ALTAMONT — Sylvia Markson never travels alone.

She has been all over the United States, yet she always has company — and not just her husband, Chris. Markson is also joined by her friends Smolder, Franchesca, and many others.

Sylvia Markson in the Magic Trunk ventriloquist show is performing at the Altamont Fair this year. Three times a day — 2, 4, 6, p.m. — through the end of the fair on Sunday. All of Markson’s friends will be there.

In the first show of the fair, the audience was introduced to Smolder, a dragon like puppet, and Franchesca, a bird from Las Vegas.

Those characters might not be seen at the next show.
"We have different things that we do," Markson said. "We have 10 or more characters. We haven’t actually counted them. We do different bits like the cup and we’ll get people from the audience."

Child’s play

The cup dates back to when Markson — whose real last name is Fletcher — first got into ventriloquism as a child.
"It was my hobby as a child," she said. "We’ve been doing it professionally for 15 years."

The cup is the first thing she used as a prop when she was a child, and she still uses it in the show.
"You can make anything talk," Markson said. "The cup and babies were the first things I did. We dress two people up like babies and put them in a bassinet and we do all the things that a baby would do."

Markson and her huband take the show on the road all year. They perform at fairs, schools, and even on cruise ships.
"We travel all over the country," Markson said. "Chris and I are always together. He’s the producer, manager, and he does the writing."

The couple has done 189 shows in the last two months. They recently spent 15 days in Mercedes, Texas doing three shows a day.
"It is on the border of Mexico," Chris said. "It was 4,200 miles round trip."
"We have a Spanish opossum that we use in our show," Sylvia said. "They loved that."

The Fletchers live in Ballston Spa in Saratoga County and will also perform at the Washington County and Columbia County fairs.
"We’re part of the entertainment," Sylvia said. "They asked us to come."
"There is a fair convention in January," Chris added. "Fairs from all over the state come and you show them your stuff and they decide if they want you at their fair. We pick the ones we want to do. We like to pick the ones closest to home."
"It’s nice to be able to choose," Sylvia said.

Career change

It hasn’t all been puppets for Sylvia Markson. She had another career at one point in time.
"I was in corporate America," she said. "I decided to try and do a show and see if that would work. I didn’t want to be in corporate America any more.
"The show became popular and took off," Sylvia added. "I’m able to work all year long at different venues and do different things. We go to colleges as well. We get to do more adult shows. They’re not blue, but they are for adults."
"Every season, there is a different venue," Chris added.

Sylvia and Chris also have a website — www.mylipsdon’tmove.com — where a demo of a DVD that they made can be viewed. And, they also have a video on Youtube, the popular video website.

There are certain characters that get used at different shows, mostly depending on the audience.

Some characters, like Franchesca, can be used for different audiences.
"Smolder is a fun character," Chris said. "He comes out in bits and pieces at every show."
"Franchesca is more for adults," Sylvia said after Tuesday’s show. "There were some kids here today so we brought her out."

Though she made a career change for her own good, Sylvia also said that there are many other reasons for performing the ventriloquism show.
"We do a lot of school shows," she said. "And those are educational, which is great. We talk to the children about reading and get them excited about it. We tell the children the only way you can learn ventriloquism is by reading. That’s what I did."
"I enjoy it," Chris said. "I like getting up in the morning and going to work."
"Our office is at our house," Sylvia added.

Sylvia also likes sharing a few laughs with the audience.
"I like to make people laugh," she said. "That’s the ultimate thing. If I have the audience laughing then I have done my job. I wanted to do something that makes people laugh. That’s the best."