THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY - Program and Review

The production of THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY  at the  KIMBELL ART MUSEUM  was an all around success and one of the shows I'm most proud to have been associated with. The Program above bears the names of many of the talented people I've had the privilege to work with and Perry Stewart's glowing review always makes me smile when I read it again after all these years.

This truly was a perfect Christmas production.

And now my thanks to those of you who have been kind enough to follow my little blog this year. As I place these memories online and then gently fold them and put them away for good, it warms my heart that perhaps someone out there will find my work interesting and maybe even enlightening on some level. It has always been all about the Audience for me. I'll be back in the New Year with more musings and some new posts, for there is so much more to share....

THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY - Photos

 As per my usual, I have no photographs taken during the production of THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY. These video screen captures will have to suffice. Above is the set showing the raked stage platform and the "Wagon" which the actors assembled before the audience's eyes as the play opened.

 The ANGEL puppet rising up above the wagon to proclaim in song the birth of the Messiah.

 Here the wagon curtains are pulled back and the Shepherds confront Mac, his Wife and their "baby", the stolen sheep.

And the truly memorable finale in which the band SUNGARDEN enact the Nativity before the assembled Shepherds. You can't create a moment like this, it just happens and so happens as to be unforgettably beautiful.

If you would like to see some scenes from this production the video is posted on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HipPocketMemories

is the link to this and other scenes and shows which I designed and appeared in.

THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY - Research

I had done minor study of Historical Drama at TEXAS WESLEYAN COLLEGE, which included the Medieval Cycle Plays. 14 individual plays covered everything from the Fall in Eden to the Crucifixion. Each was told from the point of view of the comman man and presented in a style designed to entertain the masses as well as enlighten them.

The method of performance has been the subject of much conjecture, although there is general agreement that certain Guilds or Unions of workers ( Millers, Weavers, Hostlers, etc.) were traditionally entrusted with both the writing and production of  a specific play. Large wagons were fitted with simple stage dressings and the plays were "rolled" from village to town in procession and performed during feastivals and fairs.

All of this was closely watched over and approved by the Church and it's friars to ensure strict accordance with the teachings of the Bible. In fact these plays were the only sanctioned form of entertainment during the Middle Ages, outside of the poetic plays which were performed privately for Nobles and Lords. 

Above are some examples of the research I did prior to designing THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY for the Hip Pocket Theatre. All references to the Wagon Stages are based on paintings from the 18th century, whose accuracy can't really be judged. I think the conjectured ideas on the left are probably fairly authentic, if perhaps a bit grander than the originals.

THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY - Costumes

DIANE SIMONS and I spent several weeks in research prior to commiting to our designs for this show. There is a prevailing belief that we just "winged" these productions, but I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. We both had special access to the research library of the Kimbell Art Museum, usually only granted to students and Master's Degree Candidates. Our designs were based on historically accurate examples, with the added caviate of HPT's unique style.

I would put our efforts up against any other companies' then or now.

THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY - HPT - 1986

And now with Christmas upon us once again I'd like to relate some of the process behind the HIP POCKET THEATRE production of THE SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY at the KIMBELL ART MUSEUM in 1986.

This seldom produced Medieval Cycle Play was one of 14 known to exist which were performed by local Guilds on traveling wagons during the 14th and 15th centuries in England. Each play covered a different story from the Bible and were used to educate the populace and encourage them to seek solice in the Church.

We needed a play to perform at the Kimbell in November and December of that year and I suggested this based on my minor studies at TEXAS WESLEYAN COLLEGE.

The rendering above is pen and ink on architect's velum with reverse coloring. The raked stage I had designed earlier in the same year for our production of THE THREE CUCKOLDS was utilized again here. I added a stationary central platform.

This blank space was all the audience saw upon entering the auditorium. As the play began, the actors transported all the scenic elements and banners down the aisle leading up to the stage and "constructed" the set before the eyes of the audience.  Time constraints led to a simplification of the banners graphics, but the actual set hewed very closly to this original design.

JAMES start at CASA MANANA

So...my start at CASA MANANA in 1972 was auspicious, but not too dramatic...

My good friend then ( and to this day) MARK WALKER and I had made a short film the summer before and had worked on at least 6  High School productions together. He had secured an internship at CASA in the summer of 1972 as a scenic artist ( He is a fine artist, then and now) and I came out there one afternoon to see him.
Mark was busy in the main theatre building, so I hung around the Scene Shop in back waiting for him. I knew a couple of the other guys working out there. The upcoming production was Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES and they were busy applying silver mylar sheeting onto playwood forms to create arches. I chipped in and started spraying glue down and squeeging the silver sheeting down as smoothly as I could.....

The Scenic designer at CASA that summer was a man named JOE I. TOMPKINS. I had no idea who he was. At some point in my wait that afternoon, he strolled into the shop and said " That's it! That's the way I want it to look!" he was looking right at me and the piece I was working on.
"You're doing a great job!" he said...and I replied, quite honestly..." I don't work here."

Without missing a beat his reply was, "You do now!"

And so I started working at CASA MANANA.

[I should mention that Joe I. Tomkins went on to win two Emmy Awards for his Costume designs for the ELEANOR & FRANKLIN TV miniseries starring JANE ALEXANDER ( pictured with Joe above) and was nominated for two Academy Awards for his costume work on CROSSCREEK with Mary Steenbergen and HARLEM NIGHTS with Eddy Murphy. I learned a Hellava Lot from him that summer, probably the most instructive time of my life. I knew that I wanted to do what He did from that point on...and so I did...Joe is retired and living quite comfortably in Merida, Mexico today, and we still keep in touch. He's a great guy!]

CASA MANANA Program 2

here are a couple more scans from the 1937 Casa Manana program. Again, if a Time Machine was possible ...

CASA MANANA Program

One of the items in the little archive of material left to my mother by Fenn Leech was this Program from the 1937 season of the original Casa Manana. It is a snapshot of a time long past, although I can honestly say that this is the Fort Worth that I grew up in and remember with much fondness.

Until this time Fort Worth was considered just a "Cowtown" where the herds were driven and dropped off for slaughter. After 1936 and Billy Rose the City that would be became the cultural center of the state of Texas. And it still is!

SALLY RAND

 SALLY RAND, who headlined the original CASA MANANA nightclub shows at the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial in 1936 was an Extraordinary Lady. I know, because I was lucky enough to be able to work with her years later when she made a special appearance at the New Casa Manana in 1973, 33years after her first fan dance on the previous stage.

 At the left above is Miss Rand as she appeared in 1936 and on the right as I knew her...when she was 70 years old and still an incredible dancer! My job was to bring her fans and hand them to her just before she made her entrance. Now Miss Rand was just a bit over 5 feet tall in her heels and those fans with their pink, glitter encrusted celuloid handles and four foot long pink ostrich plumes were VERY HEAVY! I marveled at every performance how she made them seem to float as if they weighed nothing at all! And alhough her body stocking had gotten a bit thicker over the years, she still was a commanding presense onstage....

Offstage Miss Rand was one of the most personable and classy Ladies I've ever had the pleasure to work with. As a group, the technical staff pooled our funds and sent a grand bouquet of flowers to her dressing room for opening night. Above is my copy of the letter she sent to EVERY ONE OF US just before the close of the show. You don't see that kind of thing anymore...you won't see Her kind of professional anymore, either. I'll treasure my memories and this letter until the day I die. 

The Leech Boys - Finale

As I've mentioned my mother FRANCES OLIVER MAYNARD went to Weatherford High School with the Leech brothers and the Van Hoosier sisters. She visited with them all in New York while still a single girl and kept up by mail and phone after she married.

These photos I've been posting all come from the files kept by Fenn Leech which were passed on to my mother on his death three years ago. I'll be donating them to the Weatherford Historical Society after these posts are finished.

On the left above are Fenn Leech, Marzelle Van Hoosier and F.C. Leech at the Stork Club in New York in the 1940's. And on the right the same three in Las Vegas in the early 1990's.

I feel a strange kinship with these people who I never met and yet in whose footsteps I followed...
...almost like family, though not related. We all cut our teeth at a magical place called
CASA MANANA!

Casa Manana Babies 1936

 Here are those LEECH boys in the dressing room at the original CASA MANANA in 1936. They really are just boys, aren't they! F.C. on the left was billed as "Barry Leech" and his older brother Fenn on the right was "Larry" during their brief sojourn in the footlights over the next 4 years. I love these photos.
 As I've said, I was about the same age when  I first started performing professionally at the new CASA in 1972.

 These are the VAN HOOSIER Sisters who were also students of MARY MARTIN in Weatherford and appeared as Showgirls at the original CASA in 1936. MARZELLE on the left continued on in show business in New York in the 1940's when this picture was taken ( I'm afraid I don't know the identity of her partner here, but they definatly had some kind of nightclub act together). MARGIE on the right appeared in all four seasons of the original CASA after which she married and wisely quit the business. She is seen in the photo below on the stuffed pony in a number from the original season of CASA MANANA, another shot of which appears in the retrospective article from the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM on the left.

If a Time Machine is ever perfected I believe I would like to travel back to witness the spectacle BILLY ROSE created in Fort Worth back in 1936!

Mary Martin & The Leech Boys

 MARY MARTIN, the legendary Broadway Star was born and raised in Weatherford, Texas, where my Mother FRANCES OLIVER MAYNARD also grew up and where I spent summers as a boy in the 1960's. Everyone in town referred to Ms. Martin as "Mary" for she was a hometown girl and always would be. She is buried in the town cemetery, not far from where my family lie...and where i will rest one day. These people are my people.

Anyway...MARY ran a dance studio in Weatherford in the early 1930's and two of her most talented students were the very young LEECH Boys; F. C. ( Barry) & Fenn ( Larry) were high school classmates of my Mother and she maintained a close relationship with them for all of their lives.

In 1936 while BILLY ROSE was preparing the FRONTIER CENTENNIAL and casting dancers and showgirls from local talent, MARY MARTIN escorted 6 of her best pupils to Fort Worth to audition for spots in the ensemble of the first CASA MANANA show. F. C. & Fenn, 15 and 16 years old at the time were hired on the spot as part of the "Mens" chorus. ( I was also 15 when I first started working at the New Casa in 1972).

Two other pupils, also sisters MARGIE & MARZELLE VAN HOOSIER where hired as showgirls. This was quite an accomplishment for 4 kids from littleWeatherford.

 MARY MARTIN also auditioned, singing a song for MR. ROSE...after which he famously advised her to "Go Home and Sing Your Love Songs to your Husband!" or as  MARY herself related it"  Go Home and Have Babies!" . I imagine that whatever was actually said fell somewhere in between, but the effect was the same.

Of course, MARY MARTIN went on to fame in Hollywood and on Broadway, perhaps in part because of that first early rejection...and the LEECH BOYS tasted their own bit of fame over the next three summers at CASA MANANA in Fort Worth. My mother repeated their legacy to me many times during my childhood...and eventually I ended up working there myself...almost as if it was my time to fulfill....I've held a soft spot for both MARY and the LEECH BOYS ever since, although I never met any of them.

[It should be noted that BILLY ROSE wasn't auditioning actual Performers. All the Acts that played CASA MANANA in the 1930's were already established Vaudeville or Broadway entertainers. ROSE was only looking for Showgirls and Dancers whom he couldn't afford to import.
So his dismissal of MARY MARTIN's talent, while it might seem short-sighted of him is really only a practical consideration. A short setback for her, but within 2 years she was already an established act on her own.]

CASA MANANA 1936 - The Texas Centenial Celebration

 Outraged that DALLAS had been chosen as the center of celebrations in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Independance of Texas, Fort Worth civic leaders led by AMON CARTER, were determined to out-do anything their neighboring city might come up with. To that aim the New York showman BILLY ROSE was tapped to create a frontier-themed extravaganza and paid the unheard of  sum of $1000.00 per day for the 100 days it took to mount.

 The open area just east of the newly constructed WILL ROGERS MEMORIAL COMPLEX ( seen in the upper left of the photo above) was designated as the Frontier Centenial. This area bordered by Lancaster Avenue on the north and University Avenue on the east included the magnificent CASA MANANA ( in the lower left of the photo above) a 4200 seat open air nightclub which featured a 130 foot diameter revolving stage set within a 175 foot long lagoon of sparkling water. Three extravagant stage shows were presented nightly during the summer of 1936. The club was open from 6pm to 2am. The show was $1.00. A full meal was $1.50 with the top of the line mean featured at $2.00.

CASA MANANA lasted for 4 summer seasons from 1936 to 1939. The entire grounds were razed in early 1940.
I found these two photos of the area, on the left taken in 1952 and on the right a current satellite image. At the lower left of the photo on the left you can see where the original CASA MANANA stood, it's stage foundation and metal support structure still in place. The current CASA MANANA building designed by BUCKMINSTER FULLER and built by KAISER ALUMINUM in 1958 stands on the space just above the original location. The rectangular building to the south of the new Casa was the scenic and prop shop where I worked in the 1970's ( in fact I learned to drive the old theatre pickup truck, which was a stick shift, on the vacant lot right behind that building and over the exact spot where the original theatre had stood.) FARRINGTON FIELD on the right in both photos was built in 1939.

My friends Barry and Annie Cleveland published a very indepth article on the construction of the original CASA MANANA with many on site photos from the time
http://www.csun.edu/barrettc/documents/FortWorthForEntertainment-TDT.pdf
is the link if you want further information.

CASA MANANA - 1936 Frontier Centennial

As I have posted previously, my professional career began at the CASA MANANA PLAYHOUSE, Fort Worth, Texas in 1972. That Theatre was built in 1958 and ran a season of professional musical productions in the Summer as well as an award winning children's theatre in the winter and spring.

I apprenticed during the 1972 and 1973 Summer seasons, eventually becoming Propmaster and finally working as a Dresser with the Wardrobe Union there.

In the Children's Playhouse I appeared as an actor and honed my craft as a Puppeteer under the guidance of JOHNNY SIMONS, with whom I would later work as part of the  HIP POCKET THEATRE. My time at CASA lasted from 1972 until I left Fort Worth in 1976.

But...there was Another CASA MANANA, one that existsd 20 years before I was born and almost 40 years prior to my experience with the newly revived theatre....

 And I have a connection with that 1936 CASA as well, both through my Mother, FRANCES OLIVER MAYNARD of Weatherford, Texas and through Miss SALLY RAND who headlined the original CASA MANANA and with whom I worked at the New CASA in 1973.

My Mother inherited an archive of interesting articles and photographs which have now come down to me. I always knew this story growing up, and carried it with me as a sort of legacy during my time there and I am going to share that story in the next few posts.

The photos above come from a lengthy article in the  FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
 published on the 60th anniversary of the Frontier Centennial(the 100th anniversary of Texas Independance), the centerpiece of which was the  largest outdoor nightclub on Earth...
CASA MANANA!

Last of THE PUPPETMASTER - The Demon

The end of the 25 minute puppet sequence for THE PUPPETMASTER involved two green Ogre type characters ( in the lower right of the top sketch) who came forth and summoned...THE DEMON!

The Demon being Head and Hands spanning 30 feet across the whole upper procenium and mounted to an electrically controlled gantry ( used for setting the spot lights ) which swept out and up across the audience. Pretty Spectacular...and a Royal Pain to pull off!

 The components of this last puppet were HUGE and required as many hours to produce as all the other pupets combined. The Head was 10 feet wide and 9 feet tall, and each hand spanned 12 feet and was 10 feet high. Even with the all foam rubber construction these parts were bulky and difficult to operate so high in the air.

At the top is my initial sketch, breaking down the dimensions...and at the bottom the actual scaled patterns. I would place these sheets in the Art-O-Graph ( an optical projector used to reduce or enlarge a drawing onto a surface for re-scaling) and then draw each pattern onto Kraft paper in actual size. Then the patterns were traced onto the foam rubber sheets, cut and glued together ( with thick wire support included where the piece needed to be molded to shape.)

As I've said THE PUPPETMASTER was a very unusual and dynamic showcase for my talents as a designer and puppeteer and Those who were lucky enough to get tickets will never forget what they saw at the CARAVAN OF DREAMS in downtown Fort Worth. I'm proud of the work I did.
If you would like to see this show and others from THE HIP POCKET THEATRE visit
http://www.youtube.com/user/HipPocketMemories

Next time I'm going back to  CASA MANANA ... but not during the era I was employed there.

I've come across a small archive of material which my mother saved that deals with Broadway Legend  MARY MARTIN ( before she was famous),  a couple of Dancing Brothers and a Beauty Queen from Weatherford, Texas,  BILLY ROSE,  FANNY BRICE ...
and the Original Casa Manana from 1936.
It's quite a story...and I thought I would share it....

Back to THE PUPPETMASTER - Sketches and a Pattern

An ominous Lady in White floated through the puppet sequence ( I can honestly say I have no idea why, but She was pretty and sparkly) operatede by two puppeteers; one for head and right hand and on for left hand. Slightly larger than Life Size. I found this brown kraft paper pattern for her hands, the only surviving pattern from the making of the 25 puppets in this show. I'm sure I kept the others, but they were probably swept out when the warehouse we were "borrowing" was sold and torn down some time later. Why I decidied to keep this one is another mystery that will never be solved.

The lower sketch is for a little Theatre Procenium Puppet, again made of foam which "walked" forward on the stage, opened it's Curtain to reveal  another puppet which emerged from within.
It was a Dream sequence after all! I only created the puppets and staged the sequence...I had no hand in it's writing.

SIMONS & BALENTINE - KickStarter Project

I interrupt my regularly Scheduled Blogging to Shamlessly Plug my Friend  BRUCE BALENTINE'S effort to fund the restoration of Audio & Video of his Late Brother  DOUGLAS BALENTINE'S music and performance work. Most of which was a collaboration with JOHNNY SIMONS in the 1970's and 1980's when I was involved with the HIP POCKET THEATRE, their joint creation.

The KickStarter site is : http:www.kickstarter.com/projects/brucebalentine/simons-and-balentine-website

I took the picture seen above in 1973 when I first met and worked with these two incredibly talented men. The hours and hours spent with them striving to make each production a work of art carved my life into what it would become and enlightened hundreds and thousands of people who were lucky enough to view their original works. Now it may be possible for everyone else to experience this as well.
for a taste of what might be if this project succeeds go to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HipPocketMemories

My personal favorite of the SIMONS & BALENTINE shows is OLD TARZAN. If you like what you see and hear there then please consider making a donation for restoration.

Thank you for reading through this Shameless Plug. I offer it with True Love for those who Truly Loved the work we did in those days.

THE PUPPETMASTER - Foam Rubber Puppetry

Two sequences within the puppet segment of  THE PUPPETMASTER  involved Giant Fluttering Butterflies and a Full-Stage Aquarium with Giant Fish and other Undersea Creatures.

The Butterflies were 4 feet wide and cut from 1/2" foam rubber with a single black control rod at the bottom. Each side of the Butterfly was painted in a different design with Flourescent spray paints. Manipulation was simply a matter of waving the control rod up and down to create a natural enough fluttering effect. Under the blacklights the Butterflies appeared to be flying under their own power and could be quickly flipped over for a shape-changing effect. There were 8 of these puppets, filling the stage for a few minutes of delightful ballet.  

The Aquarium sequence was a bit more complicated. There were 2 each of the figures seen above, again simple cut-out shapes of 1/2" foam rubber and painted with different colors on each side in flouescent spray paint. The longer fish and eel had two control rods, the smaller ones only needed one. These 12 fishes, which measured from 24" to 60" long, were carefully choreographed moving back and forth across the stage and suddenly flipping over to a different look altogether as they traveled back the other way. There was also an Octopus which was constucted of foam mounted on a large Umbrella frame painted matte black. As the umbrella was opened and closed, the Octopus seemed to be propelling itself diagonally in between the other fishes in the scene, causing them to scatter and then reassemble.

I should mention that the two main human characters in the story, the Grandfather and his little Granddaughter were on either side of the stage carefully spot-lit so that they appeared to react and interact with the blacklit puppets...during the Aquarium sequence I even had them making bubbles with little bubble guns I bought at Toys-R-Us which added to the whimsy of the scene.

THE PUPPETMASTER - Set Design

This was all I could find relating to my set design for THE PUPPETMASTER. Since the play took place backstage in a theatre at night, I simply created two revolving units which represented some flats and scenic pieces as if they were in storage, along with a couple of ornate trunks from which the props and costume pieces used in the play could be produced. The "backdrop" was the actual backwall of the Caravan of Dreams stage with the existing staircase leading up into the flies above.

During the "Dream Sequence" involving the puppetry these units were quickly moved offstage and the existing black backing curtains were drawn across the wall in back creating a completely black background for the black-clad puppeteers to create the magic against unseen.

The photo was taken for publicity in the warehouse I used to build the shows in 1987. It was owned by a HIP POCKET THEATRE board member who allowed me to use it rent free during that year and into 1988. I remember it was located down underneath the Lancaster Street bridge along the Trinity River across from Forest Park and it was large enough to not only construct the sets and puppets but to even allow rehearsal space for the actors. I also remember that it was Unheated!

The lower page shows my notes for units needed and supplies for constucting the puppets.

THE PUPPETMASTER - SKELETON SKETCH & PATTERNS

I had been creating Large Scale Puppets for a coupel of decades. The first being "Whiteman" pagent figures used in the Casa Manana Playhouse production of HIAWATHA back in 1973, which were carried on shoulder harnesses and manipulated by three or four puppeteers during the final scenes of that play. WAR OF THE WORLDS & KING KONG Followed for HIP POCKET THEATRE in the late 1970's and early 1980's. THE LOCK NESS MONSTER and other super-sized puppets would appear over the next decade, but the largest puppets creatiosn I ever did were seen in THE PUPPETMASTER.

The Big fellow I'm leaning against in the previous photo is broken down here in my initial sketch and the subsequent patterns I created to build him.

I've posted about the ancient concept of the "Disjointing Skeleton" marionette previously and I have utilized that concept in the making of many "Trick" puppets over the years, but this takes that gimmick to the next level.

Each part of the "Body" of the SKELETON is a separate independantly operated unit: HEAD, BODY, ARMS & LEGS are created of white foam rubber sections which have been individually glued and wired for stability ( the 1" thick foam cut to shape with a wire piece bent to that shape. The edges of the foam are painetd with Contact Cement and allowed to "set" and then the wire is centered on the edge of the foam with the edges pinched around it to form a rigid body part.

The HEAD was operated by one black-robed puppeteer, the BODY by a second, each ARM by a single puppetter and each LEG by a single puppeteer...6 in all, with each choreographed down to the most minute movement so that none became entangled in the others. The SKELETON was able to walk convincingly on stage and at the right moment each section "disjointed" until the body parts had spread out over the entire stage, danced independantly and then "re-joined" again. Quite an Effect!

The Sketch on the Left is my initial concept for the puppet ( the Roman Helmet was eventually dropped from the design) with the actual Pattern breakdown on the Right. For an interesting element of realism, the skeletal HANDS were built atop black gardner's gloves so that the "fingers" could be moved independantly as the ARMS separated from the BODY...quite a ghoulish little extra bit of manipulation which engaged the audience's imagination.

The finished puppet was 10' high and glowed brilliantly in the Blacklight Environment we created across the entire stage space (about 40' wide on the Caravan of Dream's Stage...upper light units and "footlight" units along the base of the stage...about twelve in all).

THE PUPPETMASTER - Caravan of Dreams - 1987

I've found a file of miscellanious sketches and patterns I created for this production. I have mixed feelings about the work I did here. One one hand it will probably be the one show that is mentioned in my Obituary, some (hopefully distant) day...on the other hand I did not want to do it and to feed publicity for the HIP POCKET THEATRE where I was doing groundbreaking work, I reluctantly agreed to create the sets and the 25 minute all puppetry sequence that this very thin production was built around. Did I mention that I was given a Budget? One of the only times in those days that I had any money to work with. What I could have done with that funding on other, much better productions! This is the sad ying and yang of producing "alternative" theatre.

Not to be totally glum about THE PUPPETMASTER, for that 25 minutes was a sublime experience of which I am frequently reminded by those fortunate enough to get tickets to the sold out event. I took everything I knew about showmanship and crammed it into that "Fantasy Dream Sequence" and audiences came away amazed and enchanted, which is all we theatre people can ever hope to achieve.

More Misc. Marionettes - Juggles the Clown

Juggles began his life with the Silver Ball that I came across and kept in my "Goodies" box for some future use. I always knew it would be the ball that some puppet incarnation would "juggle" as it was so perfect for the job. Over a decade passed before I needed to create a juggling puppet for BOB ABDOU ( MR. PUPPET ) of Austin, Texas.

The result was one of the loosest and goofiest marionettes I have ever constructed. His moves come so naturally that he practically does the act himself. When a puppet responds like that it is a real treasure. Bob has been using Juggles in his variety act for many years now.

The concept is simple. The ball has a hole drilled in it's top and bottom. A short length of plastic tubing is epoxied inside for the strings to channel through. Then, wherever you want the ball to balance; hands, toe, nose, etc. a string must be attached and a separate control rod used to jerk the strings in just the right order to make the ball move naturally from place to place. It takes a good deal of skill to perform this number, which  MR PUPPET  possesses in abundance, but Juggles is so loosly jointed that he responds perfectly every time with that goofy yet very proud expression on his face.

My original controller was simple, but a bit clumsy. Bob created a newer and I must admit better control which allowed each separate move to be independantly made for smoother manipulation. The kids at the performance in the last photo seem enrapt, so it must work. Bob has some videos on YouTube...just type in "Mr. Puppet" to see several examples of his expert work with all types of puppets.

More Misc. Marionettes - Liza Meownelli

This was a vanity project for me. When I was working as a professional puppeteer in the 1970's I had a chance to perform with a marionette designed and built by the Great BIL BAIRD. It was a diminutive little cat very similar to this one, about 24" tall and so beautifully carved and balanced that she practically performed by herself with very little input from me on the strings.

I wanted to see if I still had it in me to create a fully hand-carved marionette and so I spent several weeks on the patterns before finally committing to the blocks of pine and the saw and knife. The Legs and Hands being the hardest to get just right. I re-did the toe shoes three times before I got the scale just right. Needless to say these patterns are worth gold now and will be included in my forthcoming book on marionette construction.

The Head is the same styrofoam and felt construction which I find so durable and simple to execute.

Liza sings quite sweetly and dances with grace and style. The Controller boasted 12 strings all together, with special ones for her toes and hips and elbows in addition to the standard ones to support the head, hands and knees.  She is not as wonderfully balanced as the marionette I remember from so long ago, but pretty close. In all I was pleased with the effort.

Since I no longer perform I eventually sold Liza Meownelli to BOB ABDOU ( MR. PUPPET ) in Austin, Texas where I believe she is on special display today.