File puptcrit/puptcrit.0808, message 308


Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:09:53 -0400
From: "Steve Abrams" <sapuppets-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Helen Fling "how-to" puppet book


HI Alan
I knew the book was a reprint but wasnt sure from when
Thanks for filling us in once again
happy labor day to all
Steve

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 3:01 PM, Alan Cook <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com> wrote:

> The Helen Fling book published by Dover is actually a reprint from the
> 1930s. The original version was printed in 4 sections with paper covers.
> Occasionally copies have been offered on e-bay. Sometimes only one or two
> sections may show up, since each section was sold individually. I think I
> paid 15 cents for each section--60 cents for the whole thing. In today's
> Bush Dollars that would be at least $6, but the e-bay prices so far have
> been much higher.
> The original copies are now rather rare. The paper is brittle, but can be
> handled with care. The line illustrations are very 1930s, a bit cartoony,
> and similar to some advertising illustrations of an earlier time.
>
> The Helen Fling books  were part of a series of hobby-craft books. There
> was also one on making Ventriloquist dummies.
>
> I bought the original version around 1947 at a dusty, old-fashioned
> dimestore in Oceanside, California (north of San Diego) while on vacation
> with next-door neighbors. The dimestore actually had had that 4-section
> publication for about a decade---the place was like a time machine. Old
> merchandise collecting dust since first placed on shelves. The primary
> economic core was the nearby U.S. Marine Base and their families--who
> obviously did not buy puppet books in quantity.
>
> You won't find many stores like that anymore.
>
> When Dover reprinted the book, they changed a drawing of a "Negro head"
> which originally had something like steel wool hair, and what some people
> would consider "racist" profile, but the text below the drawing was not
> altered in keeping with the visual changes. Basaically an example of
> changing perceptions.
>
> It is an odd little footnote to the book which inspired a lot of hobby
> pupeteers at one time.
>
> ALAN COOK
>
>
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