Hartz Puppetry Workshop

What Our Customers Say About Us

He is such a great character and brought me great fortune. Snurdley Covington, my Conrad Hartz vent figure, introduced me to the lady I have now been married to for fifteen years! - Comedy ventriloquist Mark Merchant, Atlanta, GA

The Mandarin Head in a Box arrived Saturday morning at my parents house right after I walked in the door. It is wonderful! The expression and detail is fantastic. It is very mysterious looking which is exactly what I wanted. I already feel comfortable performing with it and have it doing a kind of mishievious laugh like he knows something I don't... It will be great for walk around too. It is light and easy to operate... It is just a great addition to the show. It adds interest and comedy. - Todd Orton, Lakewood, CO

Duncan is absolutely TERRIFIC!!! I and my wife are both extremely impressed with your skillful creation of this figure. Thank you so much for letting him come to my home!!! I cannot get over how great he is. He operates very smoothly, and seems absolutely lifelike when I'm working him... - Bruce Wasserman, San Mateo, CA

Well, I know you don't respond well to praise , but that is too bad cause here goes. I cannot help but notice, now that I have had time to work with the fine handmade figure you created for me, how much I am appreciating the great detail you provide. Even the eyebrows are carved! The mechanics are smooth and silent and I really feel that so much animation is available in this figure that wasn't in others I have owned. Conrad, thanks so much for your good work… - Jeoffrey Douglas, San Francisco, CA

By the way, my first figure was a Hartz creation and now I have a total of eight hard figures, seven by Conrad... Nothing says "Dummy" like a Hartz! - Rick Martin (Samlin), Professional Ventriloquist, Key West, FL

"Played the gig in Hugo Oklahoma this weekend. There were about 750 people there and me and Jack absolutely KILLED 'em! Your work received nothing but the highest complements from the audience and my fellow musicians and performers at the job... I was able to use Jacks' self centering eyes to good effect. A little girl ran across right in front of the stage in the middle of my act, and Jack just stopped talking and followed her with his head. He was looking right at her. I can make him look right at whatever I want him to look at because of those self centering eyes. Anyway, It was like a slow take and it got big laughs all by itself. It must have been like Jack didn't appreciate the intrusion into the act! Just wanted to share with you what a great success it was, and thank you again for the work you did making Jack as perfect as he is. - Roger Matthews, Elkland, MO

"...it [Stephen's Hartz figure] is the finest figure in my collection." - Stephen Knowles, Professional Ventriloquist, Nashville, TN

"I've known a lot of figure makers over the years (Coats, Spencer, Brown, Boley, Olson, Selberg, etc.) and have wanted one of your figures since about 1980, but we were never able to get together on it until this year... I either didn't have the money, didn't have an idea for a character, or you were not accepting any orders at the time. I'm glad I finally got one. 'R.K. Hill' is the first figure that I've had built for me since 1972. He is well finished with the paint well blended and shaded. The mechanics are very smooth and he's of a comfortable weight... The eyes also fit the socket very well as in every one of your figures that I've seen... Briefly Conrad, you make a great figure and I would probably have a dozen, if I had need of more characters." - Gary Koepke, Performing Ventriloquist for 30+ years, Atlanta, GA

"My personal opinion is that Conrad Hartz is one of the most under-rated figure makers around... dollar for dollar they're certainly one of the best values around." - Johnny Main, Professional Ventriloquist, Niagara Falls, NY

"Conrad, your figures really have character and stand out. The mechanics really fit your hand with the pistol-grib headstick down to the roller-ball eye mechanism. They are light and easy to use, whether I'm doing stand-up or walk-around work. You took my order for an original "politician" figure... and turned it into a character that really fits the bill. I wanted a character that would really work for politically sophisticated adult audiences and he works just great -- in person and on television (on Public Television's "Alamanac" program back in Minnesota). Conrad, I recently obtained two more of your characters -- one a tramp with carved feet as well as hands, which will make his debut as Plato, the Philosopher-King of the Road, next week, and J.T. Honeycutt, a southern-accented boy figure, which I have used for both walk-around and stand-up work, and -- like my other two Hartz figures -- he works like a dream!" - George Boosey, Performing Ventriloquist, Framingham, MA

Willie Tyler is among my customers along with noted ventriloquist and figure maker Bill Boley who used one of my figures as his principle character until his passing in 2000. Another professional vent, Todd Oliver, used one of my figures 6 nights a week for 7 years in Opryland , USA and never had a mechanical problem. In fact, Todd's still using it.

Hartz Puppetry Workshop

What Our Customers Say About Us

For more information on the figures which I make, please contact me at conradhartz@yahoo.com.

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