James Edward Nelson (December 15, 1928 – September 24, 2019) was an American ventriloquist who appeared on television in the 1950s and 1960s. His dummy was named Danny O'Day because it was easy to say without moving his lips. Another dummy was named Farfel the dog.

In 1955, the Nestlé company hired Nelson to do commercials selling their chocolate candy and Nestlé's Quik chocolate milk flavoring. The Nestlé executives had him audition by spontaneously performing their newly written jingle. Nelson sang the first two (musical) lines in Danny's voice:

N-E-S-T-L-É'-S,

Nestlé's makes the very best...

He finished with Farfel slowly singing the last word, "chocolate," in two syllables. Nelson was so nervous that his hands sweated, and when Farfel was finished, his finger slipped off the control, causing the mouth to audibly snap shut, a mistake no ventriloquist should make. Nelson left the audition thinking he had blown it, but was surprised to learn he was hired; in fact, the executives actually liked the mouth-snapping effect and asked that he keep it. This became his trademark as the commercials ran for ten years.

Nelson was dubbed "The Dean of American Ventriloquists" in 2011.

Nelson collaborated in 2011 with maker of professional ventriloquist figures Tim Selberg to produce a character that pays homage to his Danny O’Day.

He died on September 24, 2019, at the age of 90, from complications of a stroke suffered earlier in the year.

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