File puptcrit/puptcrit.0810, message 186


From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:02:03 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Modified marionettes


Hobey Ford's archeological adventures with a dozen Sue Hastings puppets make for an interesting story. Too many times, someone like Jessie Morrow, out of ignorance of the IMPORTANCE of maintaining the original integrity of certain puppets, can destroy something of historical/artistic value, and create an object of less interest. It would have been better if she had made new puppets, using the old ones as inspiration. 

That Hobey has been able to undo some damage and restore puppets to something approximate to the original condition, is a real contribution to our collective history.

Some other Sue Hastings puppets have been "modified" by at least one other person, alas.

Sue Hastings is an important American puppeteer. As such, her puppets have more value than some anonymous amateur puppets which surface on e-bay or in yard sales.

But sometimes even amateur yard sale puppets need to be preserved, as examples of folk art, or rare examples of regional puppetry. 

Around 1979, I visited Grand Rapids, Michigan, to see some marionettes created for/by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the Great Depression. A local puppeteer, well meaning, had recycled these historic figures, turning some into clowns.

If you repaint a Rembrandt, it is no longer a Rembrandt, and much harm is done. Value is lost.

After my calling this fact to the attention of the puppeteer who modified the WPA figures, I hope that she made no further modifications. She seemed apologetic.

Hobey is right on, when he says a puppeteer can often learn by studying old puppets and their construction,
Earlier this year he visited our exhibit in Los Angeles at the Craft & Folk Art Museum, and had a chance to study puppets by several important puppeteers.

Hobey has a good eye when it comes to preservation of and appreciation for old puppets. He also understands the importance of written or photographic material, the available documentation, and the provenance.

When old puppets are no longer in working condition, they can still have something to teach us---they still have value, like old folks in retirement homes, they have worthy memories.

ALAN COOK  


-----Original Message-----
From: Hobey Ford
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2008 7:29 AM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Hastings marionette details

Sue Hastings took a class taught by Charles (Max?) Searle, Sarg's builder,
but thought he was holding back the good stuff so she is said to have  told
Sarg  so on one of his visits to the class, and went right over to his
marionettes and examined them and satisified, left.  She basically imitated
his style but didn't get so techical with her mechanisms.  She became his
biggest competition.   Dorlis Grubidge's book Sue Hastings Puppet Showwoman
is very well researched and written.  When I was trying to figure out what I
had been given by the State Theater, her book gave me hints and clues.  It
was so fun.  Here I had this pile of boxes filled with marionette stuff and
photos and scrapbooks, but it had all been recycled and there were hints
that these boxes of birthday party gear had more to them.  When my friend
Clyde popped off Jimmy Carter's plastic wood face and found "Sepia" the
harlem dancer's face we knew there was a mystery.  It was puppet
anthropology.   One of the coolest coincidences was this little article by
Sue's couisin telling of taking one of Sue's puppets that she had bought
years before on a visit to Sue on her death bed.  By the description I found
the marionette and then with Dorlis' book I glanced at a  date in the book
which was that days date, Sue 's Birthday.  So here I was holding the last
puppet she came into contact with the day before she died and I discovered
it on her birthday.  Thus the title of the article "the secret life of
puppets".  They seemed to be waiting to be re-discovered.  When you operate
them stripped down of later post-Sue "modifications" Its like the original
craftspeoples intentions reveal themselves.  I think much can be learned by
handling these old figures, which unfortuately is mostly impossible.


On Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 5:52 PM, <puppetpro-AT-aol.com> wrote:

> Thanks, Hobey.
> I also loved your article a while back about the other Hastings marionette
> discovered/uncovered/recovered !  Very interesting stuff. Did Sue Hastings
> learn from Max Searle, Tony Sarg's builder?
>
>
>
>
> Rolande
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Sent: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:14 am
> Subject: [Puptcrit] Hastings marionette details
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Have a look at some photos of a  Sue Hastings head and then a black
> character of Sue's as well.  The knee joints were unusual for Hastings
> knees
> because of the ball and socket fit of the joint.  It was originally a black
> character but Sue's couisin Jessie Morrow used it in a Rip Van Winkle show
> for empoyees at The Metropolitan Museum sometime in the mid sixties.  I
> discovered the body was black beneath a coat of paint and under the ribbon
> covered wax hands.   The black head was an extra when I got it but on
> careful examination found that it belonged to this once black body.  As
> with
> all the figures there was a lot of undoing of Jessie's modifications to get
> down to original parts.  I have around twelve figures and 20 or so heads.
> None were left intact by her cousin but were recycled into birthday party
> show figures.  You can find the Cepia and Celephane figures at the photo
> gallery as well.
>
> http://www.hobeyford.com/album/hasting-marionette-details
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