File puptcrit/puptcrit.0706, message 167


From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:03:24 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Perils of volunteerism/ difficulty in communication


I find it difficult to compare 40 hours of required volunteerism by high school or college students in the USA and Canada with months of agricultural labor on behalf of communist machinations (Hardly limited to Rumania, & the old Soviet Bloc of "Satellites". It was also carried to extremes in China, North Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam--thought control knows no boundaries.)

I was in Rumania--well, the Bucharest area, for 15 days of puppet shows at the third Rumanian UNIMA Festival in 1965. Moscow Puppet Theatre showed up with a huge cast for Divine Comedy, and I got to visit with Obraztsov (who had spent time in New York City around 1929, and saw Yossel & Cutler's anarchistic, socially satirical hand puppets which at least stylistically had to be a big but unmentioned influences on Sergei Obraztsov).
 
(This was noted AT THAT TIME by at least one former "leftist NYC puppeteer whose name was undoubtedly on FBI lists).

On stage, in 1965 Bucharest,  Obraztsov spoke in Russian and was then translated into various languages by the biggest lineup of translators at the Festival. It was a status symbol. I think it was also a survival tactic---by "playing the Soviet Games" well. Obraztsov survived the system----not all theater directors or artists did.

At that time, Ceausescu had not yet gone power-mad. He had not yet ripped out centuries of remarkable old buildings to make room for his Humongous Palace of dubious architectural merit. Of all the Satellites, Rumania THEN, was the most outspoken place for a while. There were government spies everywhere, of course--especially in hotel lobbies.

When my hotel bathtub plumbing malfunctioned  (A pipe broke in the wall), and I got no response from hotel staff, I spoke to the room ceiling light, "This is The Voice of America. Room #--- is experiencing leaking water in the wall next to the bathtub which will cause unknown financial damage to government property. This must be remedied immediately." When I came back from puppet shows, repairs had been made. Sometimes you can use spies to good effect . The hotel, built in 1930s modern style had housed Nazi Bigwigs during WW II, so spying was probably nothing new for that building---only the management had changed.

Just two week earlier it had become possible for American tourists to visit Rumania with an ordinary passport. A political thaw had begun. Previously we could only could go with a SPECIAL U.S.A State Dept Visa like the one Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin used around 1958.

Rumania had just begun printing WALT DISNEY COMIC BOOKS in Rumanian under license with Disney (nothing comparable in the other satellites). I STILL regret not buying a copy.

In Bucharest, a Universty professor stopped me on the sidewalk to ask if I'd put his name on book lists from American educational publishers. A kid asked me to send him a postcard from Disneyland.

The Stockholm Marionetten Teater performed KING UBU, all about corrupt political power, and people on the street begged to buy tickets. There was a a great HUNGER for outside contacts.

The first night I was in Bucharest, speakling only English and remembering phrases gleaned from reading subtitles of European movies I'd seen in Hollywood, I participated in an unexpected street conversation with about 15 local citizens. Among other things, the Russian domination of the Satellites was discussed. That was pretty brave at the time.

On one of the paper currencies, maybe the 100 lei note?,there was a picture of a building in Soviet Architectural style which sat in Bucharest as "a gift to Romania from the Soviet People".

I asked one of the men on that street what he thought about that building.  We were all speaking  a kind of do-it-yourself esperanto. He said, "Explicacion---Dominacion". Everybody laughed.

Humour under lousy regmes is a needed survival tactic, often expressed through puppet shows as well.

Next morning I met a small group of several American puppeteers who came for the puppet festival, at breakfast. They all reported arriving tired and having gone to bed early and asked What I'd done. I relayed the story of the sidewalk visit---Mollie Falkenstein and Margaret Fickling (both from southern California) said, "But you don't speak Rumanian". I had not even thought abut it that way until then. But when people NEED to communicate, with effort it can be done....sometimes.

So that is one of the reasons I'm on puptcrit---I hope we can communicate.

So, for comparing 40 hours of volunteering with unpaid labor--I think a point is missed (REALLY MISSED!). Using that accusation, you can also call HOMEWORK and STUDY "unpaid labor". It SHOULD be part of education. Today's kids need to learn the value of volunteering for a better community, for the cessation of unneccessary wars, for ending economic oppression. The American Consitution and our Declaration of Independence were and still are REVOLUTIONARY and RADICAL and IDEALISTIC. I get the feeling that our current White House incumbent and  the Dick Cheney Admiration Clique never read those documents. Our Fourth of July is coming soon---as good a time as ever to read those words and to voluntarily start to live by them..

And remember that all puppet organizations need NEW VOLUNTEERS along with the OLD ones.

And yes, sometimes the old ones won't make room for new people. Not everyone is willing to SHARE POWER.  Not everyone listens to the PEOPLE though they pretend to. (Ceausescu overlooked the importance of being inclusive, or he might have stuck around longer).

ALL GLORY TO THE PEOPLE!  May our real hand puppets. marionettes, rod puppets, stop-motion puppets protect our rights and freedom of expession and fight ignorance. Let politicians of every stripe stop manipulating people. Onward! Upward! The DREAM lives on.

Besides, all the people I have ever worked with in puppetry have volunteered their time and work at some time. What is NOT FAIR  is that so many people feel that we puppetry folk should ALWAYS do free shows, workshops, lectures, exhibits for other people who would never consider offering free legal advice, landscaping, roofng, plumbing, catering, dental or surgical work, car maintenance, secretarial service and .........

I once was asked by telephone, to do a free show in Beverly Hills, California for the wife of a "Society Dentist". I proposed that in exchange for a free show, which would have taken a day to load the car, unload the show, perform, reload, drive home and unpack that her Society Husband could donate a day of free dental services for me and my Los Angeles area puppetry friends.

"Oh, no! He couldn't afford to do that!" said she.

"Now you understand how I feel about YOUR request" said I and hung up.

Another blow in the fight against IGNORANCE! It never stops.

ALAN COOK


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