Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 14:56:13 -0500
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Tasha Tudor


When Tasha was seven she saw Tony Sarg's "Treasure Island " and that
was her inspiration to get into marionettes later in life.  She went
on about his work when I talked to her.   She worked from a Paul
McPharlin Book and had no guidance other than that.  Her illustration
career took off and the kids grew up (they were the chief puppeteers
though she joined in as well)  and she set puppetry aside. In 1977 she
saw The Salzburg Marionettes in Boston.  I'm not sure what show she
saw, The Magic Flute comes, but I don't recall.   I'm not sure how or
when but she struck up a friendship with Gretel, Professor Eicher's
daughter and went to visit the theatre in Austria.  She got to watch
performances back stage and out front several times.  She started
producing "The Rose and The Ring" after the visit and said she started
using wires  instead of strings like Salzburg Marionettes.



On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 1:43 PM, Bell, John <john.bell-AT-uconn.edu> wrote:
> That's interesting about "The Rose and the Ring."  I believe Tony Sarg did that with Ellen Van Volkenburg when she worked with Sarg in NYC--one of the first dramatic shows he did, if I recall correctly.
> jb
>
> 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
>
> To make a contribution to the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, please go to
> https://secure.ga4.org/01/uconn_foundation_giving, and select "Ballard Puppetry Museum" from the "Purpose" list.  Thanks for your support!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org [mailto:puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org] On Behalf Of Hobey Ford
> Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:21 PM
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Tasha Tudor
>
> That is from "Knights of the Round Table".   She produced her first
> theater in the 1950's while living in New Hampshire when my cousins
> were kids.  She got back to it when she moved to  VT and had grandkids
> and they and her apprenticed performed the Thackery's "The Rose and
> The Ring" which I got to see in the late 70's.  It had  around forty
> marionettes.  The highlight of the show was the corgi dog orchestra
> conducted by a cat whose tail wagged around wildly as he got into the
> music.  Her earlier shows included "Little Red Ridinghood", "Jack and
> the Beanstock" and "St George and the Dragon".   When Tasha was a
> child she went to live with a family in CT and it was there that she
> got into drama.  One of her puppetry friends was  the late Paul
> Peabody whose work she greatly admired.  Does anyone now about his
> work?  I only know that he did marionettes. She wanted to do "The
> Legend of Sleepy Hollow" which inspired me to do it in 1999.  I made
> Tasha's likeness for one of the old Dutch wives.
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Bell, John <john.bell-AT-uconn.edu> wrote:
>> Thanks Hobey for your message about Tasha Tudor and the amazing illustration!  She sounds like a wonderful person and I am glad to know more about her, after hearing of her indirectly for what seems like a long time.
>>
>> The illustration is quite amazing--do you know what show is being performed in it?
>>
>> Best wishes for 2009!
>>
>> john bell
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: puptcrit-bounces-AT-puptcrit.org on behalf of Hobey Ford
>> Sent: Thu 1/1/2009 11:44 AM
>> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Tasha Tudor
>>
>> I have attached an illustration  by Tasha of a performance in her
>> barn.  (I have photoshopped the seam between pages)
>>
>> [ Attachment:
>> http://lists.puptcrit.org/pipermail/puptcritattach/attachments/20090101/fbd35032/attachment.jpg
>> ]
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 10:10 AM, Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com> wrote:
>>>   This last year marked the passing of Tasha Tudor who as well as an
>>>   illustrator and later day Martha Stewart was a doll and marionette
>>>   maker.  Tasha had yearly performances in her barn in VT.  Neighbors
>>>   and friends would gather for these quaint shows and sit on hay bales
>>>   to watch the performances.  In her early years she toured her shows
>>>   around new England including The Natural History Musuem in NYC.
>>>   Though we weren't close, she was my mother's half sister and we had a
>>>   year long coorespondance around 15 years ago when I did interviews
>>>   with her for an article in the Puppetry Journal.  Childhood visits to
>>>   her farm were like a step into 19th century New England.  She and my
>>>   cousins dressed in 19th century garb.  Her farm and children were the
>>>   models for her artwork.  Her marionettes were very simple and while
>>>   the shows weren't rivetting puppet theater the whole experience was
>>>   magical.  She was an astute business woman and had her own empire
>>>   based on her books and artwork and later in life she became the model
>>>   along with grandchildren and neighbors for photogragher Richard Brown
>>>   who did a series of books on her world.   She was most famous for her
>>>   illustrated childrens book and her illustrations of classics like
>>>   "Wind in the Willows" and "The Secret Garden".  She was 92 years old.
>>>
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