FORT MITCHELL — The 440 or so ventriloquists at the Drawbridge Inn this weekend think you can learn a lot from their dummies.

        The 25th annual Vent Haven ConVENTion 2001 concludes today with lectures and tours of the Vent Haven Museum on West Maple Avenue in Fort Mitchell.

        Convention director Mark Wade of Baltimore, Ohio, said ventriloquism has changed stages from the days Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were fixtures on network television, and he said men and women throw their voices in more places than cruise ships and nightclubs.

        In fact, Mr. Wade said, ventriloquists teach children about the dangers of smoking, preach the gospel and work with speech therapists to help people overcome stuttering and other problems.

        “(Ventriloquism) was never really gone,” Mr. Wade said Friday. “The more diverse we are, the better we are.”

        One of ventriloquism's early greats is in Fort Mitchell for the convention.

        Jimmy Nelson and Danny O'Day were part of the old Milton Berle TV shows of the '50s and '60s. These days, you can mostly find them in Florida trying to keep children from smoking.

        Mr. Nelson, 72, of Cape Coral, Fla., said television was a tough gig.

        “Everything was live,” Mr. Nelson said. “In those days you had 40 million people watching. There were no TelePrompTers; you had to memorize everything.”

        Crystal Miller-Stevens of Millersville, Tenn. takes her rabbit “Floppy” to children's birthday parties and corporate events. She said the strangest responses come from grown-ups.

        “The people, when they're drinking, get carried away with the character,” Ms. Miller-Stevens said. “They talk to him.”

        Candy Kane, of St. Louis, is attending her first convention. She uses six dummies and eight puppets in a variety of activities that include children's shows and class reunions.

        One of Ms. Kane's 14 characters is “Jason,” who thinks girls are yucky when he's around children and tries to find Ms. Kane a date among the adults. Ms. Kane said the children are the tougher audience.

        “You cannot fool children,” Ms. Kane said. “If your lips are moving, they'll call you on it.

        And no, Ms. Kane doesn't seem to mind the jokes and pickup lines adults throw her as a result of her name, which she changed several years ago.

        “They usually think I'm a stripper,” she said.

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