Definitely not just another pretty face

By Lori Porter Acorn Staff Writer

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn DYNAMIC DUO--Oak Park ventriloquist Jessica Phillips has a conversation with her dummy, Daphne.

A girl and her dummy are going places in Oak Park.

Last October, Jessica Phillips, 18, of Oak Park was crowned Miss Ventura County. But unlike past winners of the crown, Phillips shares that title with a friend who’s a real dummy.

It sounds cruel to call anyone a dummy, but in this case it’s true. Phillips’ friend is Daphne, a wooden doll/puppet with a flare for glamour who’s part of Phillips’ ventriloquism act that she performed at the Miss Ventura County Pageant.

Phillips’ unconventional talent as a ventriloquist began to blossom when she was just 8 years old, after meeting a very good friend of her grandfather, world-renowned ventriloquist Paul Winchell.

Many of us baby boomers remember Winchell from his TV show, "Winchell and Mahoney," which became the first Saturday morning television show for children on NBC in 1954. The show’s name comes from Winchell and his dummy, Jerry Mahoney. Today many people also know Winchell as the voice of Tigger in "Winnie the Pooh."

Winchell taught Phillips the art of ventriloquism and she took off with it after her parents bought her a Howdy Doody dummy to practice with.

Phillips became so good at ventriloquism that she often performed in talent shows at school. When she was 13, Phillips auditioned for the Magic Castle Junior Group in Hollywood.

She passed the audition and became a regular performer. For the past three years, Phillips has participated in the Magic Castle’s "Future Star of Magic" week which takes place every August. This year, she’ll be the featured performer.

It was one of the members of the Magic Castle who suggested to Philips that she compete in pageants. She signed up for Miss Ventura County Pageant as the youngest contestant. Contestants must be 18 or older, but they make exceptions for 17-year-old girls who are seniors in high school—which was true for Phillips, who just graduated last month from Oak Park High School.

Even though the Miss Ventura County was her first pageant and she was the youngest girl there, she won the title, an $800 scholarship, a beautiful gold ring and of course, the crown.

Phillips was sponsored by many individuals as well as businesses while preparing for Miss Ventura County. Among her sponsors were Steve Axtell, a puppet-maker in Ventura, Total Woman Health Spa and Tan L.A. After winning the title, Phillips received a three-month membership to Total Woman, free tanning at Tan L.A. and a free teeth whitening, all to prepare her for the next level of pageantry, Miss California.

The Miss California Pageant took place last month in Fresno with a total of 52 young women from throughout the state competing for the title.

Phillips won two talent contests at the Miss California Pageant which earned her two $500 scholarships. In addition, Phillips and every competing contestant received a $1,000 scholarship just for participating in Miss California.

"Jessica brought down the house that night," said Jessica’s mother, Diane Phillips. She added that the audience appreciated Phillips act because it was different than the typical, singing, dancing and piano playing so often presented at pageants.

A qualification for all contestants was their "platforms"—something in which they’re passionately involved—a service that enhances their community.

Phillips’ platform was "physical aggression prevention," a program she started by visiting local elementary schools with her dummy, Mikey, to instruct children on how to get along and how to stop bullying.

"Mikey is a muppet-style dummy who was bullied a lot when he was a kid," said Phillips. "He tells the kids the problems he encountered and they interact with him, giving Mikey solutions on how to overcome bullying."

Phillips has been active in numerous programs at Oak Park and hopes to become a Hollywood star.

Recently, she was on the Jay Leno Tonight show with comedian/actor Harland Williams. They performed a skit during an actual wedding conducted by the International Ventriloquist Association. At the wedding, every guest was a ventriloquist who brought their dummies with them. There were dummies for all the key players, the bride, groom and minister.

At the wedding, Phillips friend Daphne (who, by the way, thinks she’s a knock out) was flirting with Williams the actor, and later were caught upstairs in a hotel room. This segment aired on Leno’s show.

Phillips will be attending the University of California San Diego in the fall and will major in theater. She plans on performing at comedy clubs while in San Diego—with, of course, Daphne.