sheriff soon after Walsh got his job as a deputy in the fall of 1992. Walsh's wife, Joy, cut down a uniform from size 16 to size 4.
Walsh also has Jeremiah, who wears Navy dress blues, and wizened Elisha, missing a couple of teeth and topped with longish, wind-blown hair.
For each dummy, Walsh has created a unique voice. That's where the art of ventriloquism comes in.
Making a voice seem like it's coming from the dummy is a stage illusion.
``People will look at that dummy and hear that different voice and see the synchronization of his mouth with his words and with his movements,'' Walsh said.
The ventriloquist, of course, tries to keep his lips from moving, at least not discernibly to an audience.
After 16 years, Walsh still has fun with it. ``It's probably the little kid in me, I guess,'' he said.
Walsh even gets rave reviews from adults.
``I am amazed by it. If adults can get into it, I guess kids can get into it, too,'' said April Harmon, a Granby counselor and sponsor of the ``Just Say No'' Club.
Sheriff Bob McCabe soon will transfer Walsh to a new job, allowing him time to perform as part of crime-prevention work instead of as an unpaid volunteer.
by CNB