Retro Recap - Tales from the Crypt: "The Ventriloquist's Dummy"

Written by Scotty

Getting into showbiz can come easy to some people, as they have been given a special gift from birth that they are able to entertain without effort.  Others however have to take time and money to perfect their craft to make themselves desirable for the crowd.  Either way, once you are able to make it big, there is no turning back, regardless of what secrets you have been hiding about yourself, but it seems to come without fail, that your past will be exposed at some point, no matter how good or how bad it might have been.

Mr. Ingles was the top ventriloquist of his day, setting the bench mark for anyone that could try to follow him.  During his last show however, the club burned down and killed his girlfriend at the time, along with any shot at continuing his act.  Burning his hand, Mr. Ingles has never looked back on his career with any regret since he was the icon that the industry needed and now he just wants to fade away without being bothered anymore.  But fifteen years after his last show, there is someone looking for him and wanting to hone their craft, just like he did so many years ago.

Billy Goldman was at the final show of Mr. Ingles fifteen years ago and remembers how funny and talented the man was.  Finding the home of the old man, Billy wants him to make good on a promise he made the boy so many years before.  Although Mr. Ingles does not want to relive the tragedy he was involved in so long ago, Billy is able to convince him to make an appearance at the young man’s open mic night showing.  Watching from the behind the curtain, Billy sees his idol walk into the club and will do anything to impress him, but nothing goes right for him on stage and he is heckled and booed off stage.

Waiting in the bar above the stage, Mr. Ingles has to tell Billy the truth that the young man should pursue something else, since he does not have what it takes to be a great like he once was.  After destroying Billy’s dreams, Mr. Ingles talks to a hooker that offered her services to him earlier and takes her up on it.  Leaving the club, Billy throws his dummy away, but hears a scream coming from nearby.  Finding the same hooker he noticed earlier in the night murdered in her car, Billy knows that Mr. Ingles has something to do with it.  Confronting the old man at his house, Billy finds the secret that made the old man as great as he once was.  Mr. Ingles’ brother, Morty is still a part of him and living on his puppet hand.  Wearing just a mask, the dummy was not a puppet, but a real person who ran the act for so many years.  Finding out what Morty really is, Billy knows he is in trouble as Mr. Ingles wants to kill him to keep the secret, but not being able to follow through with it, Mr. Ingles ends up freeing his brother from his body.  Being given an offer of anything to save his life, Morty offers Billy the opportunity of a life time and the two start headlining the Vegas circuit, but being famous is not the only thing that Billy will have on his hands.

Wow, if this is what it takes to get into showbiz, there must be several secrets that our favorite stars are hiding from us, that I want nothing to do with.  A great story about how a man that was born with a deformity was able to make the best of it, and then utilize it for a career. But having to share the fame with his brother was not what he wanted and was left being the odd man out.  I am talking about Morty, not Mr. Ingles.  Morty just wanted to live a normal life, but since he was a part of his brother, for better or worse, he was not able to do what he wanted…to be with the ladies at least.  Staring two of my favorite actors, Don Rickles as Mr. Ingles and Bobcat Goldthwait as Billy, this is a great look at how two actors from different ends of the spectrum can come together and make something magic happen.  Until next time kiddies, Stay Scared.

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