I just learned from my friend Trav S.D. (check out his Travalanche site at https://travsd.wordpress.com/) of the death of magician and ventriloquist Tom Ladshaw, 64, on Aug. 7. Now, I am one of those people who find magicians annoying and ventriloquist dummies terrifying, but the New Orleans-born Ladshaw seems to have been excellent at both arts, and a very nice fellow. His own website says that “He thinks he must have been the world's youngest juggler, because his mother has always claimed that even as an infant, he was always throwing up stuff . . . Since the late 1970s, he has traveled far and wide bringing his patented brand of hilarious mayhem to audiences literally around the world . . . He has appeared in print, on television and on stage with a galaxy of stars including Roger Moore, Robert Stack, Regis Philbin, Whoopi Goldberg, Martha Stewart and many, many more.” Ladshaw appeared in the documentaries I’m No Dummy and I’m No Dummy 2: The Not So Lost Footage, and Dumbstruck. Fellow ventriloquist Lee Cornell posted that “He was so fun to be around. I seldom laughed so much as when I was talking or texting Tom. His contributions to vent and magic will never be equaled.”
