Sanz y el secreto de su arte (“Sanz and the Secret of His Art”) is a silent documentary from 1918 about the work of the Spanish Ventriloquist Francisco Sanz Baldoví, who was popularly known as “Paco Sanz” or “Ventriloquist Sanz”. Although little known today, Francisco was one of the most successful Spanish performers in the first half of the 20th century, touring his enormously popular Ventriloquist act extensively throughout Spain and Latin America between 1902 and 1935.
The film demonstrates not only Francisco’s remarkable skills as a puppeteer, but also the mechanical complexity of his puppets, which remain very impressive nearly a century after they were designed and were a precursor of sorts to today’s complex animatronic creatures.
More information about this film can be found here. Additional info is available in Spanish on the web site of Instituto Valenciano de las Artes Cinematográficas.
Special thanks to Dmitri for discovering this via UNIMA-Colombia.
