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.

Misc. Marionettes - Gene Skelly

The Disjointing Skeleton Marionette is one of the oldest Trick Puppets in history. Examples have been recorded all the way back to the Italian Renaissance, and I'm sure it's origins go back much further. It is constructed just like any other marionette, except that none of the parts are actually joined together...

I was interested to see if I could come up with a simple design which would be fairly easy to construct and yet still seem to be "skeletal". I hit upon the idea of using wooded beads of various sizes for the "joints" and simple wooden cut-out shapes for the arm, leg and rib "bones". Even the fingers and toes are made of wooden beads glued to a wired armature. The head is once again a  5" styrofoam ball carved to shape, but this time I used a newspaper and brown craft paper layered paper-mache covering of about 3 layers each since the head needed to be completely smooth all over.

How does it work, you ask?

The Controller for the Skeleton is an inverted cross. Strings attached to the Upper joints of the Arms and Legs run through the beads at the Shoulders and Hips and are tied tight while the top of the cross is straight up so that the Arms and Legs appear to be attached to the Body. The Head is also run through these same strings through the ear to ear looped wires, but is not attached to the Body at the neck.

Now a second set of strings is run to a removable bar which clamps to the crossbar. These strings run down to the Hands and Knees. The Head has one string attached to the top which runs to the bottom of the cross through a screw eye and fastened to a ring there.

To make the Skeleton walk you just keep the cross pointing straight up while moving the detachable bar forward. To make the Skeleton come apart you slowly tip the cross backward while moving the detachable bar in the opposite direction...the support strings slacken and the joints separate. The Head will naturally move with the rest of the Body as the cross is tipped, and can be raised and lowered independantly with the use of the ring attached to the top string.

It takes some practice to make the effect work effectively, as seen in the production photo of BOB ABDOU ( MR. PUPPET ) seen below. He combined the disjointing effect with a piano routine for a very fast-paced and entertaining act.

Misc. Marionettes - Harlequin

I've run across some photos of various marionettes I've created over the years and thought I would post them. I'm currently working on my third workbook publication which will detail the design snd construction of these, hopefully to be available sometime next year...

This Harlequin figure is 18" tall and made from wood and styrofoam. The body being wood block and dowel construction with carved wood hands and feet. The head is shaped styrofoam ( 5" ball base) with wool felt glued and stretched over it. The head is then given several coats of artist's Gesso and sanded. A dowel is inserted for the neck and heavy wire punched through from ear to ear and looped to receive the head strings attachment.

The Controller is cut from plywood with strong leather hanging strap and a dangling leg bar, also firmly attached with strong leather thong. The head strings are attached on either side of the oval shaped controller with hands on a continuous running string through two screw eyes near the front of the controller. The two leg strings attach to the ends of the leg bar, with a back string attached at the rear of the controller. 6 strings in all which offer a wide range of movement with just a turn of the wrist and simple plucking of the hand, leg and back strings when needed. We developed this design during our touring days to keep the controls simple to handle and also make them tangle-free during transport between show dates.

The head construction technique was something I developed in creating THE BILLY -CLUB PUPPETS seen in an earlier posting. It is an inexpensive and fairly quick method for creating lightweight yet very durable puppet heads for both hand puppets and marionettes.

Harlequin's costume was hand colored with Sharpie's, then ironed to set the color from running. This puppet was made for BOB ABDOU, also known as MR. PUPPET, a traveling showman based in Austin, Texas. I have made several puppets for him over the past decade or so.