Celebrating With The San Pedro Elks

Did you know? - Wenceslao Moreno (April 17, 1896–April 16, 1999), better known as Señor Wences, was a Spanish ventriloquist whose popularity grew with his frequent appearances on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show. His name Wenceslao is of Czech origin (Václav) meaning "victorious".

Did you know? - Wences was known for his speed, skill, and grace as a ventriloquist. His stable of characters included Johnny, a childlike face drawn on Wences' hand, which he would place atop an otherwise headless doll and with whom Wences conversed while switching his voices between Johnny's falsetto and his own voice at amazing speed. Wences would create Johnny's face on stage to open his act, placing his thumb next to, and in front of, his bent first finger; the first finger would be the upper lip, and the thumb the lower lip. He used lipstick to draw the lips onto the respective fingers and then drew eyes onto the upper part of the first finger, finishing the effect with a tiny long-haired wig on top of his hand. Flexing the thumb would move the "lips."

Another popular Wences character was the gruff-voiced Pedro, a disembodied head in a box. Wences was forced to suddenly invent the character when his regular, full-sized dummy was destroyed during a train accident en route to a performance. Pedro would either 'speak' from within the closed box, or speak with moving lips — simply growling, "s'awright" — when Wences opened the box's front panel with his free hand. A large part of Wences' comedy lay in the well-timed, high-speed exchange of words between himself and his creations, and in the difference in their voice pitches.

Did you know? - One of Wences's trademark bits of shtick involves his dialogue with a low voice emanating from inside a box. At the opening of the dialogue he would shout, "Hello in the box!" At the conclusion of the dialogue, he would open the lid of the box and ask "S'awright?" ("It's all right?") and the box voice would answer "S'awriiiiight!"

Did you know? - Despite his retirement by age 100, Wences' famous puppets Johnny and Pedro got a new lease on life. Ventriloquist Michele LaFong had performed at Wences' 100th birthday celebration at New York's Friars Club and he was so impressed that he befriended LaFong. Not only did he give her his famous puppets, but also taught her how to perform his classic routines.  Las Vegas headliner LaFong is the only ventriloquist authorized by the Wences Estate to perform Johnny and Pedro, plus Wences' routines.

Wences died just one day before his 103rd birthday. He had been residing in New York City on 54th Street, just around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater. That section of 54th Street has been named "Señor Wences Way." His portrait can be seen at the Players Club in New Yor