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).