File puptcrit/puptcrit.0907, message 77


From: Brad Shur <mr_utamaro-AT-hotmail.com>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:21:39 -0400
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] how to consider


	boundary="_fbbe470f-fd3d-4176-8b70-0939e12aef6f_"

--_fbbe470f-fd3d-4176-8b70-0939e12aef6f_


I think there are a bunch of reasons there isn't as much division between amatuers and professionals in puppetry.

1) The field is much smaller=2C for a number of reasons. At any point in history=2C there have been many more painters=2C musicians=2C whatever=2C than puppeteers. It's easier for an amatuer to stand out since so few people can devote themselves to it full time. If you're an amateur broadway style actor=2C you're competing against thousands and thousands who eat/sleep/breathe it every day.

2) There isn't much money in it. A lot of people who otherwise would have been professionals cannot afford to pursue it full time.

3) Close perspective. Within puppetry=2C many non-professionals are highly regarded=2C but from the outside=2C most people only think Jim Henson=2C Howdy Doody=2C Children's birthday parties. I get asked regularly if "There are really professional puppeteers? people do that for a living?" As other people mentioned=2C within painting and film and literature=2C there are a number of non professionals who make the history books. I think the more into a particular discipline you get=2C the more you're exposed to talented non-pros.

4) There are limited venues/exposure for puppets (Aside from tv or being Julie Taymore) As a live performing puppeteer=2C there is a limit to the amount of exposure you can get=2C to the number and scale of the venues you are likely to play. Yo-Yo Ma=2C can play in huge Orchestra halls in every major city in the world=2C at the Presidential Inauguration etc. Puppeteers gaining that kind of audience are exceedingly rare=2C and even those that do don't have access to that scale of exposure as much as other arts.

So there is a much narrower gap between the fame/exposure/influence of great pro puppeteers and great non-pros. If you take out the outliers=2C Henson=2C Baird=2C Shari Lewis=2C the gap is even tinier. Compare that to the difference in fame/exposure/influence between a B list mediocre Hollywood actor and a great=2C talented community theater actor. The size of that gap makes it close to impossible for the community theater actor to make the history book.


B. Shur




From: robertrogers-AT-robertrogerspuppets.com
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Sat=2C 11 Jul 2009 10:09:04 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] how to consider










My original question about the artist Gustave
Baumann has gotten me wondering...here's a very accomplished artist who happened
to pursue an interest in puppetry.  Not professionally (that is=2C for money)
but with what we might call artistic success.  I don't know exactly how to
gauge his influence in the world of puppetry=2C but his work is definitely
somewhere in the historic timeline=2C and here I am writing about him.  (Two
playbills from his productions are reprinted in McPharlin's book on page
368.)

Similarly=2C W. A. Dwiggins ran a very
respectable=2C private marionette enterprise=2C and I know that he is very well
regarded.

But here's the question (and maybe it doesn't
matter): why is it that=2C when it comes to puppetry=2C the work of professionals=2C
hobbyists=2C enthusiasts=2C or whatever you want to call them=2C are often given equal
consideration (some amateurs are better than some working stiffs)=2C while this is
not the case in other performing arts disciplines?

For example=2C in the field of classical music=2C who
praises some fantastic violinist who only plays for his or her family at holiday
time?  Or what innovative dancer=2C who only dances in his or her home
studio is written about as an innovator?

Are there different standards when it comes
to puppetry?  Or are we puppeteers all the smarter for not making such
distinctions?

Robert Rogers
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live=99: Keep your life in sync.
http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_BR_life_in_synch_062009
--_fbbe470f-fd3d-4176-8b70-0939e12aef6f_

HTML VERSION:

I think there are a bunch of reasons there isn't as much division between amatuers and professionals in puppetry.

1) The field is much smaller=2C for a number of reasons. At any point in history=2C there have been many more painters=2C musicians=2C whatever=2C than puppeteers. It's easier for an amatuer to stand out since so few people can devote themselves to it full time. If you're an amateur broadway style actor=2C you're competing against thousands and thousands who eat/sleep/breathe it every day.

2) There isn't much money in it. A lot of people who otherwise would have been professionals cannot afford to pursue it full time.

3) Close perspective. Within puppetry=2C many non-professionals are highly regarded=2C but from the outside=2C most people only think Jim Henson=2C Howdy Doody=2C Children's birthday parties. I get asked regularly if "There are really professional puppeteers? people do that for a living?" As other people mentioned=2C within painting and film and literature=2C there are a number of non professionals who make the history books. I think the more into a particular discipline you get=2C the more you're exposed to talented non-pros.

4) There are limited venues/exposure for puppets (Aside from tv or being Julie Taymore) As a live performing puppeteer=2C there is a limit to the amount of exposure you can get=2C to the number and scale of the venues you are likely to play. Yo-Yo Ma=2C can play in huge Orchestra halls in every major city in the world=2C at the Presidential Inauguration etc. Puppeteers gaining that kind of audience are exceedingly rare=2C and even those that do don't have access to that scale of exposure as much as other arts.

So there is a much narrower gap between the fame/exposure/influence of great pro puppeteers and great non-pros. If you take out the outliers=2C Henson=2C Baird=2C Shari Lewis=2C the gap is even tinier. Compare that to the difference in fame/exposure/influence between a B list mediocre Hollywood actor and a great=2C talented community theater actor. The size of that gap makes it close to impossible for the community theater actor to make the history book.


B. Shur




From: robertrogers-AT-robertrogerspuppets.com
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Sat=2C 11 Jul 2009 10:09:04 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] how to consider

My original question about the artist Gustave Baumann has gotten me wondering...here's a very accomplished artist who happened to pursue an interest in puppetry. =3B Not professionally (that is=2C for money) but with what we might call artistic success. =3B I don't know exactly how to gauge his influence in the world of puppetry=2C but his work is definitely somewhere in the historic timeline=2C and here I am writing about him. =3B (Two playbills from his productions are reprinted in McPharlin's book on page 368.)
 =3B
Similarly=2C W. A. Dwiggins =3Bran a very respectable=2C private marionette enterprise=2C and I know that he is very well regarded.
 =3B
But here's the question (and maybe it doesn't matter): why is it that=2C when it comes to puppetry=2C the work of professionals=2C hobbyists=2C enthusiasts=2C or whatever you want to call them=2C are often given equal consideration (some amateurs are better than some working stiffs)=2C while this is not the case in other performing arts disciplines?
 =3B
For example=2C in the field of classical music=2C who praises some fantastic violinist who only plays for his or her family at holiday time? =3B Or what innovative dancer=2C who only dances =3Bin his or her home studio =3Bis written about =3Bas an innovator?
 =3B
Are there different standards when it comes to =3Bpuppetry? =3B Or are we puppeteers all the smarter for not making such distinctions?
 =3B
Robert Rogers =3B

Windows Live=99: Keep your life in sync. Check it out. --_fbbe470f-fd3d-4176-8b70-0939e12aef6f_-- 
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