Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:55:30 -0500
From: Jamie Ashby <jamie.ashby-AT-utoronto.ca>
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Rubbery Figures


Andrew may be quite right. TV puppetry is certainly not my area of 
specialization. Though in my defense, I wasn't trying to build a strong causal 
link, just a timeline, really. But could I vote for Felix Mirbt as "arguably 
the most important figure in the history of Canadian puppetry," if we have to 
choose one?

And if you want to see how great Noreen Young is, come to this year's festival 
in Almonte, ON! I was there last summer and was thorough blown a w a y.


Best,

Jamie Ashby

PhD Candidate: "Ideas in Motion: New Work Development at Puppetmongers Theatre 
Company," 
Graduate Centre for Study of Drama,
University of Toronto

Co-founder, PuppUTopiate: the *only* puppet company at the Univ. of Toronto






Quoting Andrew <puppetvision-AT-gmail.com>:

> Just to follow up/clarify Jamie's post re: Noreen Young, while it's
> certainly true that Noreen was one of the first people to do political
> satire on television with puppets, I believe Spitting Image developed
> completely independent of her influence. In fact, Fluck & Law (the series'
> creators) were largely ignorant of puppetry in general when they first
> started doing the show. I believe they relied a lot on Louise Gold and
> other
> Muppet Show alumni in the UK for guidance.
> 
> That's not to take anything away from Noreen Young, who is arguably the
> most
> important figure in the history of Canadian puppetry of course.
> 
> This reminds me of the little-known Canadian puppetry fact that John Conway
> was supposedly using many of the techincal firsts (no puppet stage,
> monitors, simple platformed-up sets) usually credited to Jim Henson on CBC
> in Canada prior to Sam & Friends. That in no way diminishes any of Henson's
> accomplishments of course (Conway might have technically done it first, but
> Henson mastered it and did it better). I'd bet that like Fluck & Law,
> Henson
> had never seen or heard of his predacessor's work when he started. Great
> minds tend to think a like.
> 
> That and history is usually written by the victor...or the more famous.
> 
> 
> - Andrew
> 
> --
> 
> The PuppetVision Blog
> "The web's best source for puppet film and video goodness, delivered fresh
> to your computer each day."
> http://puppetvision.blogspot.com
> 
> Machin-X
> "...where pixels meet puppets"
> http://machin-x.blogspot.com
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
> Admin interface:
> http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
> 


_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org
Archives: http://www.driftline.org