Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:43:45 -0400
From: "Bell, John" <john.bell-AT-uconn.edu>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Virginia Curtis' Clippo


Alan's informative and cogent posting about Clippo the Clown points out
the need for more research, documentation, and analysis of American
puppet history, especially on a regional basis so that those of us in
different parts of the country can learn more about what our colleagues
and predecessors have been doing around the U.S.

Another aspect of the lack of American puppet history: Susan Quinn's
fascinating new book about the Federal Theater Project, "Furious
Improvisation,"  includes nothing about puppetry in the FTP, even though
it was one of most successful and popular aspects of that important part
of American theater history.

It would be great if we could encourage more writers (and especially
theater historians and other "credentialed" writers) to take on the
subject of American puppet history...

Extensive interviews and oral histories with such National Living
Treasures as Alan Cook would, of course, be essential (maybe this is
already happening?).

Dr. John T. Bell
Director
Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry
University of Connecticut
6 Bourn Place Unit 5212
Storrs, Connecticut  06269-5212
office: 860 486 0806
cell: 617 599 3250
www.bimp.uconn.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org
[mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org] On Behalf Of Alan Cook
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 8:05 PM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Virginia Curtis' Clippo

One of the disappintments for me about the art exhibit entitled THE
PUPPET SHOW, which opened in Philadelphia and recently closed in Santa
Monica Museum of Art, was the fact that in the "Puppet Storage" space,
there WAS a small CLIPPO displayed with NO INFORMATION about Clippo or
Virginia---a MAJOR oversight here in the Los Angeles area where Clippo
was born in the late 1930s in Los Angeles Chinatown. In the Puppet
Storage, a couple of commercially-made hand puppet  portraits of Richard
Nixon and Spiro Agnew were greatly ballyhooed as havng been in the
collection of Andy Warhol. I don't think it was mentioned they were
German-made. I bought an identical pair in NYC in a discount/remainder
store near St Patrick's Cathedral, and I'll bet that's where Andy bought
his . They ran about $3 each long ago.

By chance, last week we opened an unmarked storage box we finally got
around to, and inside were Spiro Agnew & Dick Nixon, looking just like
the ones from the Warhol collection.

They are fun to have, but nowhere as important as CLIPPO.

ALAN COOK


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