Señor Wences

Along with George Burns and Bob Hope, he is one of three The Muppet Show (1976) guest stars to live to be 100 years old.

Wences created Cecilia the Hen in 1948 and added this to his act. It wasn't until 1950, on Your Show of Shows that Cecilia was seen nationally. The act was so good it caught the eye of Ed Sullivan. Sullivan wanted Wences act on his Show. Wences became somewhat of a regular on the Ed Sullivan's Show. He appeared forty-eight times during its run.

In 1947 he had stand-out cameo in the film comedy Mother Wore Tights (1947), starring Dan Dailey and Betty Grable. Among his famous vent characters were 'Johnny', ingeniously formed by one of Wences's hands and 'Pedro', a torso-less head in a box. In the middle of a routine Wences would lift the lid of the box and say "Are you alright?" to which Pedro would reply "S'alright". "S'alright" - which became a classic catchphrase.

In 1936, Wences created Pedro, the head in a box, literally by accident. During a train trip to his next job his dummies body was damaged beyond repair. Wences took what was left, which was the head, stuck it in a wooden box, and thus Pedro was added to the act.

The Spanish born ventriloquist Senor Wences was one of the highest paid vaudeville acts in the world. Hugely popular with American TV audiences Wences was also a top nightclub favorite. Born Wenceslao Moreno in Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Salamanca (Spain), Wences began performing ventriloquism as a child An early career in bullfighting proved unsuccessful so he took up ventriloquism and juggling professionally. Wences toured Europe in the 1920s before coming to America in 1935 where he made his New York debut at the Club Chico. He became an overnight sensation on "The Milton Berle Show" and later made appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and TV specials with Jack Benny and Perry Como.

His second wife, was Natalie Cover, nee Eisler a dancer, she was born in Karkov, Russia in 1918, widow of Mr. Cover and died of lung problems in New York city in 2005. They were married in 1951 in Beirut, Lebanon, at the U.S.A. Consulate. No issue. [2005]

His first wife, Esperanza Martin, born in 1902 in North Africa, died of Alzheimer in 1983 in Santiago, Chile. They were married in North Africa, in 1922 and divorced in 1944. With her he had a son who lives in Chile and a daughter who died young. His only U.S.A. citizen descendants are his favorite granddaughter, Marcela Moreno, an artist and also a Genealogist who has published books, and her children, Aleksandar Radovic-Moreno, a PHD. student at Harvard and MIT in Boston, and Magdalena Radovic-Moreno, a French and English graduate. [1983]