File puptcrit/puptcrit.0808, message 230


Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:04:58 -0500 (CDT)
From: Charles Taylor <cecetaylor-AT-verizon.net>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Stolen Puppets


Nancy,

I am so sorry to hear of you loss of puppets.  Many puppeteers I have 
known have had similar problems with puppets being stolen out of vans.

Everyone should keep their eyes open in antique stores, boutiques, swap 
meets and other places that sale unusual items.  I have seen puppets I 
know to have been stolen for sale.  That is usually what happens to turn 
stolen items into quick cash.   They can turn up anywhere in any 
surrounding state.

The Turnabout Theater closed in 1956 and most of their  prized 
possessions were stored in an elephant van at Jungle Land near Thousand 
Oaks.  Jimmy Woods the circus owner was a friend of the Yale puppeteers 
and stored the goods for free.   In 1958, Harry Burnett and I went to 
Jungle Land to retrieve some items.  We were shocked to see the doors 
broken open and rare antiques and a life time of photographs and 
negatives scattered in the weeds around the van. Many puppets and 
valuable items were stolen.

Fifteen years later I was traveling through California and visited an 
antique shop in Los Gatos. I was drawn to a puppet hanging on the wall 
that seemed vaguely familiar. The price was higher than I could afford. 
When I next visited the Yale Puppeteers in their Turnabout House, I 
realized that puppet was the missing violinist from the Hayden Trio, 
their signature logo for the Yale Puppeteers, designed by their friend 
Cedric Gibbons the Art Director for M.G.M.  I always regretted not 
buying that puppet so it could be returned to Yale Puppeteers.

Bob Bromley lost several valuable puppets from his van while parked 
outside his apartment. One was the Opera Singer that performed all over 
the world, at the Pallidum in London, Moulin Rouge, Lido, Follie Bergier 
in Paris and La Scala.  He rebuilt them but they were never quite the 
same as the originals.  They are out their somewhere.

I believe it is law that to be in possession of stolen property means it 
has to be surrendered to the rightful owner.  That is why the importance 
of filing a police report with photographs.  You, as the original owner, 
may get them back.

Meanwhile, I believe in Karma!

Charles
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