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
Standard - Measuring: 18" x 24"
1-sheet
large - Measuring: 27" x 37"
All
these prints are signed and numbered by Norm Nielsen.
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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.
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