A
beautiful tribute to a great artist: Señor Wences!
This
print was designed by Norm Nielsen as a tribute to his friend.
Like our other high quality prints, this is a giclée, printed
with UV Inks on canvas. This image comes in two sizes
All
these prints are signed and numbered by Norm Nielsen.
Señor
Wences - A brief biography
by Norm Nielsen
  The
year was 1896, the town was Peñaranda de Bracamonte, 40 miles
from the university town of Salamanca, Spain that another child was
born. His name was Wenceslao Moreno. He was one of 17 children. His
father was a house painter and a gifted musician. He played in the
local orchestra whenever a theatrical company or entertainment group
came to town. Papa would take Felipe and Wenceslao with him to see
the shows. Both boys loved it. Wenceslao particularly loved the ventriloquists
and jugglers. He also loved comedy. In school he would practice ventriloquism
by answering for other boys when they were absent from roll call. This
got him in trouble and the teacher had him clean ink wells after class.
In the process he spilled ink on his thumb and it smudged onto his
index finger. He thought Oh, that looks like a mouth and his hand began
talking to his teacher. Whenever he would do this the class would roar
with laughter and so would his teacher. That was the birth of Johnny!
At the age
of 16 he entertained the thought of becoming a rich and famous bullfighter.
After 200 bullfights, he was gored in his right arm and had to quit.
His doctor told him he had to exercise his arm, so he practiced juggling
and also his ventriloquism. He developed an act and began touring with
singers and other artists. The money was not very good, but he loved
it. He saved his money and in 1928 he left for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
After some time he moved to Chile, where he spent several years touring
with his act. He began traveling north working his act in one country
after the other, but his final goal was the United States. This trip
took a couple of years and finally in 1934 he found his new home in
California.
He had become
an extremely good entertainer. His skill in instilling life into his
characters was phenomenal. On a train trip to Chicago the baggage car
was damaged and one of his dummies was destroyed, except for the head.
He found a wooden box that the head fit into and he called it Pedro.
That night the stage manager advised him not to use the crummy box.
In spite of this, he walked out on stage and Pedro was born. One of
his most memorable catch phrases was “saw’right” and “close
de door”.
 In
1937 he participated in a command performance at the London Palladium
before the King and Queen of England. He performed for Presidents Roosevelt,
Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and I believe one or two more. He toured
with Danny Kaye from 1960 – 1970. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan
Show 48 times. He performed at the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris for
7 years. He received the Key to New York City from Mayor Giuliani and
had a street named after him in New York and Salamanca. He received
the Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Comedy Hall of Fame.
He was a National treasure.
I had the
pleasure of meeting Senor Wences for the first time in 1974, when I
opened at the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris. There are few people, when
you meet them, for whom you feel an immediate friendship. That is how
it was with Wences, a feeling of mutual respect and sincerity. He was
quite and gentle person and loved drawing cartoons. Many of them were
a bit earthy and always humorous. Wences always saw the humorous side
of life. On his 100th birthday, he was asked: “To what do you
attribute your longevity?” His answer was: “Humor”.
 Whenever
I would visit Senor Wences and his wife, Taly in New York City, we
would walk to their favorite restaurant. He carried a cane, but was
very spry even at age 100. He would begin his meal with a Harvey's
Bristol Cream, then a hot soup (he loved soup) and a full meal and
dessert. Then he would take his cloth napkin and fold and twist it
until it looked like a duck and it would drink out of his glass. He
would do some tricks with his cane. He loved to perform! Taly took
him for a walk everyday and maintained a daily schedule for him. Taly
was his business manager and spoke 6 or 7 languages. She took care
of all his bookings including arranging a publicist for each one.
I'm a magician,
but it always amazed me to see Wences instill life into Johnny, his
left hand or in Cecilia, his chicken or of course Pedro, the head in
the box. It was like magic! I remember when I was in high school, on
Monday mornings after Senor Wences had appeared on The Ed Sullivan
Show, so many of my friends would be repeating his words: "It's
eesy!, It's difficult!, It's eesy!' It's ifficult!;..It's difficult
for you, eesy for me!". Or when Wences would open the box and
Pedro would say: "s'alright, but when Pedro would get annoyed,
he would say: "Close d'door!" Senor Wences loved to entertain
and was one of the greatest entertainers of our time. I feel so lucky
to have had him as a friend.
Senor Wences
lived to age 103, in fact he died three days after his 103rd birthday.
Taly sent me a steamer trunk and a valise when Wences died. The valise
was his act with Johnny, Pedro and Cecilia and in the trunk were many
other puppet heads that he used on Sullivan’s show.
|
