At two years old, Jack does a lot of talking. That's not an uncommon feat for two-year-olds, but considering that Jack is made of wood and that he does his talking in front of groups of delighted children, he reaches the point of wonder. Jack is classically-styled ventriloquist dummy, part of the team, "Skipper and Jack". George Silva is "Skipper". Together they entertain children and adults alike at parties and gatherings around Rhode Island.

"Hi, how are you today?" Jack asks in a high pitched, but not squeaky, voice. His mouth and eyes move, helping with the illusion that the dummy is actually talking, not Silva.

"People aren't actually fooled," Silva explains. "They know exactly where the voice comes from. They'll watch for a little while, waiting to see if my lips move, but after a while, they start to focus on Jack and start to act as though it's Jack really talking."

So, while the voice really comes from Silva, Jack talks. At children's birthday parties, he chats with the birthday boy or girl about what it's like to have a birthday. At senior centers, he converses with the 77-year-old Silva about the good old days and the problems of aging. Silva carries on his side of the conversation from his personal experience, while Jack comes into the discussion with the scripted naivete of a two-year-old.

Sometimes Jack sings. "Happy days are here again, the sun is shining clear again..."

But since, in reality, Silva is singing without moving his mouth and using a distinctive voice to help the audience pretend that Jack is singing, the words really sound like "Hat-ty days are here again..."

"There are some sounds that you can't make without moving your lips," Silva says. Ventriloquists have problems with the sounds made by the letters B, P, and M. "So I substitute other sounds that are similar. To make sure that people understand, I try to make the word clear in context. Maybe I'll use the word in a normal voice, like 'diaper', just before Jack has to say the word." The presentations are also carefully scripted to avoid difficult words as much as possible.

"When I was a child, I got a little gadget that was supposed to help you throw your voice." The small leather patch had a metal ring holding a piece of stretched cellophane, designed to be placed in your mouth. "All I could get it to do was to squeak and buzz. It made funny noises, but it didn't make me a ventriloquist. I couldn't throw my voice with it the way it claimed."

Then, still young, he won a ventriloquist dummy at a 1939 bizarre. "It was a Charlie McCarthy dummy. Three feet tall, with a monocle and top hat. His mouth moved and everything. But I still couldn't throw my voice with him. He was a fixture in the house and ended up sitting on a shelf in my parent's house until I went off into the service."

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When he came back, life had changed and he had moved on to other things. He got out of the Coast Guard in 1964 and has remained very active since, participating in clubs and organizations, doing long distance running. "I'm always on the move and working on new ideas," Silva says.

Then two years ago, he revived his childhood interest in ventriloquism. "It was only a couple years ago that I learned that people didn't really throw their voice. It's an illusion, like a magic act." Armed with that key realization and a few good books, Silva set out to become a real ventriloquist, honing his craft and developing a presentation to delight his audiences.

He searched the internet for the perfect dummy and found Jack -- solid wood and able to sit up straight by himself. The only modification Silva made was to add a hole in Jack's inch-thick plywood base for a mounting peg. Silva gave Jack a nautical outfit in honor of Silva's service in the Coast Guard.

At the end of each show, Jack sings again. "Happy days are here again..." and then finishes off with a crisp salute, "God bless America. Bye bye!"

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