1.During the first ever Emmys ceremony in 1949, only six awards were given. The first Emmy Award was awarded to a 20-year-old ventriloquist. Shirley Dinsdale and her puppet, Judy Splinters ...

The first performer to win an Emmy Award almost didn’t show up to accept it. Ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale, who hosted a local show with her puppet Judy Splinters, was more interested in a date ...

The ventriloquist and dummy who rose to the challenge were Shirley Dinsdale, 22 at the time, and Judy Splinters, whose age could only be determined by cutting her in half and counting the rings.

Judy Splinters’ substitute for an Edgar Bergen is a 16-year-old San Francisco girl, Shirley Faye Dinsdale, who, says the real Bergen, is “the best natural ventriloquist I ever saw.” ...

The Emmys debuted in 1949, though at the time they only honored Los Angeles-based programming. Which probably goes a long way toward explaining how it was that Shirley Dinsdale, a ventriloquist ...