File puptcrit/puptcrit.0802, message 57


Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:04:43 -0500
From: Mary Horsley <mphorsley-AT-earthlink.net>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] so-called Christian puppets


I still have the patterns that one of the big pattern companies came out
showing duplicates of the Sesame Street characters. Henson must have given
his permission for it.

Mary


On 2/4/08 1:54 AM, "Richard Johnson" <djdick-AT-georgiasouthern.edu> wrote:

> Although I had taken a puppetry class as an undergraduate, it was not very
> impressive, and my real introduction to puppetry came from Jim Henson's
> articles in Women's Day Magazine, which not only had patterns for puppets
> but had a script included (I don't remember whether it was The Magic Onion
> or the Purple Necked Black Bearded Blaaaschk, but while living on a Doctoral
> Teaching Stipend in Theatre, I had four children and limited income.  It was
> the birthday of my oldest son, so for his party, my wife and I made puppets,
> made a stage from a refrigerator carton (the pattern was also in the
> article) and did a show for his party.  One of the mothers asked if I could
> do one for her daughter, and before long I was making more money doing
> puppets than I was from my stipend.  Except for the Black Bearded critter
> and a couple of characters in The Magic Onion, all the puppets were built
> from felt in a very Kermit like pattern.  (I did regular performances of
> these two shows for almost two years, when I got tired of them and began to
> write my own, but still making puppets much on these patterns.) I have since
> made marionettes, sock puppets, almost innumerable rod puppets, body
> puppets, parade puppets etc., but they all began with Henson's big mouth
> glove puppets.  (I confess that during that time I made about twenty Oscar
> the Grouch puppets, using Quaker Oat meal boxes for the garbage can, as
> Christmas and birthday presents for the friends of my children and for a
> multitude of nephews and nieces. I used Henson's patterns for the
> manufacture, and never even thought of royalties till I wrote a couple of
> plays that were done without my permission and the reality registered with
> me that royalties for puppet characters were probably as valid as those I
> had paid French's and Dramatist's Play Service for years.)
> 
> Richard B. Johnson, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Actor, Director,
> Puppeteer, Playwright, Teacher,Writer, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool.  I
> sometimes think that the last persona is the most important- and most
> valuable.
> Http://www.PuppenRich.com
> Http://three-score-and-ten-ormore.blogspot.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org]
> On Behalf Of Joe Dunfee
> Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 6:40 PM
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] so-called Christian puppets
> 
> 
> As a person who is guilty of using the generic large mouth puppets
> when I was in college, I felt I should speak up on a few things.
> 
> First is something that I know has been discussed here in the distant
> past, but newer subscribers may be unaware of. Jim Henson put out a
> pattern of their large-mouth style puppet in one of the women's
> magazines. So, the general idea of the large mouth puppet is not a
> "stolen idea", but rather one that was shared by the Muppet's founder.
> 
> We live in an age where you have a lot of communication made possible
> through the Internet.  But, before that, if you didn't happen to live
> near an established puppet guild, or even aware that such a thing
> existed, you were pretty much on your own. There might be a few books
> at the library, most likely teaching puppetry as a craft for children to do.
> 
> If you didn't have the skills to make your own, back in the 80's you
> had few choices about where to purchase puppets. The styles pictured
> were about all there were to choose from.
> 
> At the time I did this type of show, it was my start in
> puppetry.  But, a teacher friend happened to see a college
> advertisement about a puppet show (a college level Bunraku style
> stage production). I went and was both introduced to the other
> possibilities in puppetry, and found out that a puppet guild
> existed.  That guild was to be next phase of my puppet education.
> 
> We all have to start somewhere. Some puppeteers may have the
> wherewithal to continue to work on their puppetry skills and develop
> as an artist, but there may be some who tend to stay at the level
> they are at. However, I can accept that their strengths may lay
> elsewhere and that we say it is necessary for them to focus on
> improving their puppetry. My first exposure, as a child,  to live
> puppetry was by a man who wasn't very good at it. Nor have I seen him
> develop any further over the years. But, he was a great friend to the
> homeless, and to humanity in general.  I wouldn't dare suggest to him
> that he abandon puppetry, because it is one of the tools he has in
> his hands to do his life's work.
> 
> 
> Joe Dunfee  joe-AT-dunfee.com
> Gordonville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
> 
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