Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 10:44:22 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] old stuff--scenery, stages props, etc.


I'm actually using that kind of story for a music video.  The song is
"Don't Have  the Body" by Arizona.  Its about the ravages of time on
the body so I am illustrating that by a young woman coming across a
trunk of old marionettes (sound familiar) and rebuilding one with the
help of the elderly retired marionettist.  I have two Hastings
marionettes with the same head mold but one is skeletal.  We will
simulate the rebuilding and end up with the fresh complete one.
Similar to the actual fate of many a marionette, to end up termite
eaten in a trunk in the attic.  My elderly mother inlaw is passable
for the elderly Sue Hastings.  One of the marionettes we are using was
shown to Sue the day before she died, by her younger cousin according
to a newspaper clipping.  Unfortunately it was so badly rebuilt that I
stripped away all the "improvements" so it now is the skeletal
marionette.  One day I hope to actually properly restore it.  It is
very interesting how beautifully it works without the junk which
impeded the stringing.  Its like communing with the original
engineer/craftsman.  We are shooting it in HD using a video camera
which accepts Nikor Lens (Nikon) giving it depth of field.  It is an
exciting project because the band has a huge fan base and will be
seen.  They want to do a series of three videos with puppetry.  We may
do one with the restored Harlem Dancers

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On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 10:27 PM, Alan Cook<alangregorycook-AT-msn.com> wrote:
>   Actually SOME road-worn scenery can be effectively used in puppet
>exhibits, and of course, old stages and props & scenery are usually
>the first things to be discarded, so in most puppet collections,
>there are few or no examples of scenery or setpieces.. Next best
>thing are photos of sets which can give SOME idea of the looks of
>past shows.
>
>   More often than you might think, as puppeteers downsize, even
>puppet bodies are discarded, leaving only heads. Othertimes, bodies
>are recycled with NEW heads made for them. At any rate, there are
>quite a few puppet heads what ain't got no body (to sort of
>paraphrase an old song).

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