Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:46:21 -0400
From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppetry-a dying art?


Live puppetry will never go away.


On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM,  <puppetmaster-AT-puppetswithpizazz.com> wrote:
> It seems to me that some form of puppetry will continue but perhaps it will be in a video format. That saddens me for there is something so magical about the live show. But what saddens me more is that the public (i.e. our potential clients) seems to feel that puppets are a teaching tool, great to use to teach about drugs, AIDS, bullying or religion. I think of myself as a theatrical storyteller and I hope there will always be a place for people like me. Nancy
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
>
> Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:47:28
> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppetry-a dying art?
>
>
> Anyone who proclaims puppetry a "dying art" is just looking for
> something dramatic to talk about. =A0I don't think they are guilty of
> anything but indifference. =A0So much of TV and print news is about
> selling soap and filling time. =A0It must be terribly mind numbing to
> have to go out for the umpteenth time to cover stuff you obviously
> have no interest in and come back with "Breaking News!!!!" =A0 People I
> talk to seem to appreciate that puppetry is a living growing artform.
> =A0I also recognize that some have a very low expectation of our
> artform. =A0That low expectation has to do with the fact that they have
> witnessed very bad puppetry. =A0Turn on the food channel and witness
> Alton Brown mangling the idea of puppetry with bad sock puppets. =A0It
> is not that he doesn't know better. =A0He is exploiting it knowingly
> because he knows that the watcher will instantly connect to the idea
> of "bad puppetry." =A0It exists, like bad clown or mime cliche's. =A0It
> has become part of the collective conciousness. =A0It sits on a shelf
> ready to go right next to the phrases like =A0"Life of a string!"
>
> <WE have heard stock phrases, but for many, it is the first time so
> for THEM it sounds new.>
>
> =A0We participate in an artform that has sprung out of a hobby and
> plaything. =A0It is just the way things are. =A0 It is just so easy and
> innocent to take the next step and become a "professional" or "Master
> Puppeteer!" =A0You don't have to go out and get a licence. =A0 Bad
> puppetry can work to your advantage and it won't go away. =A0There will
> always be really bad puppetry. =A0I have personally become a dillitant
> of bad puppetry. =A0There are shades of it and then there is pure
> undulterated bad puppetry. Sublimely bad puppetry. =A0I also take issue
> with the critisms of cliche =A0press release on puppetry. =A0 A really bad
> one can reach an asthetic purity that is =A0so aweful that it becomes
> beautiful. =A0For better or worse its just they way things are. =A0 =A0Just
> be glad you aren't a mime.
>
> ;-)
>
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 4:13 AM, Alan Cook <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com> wrote:
>> For people who have not been to a puppet show lately or never, Puppetry IS a dying Art. That is something all of us are trying to change one way or another, or we wouldn't be on puptcrit or belong to puppetry organizations.
>>
>> As for press cliches, how many on puptcrit have had publicity in print that used the very cliches Robert Rogers quotes with disdain. I think it was Humphrey Bogart who said any publicity is good, just so they spell your name right. (Whoever said it was probably being a bit sarcastic), but without publicity, Puppetry could very well die. And like many others, my name has been misspelled in press reports, and many performers don't get mentioned by name at all---just the name of the puppet show, such as "Three Bears", or (cliche alert) "Stars on Strings". =A0WE have heard stock phrases, but for many, it is the first time so for THEM it sounds new.
>>
>> These days with fewer newspapers, we are lucky to get whatever print publicity we can, alas, alas.
>>
>> In exchange we may have to endure all those cliches in order to feed ourselves.
>>
>> Alan Cook
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Robert Rogers
>> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 5:06 PM
>> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Subject: [Puptcrit] Bob Baker video
>>
>> Alan,
>>
>> I logged onto the USC site regarding the video which you mentioned. =A0The
>> descriptive paragraph began, "Puppetry may be a dying art, but it is very
>> much alive at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater."
>>
>> I am sick and tired of people referring to puppetry as a "dying" art. =A0The
>> host Christina Wu should be repremanded for not only being uninformed but
>> insulting.
>>
>> I'm also irked by all those news reporters (notice I didn't call them
>> journalists) who use the phrase "no strings attached," or "he's pulling all
>> the strings," like they're the first one's to have used it.
>>
>> I'm also tired of all the people who ask me, "How's your neighborhood?"
>> because my last name is Rogers.
>>
>> Robert
>>
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