On a recent weekday morning, Chilkat Charlie introduced himself to the Capital City Weekly in Tlingit. Speaking for him was local Juneau man Carlton Smith. Why? Because Charlie is a figure and Smith is a ventriloquist.
“One of the leading misconceptions is the popular phrase is ‘to throw your voice’ or ‘to hide your voice,’ making it sound like it is coming from another location,” Smith said on ventriloquism as he showed the brass controls inside the figure of Charlie that allows him to animate him, like moving the eyes and mouth. “That’s some of the conventional view as to what it is, but it reality, it’s creating a different voice from what you have, and when you create that different voice you focus the attention on the figure than the speaker, which gets the attention of the audience or party you’re presenting to. Then that voice becomes the figure’s voice. In reality, that’s what is really going on.”
Smith performs around Juneau for children and adults alike, like the Tlingit and Haida Head Start program or at the Juneau Pioneer Home. This week, he is going to the Vent Haven International Ventriloquist Convention in Cincinnati.
“We have four live performances so our attendees can see professionals work, as well as workshops and lectures, and roundtable discussions on a variety of ventperforming,” convention executive director Mark Wade said. “Anything from comedy writing to doing kid shows and everything in between. We offer even a beginner’s class every year.”
Smith hopes to network with other ventriloquists and look into a new sound system as well as assistance with script writing. He’d like to eventually take Charlie on the road.
This lifetime hobby began when he was 10 years old. He became bedridden for about three months in Haines when a wave of hepatitis hit the local school, shutting it down. Smith noted that during the 1950s that figures, puppets and the like were becoming more commercialized, the practice coming to his attention through the work of famous ventriloquists like Paul Winchell and Edgar Bergen. When his father asked the young Smith if there was anything that could be gotten for him to help him pass the time in bed, Smith requested the Jerry Mahoney figure from the Sears Wish Book.
“I spent that entire time in front of the mirror practicing and reading up on it and just continued with it until the year 2000,” Smith said. In 2009, he rediscovered his figure. “I forgot that I had this figure and I was moving one day from Douglas to west Juneau and I opened up this suitcase and there he was.”
He jumped back into ventriloquism. About a month later on an airline flight, he thanked the stewardess in Tlingit, “Gunalchéesh, ho, ho!” and hardly moved his mouth to do so. Tlingit would pair well with ventriloquism, he realized, but the Jerry Mahoney figure, a redheaded white person, did not.
“The key to any work with any figure is to create a voice different from yours that fits the figure,” Smith said, giving the example that if a ventriloquist had a female figure, she would need to have a female voice, not his regular voice. “That’s probably one of the more critical things you have to focus on when you’re trying to marry the figure with the voice.”
He decided he would commission an original figure through the figure maker Tim Selberg of Detroit. Even a basic figure can cost about $3,000, so he knew he needed to know exactly what he wanted for the new one (his ended up costing closer to $10,000). With the help of his friend Dr. Walter Soboleff, he came up with Chilkat Charlie. Charlie is based off of Smith’s namesake, Shanak’w Uwaa, whose name means “in the image of the ancient people.” He was also called Chilkat Charlie.
“Walter said to me, ‘You’re never going to be able to eliminate criticism. You’re always going to be under scrutiny, particularly with something like this, but for this figure if you adopt your own identity then you own that identity and you’re going to be subject to less criticism.’ … And it’s worked,” Smith said. “A couple years before Walter passed away, we were talking about creating this new figure and Walter advised me on all the details right down to what he would wear. The fact that he has white socks, long underwear, the fact that he is wearing bib overalls, the hair color, the whole thing, he is created in the image of a real person.”
Shanak’w Uwaa was born in Killisnoo in 1907. He was of the eagle moiety and was also of the Kéet Gooshi Hít (Double Killer Whale Fin House) of the Dakl’aweidí clan of Klukwan, same as Smith. Charlie was one of the founders of the Alaska Native Brotherhood. He was also a close friend of Soboleff, Smith said. Charlie’s voice is of this Tlingit elder.
Smith said he grew up around many Tlingit elders who spoke Tlingit. With Charlie, he was trying to mirror those voices. By speaking in Tlingit, he continues to push himself to learn more of the language to have meaningful interactions with audience members and to interest younger generations in the language too.
While many people associate ventriloquists with comedic acts like Jeff Dunham’s Achmed, ventriloquism is not so much about comedy or the act of making the figure seem like it is talking than it is about the message, Smith said. For Chilkat Charlie, it’s about introducing audiences to Shanak’w Uwaa. When Charlie speaks, he likes to introduce himself in Tlingit and sing traditional songs.
“Probably one of the coolest comments came from an 8-year-old with the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation. They had a culture camp last year. I said, ‘Are there any questions for him?’ because it’s not about me, it’s about him, so this 8-year-old raised his hand and said ‘What does he like to eat for breakfast?’ I thought that was pretty cool,” Smith said.
Smith and Charlie show up around town at the occasional event, so keep an eye out for him. Farthest North Films also did a short video of Chilkat Charlie at the Sharing Our Knowledge 2015 clan conference called “The Power of the Clan Connection.”
• Clara Miller is the Capital City Weekly editor. Her last day with the paper was Tuesday, July 17. Looking to reach the CCW? Email editor@capweekly.com.
Carlton Smith and Chilkat Charlie at the Juneau Pioneer’s Home on May 20, 2018. Photo by Peter Metalfe.
Children meet Chilkat Charlie at the Juneau Public Library during the children’s hour in November 2012. Photo by Peter Metcalfe.
