From: Linda Elbow <breadpup-AT-together.net>
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2010 20:05:39 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] So whose work did you see that got you going in


Beautiful stories, everyone!

I went to a neighbor's house every week night to see Howdy Doody.  
That was what compelled my step dad to convince my mom that they had  
to buy a TV - to keep me at home. We all watched the Kukla, Fran and  
Ollie shows and Se=F1or Winces on the Ed Sullivan show. Every now and  
then I still hold up left hand and try to do what he did. And then  
came the Muppets.

I think that after Peter Schumann the puppeteer who had the greatest  
impact on me was Roberto Lagos. I will never forget him at the DC  
festival standing there with another man his age performing hand  
puppets without a stage or any disguise. There was a younger man with  
no puppet between Lagos and the other hand puppeteer. I can't  
remember what he was doing. I just remember Lagos. I loved the  
newsletter he sent out for a long time. Peter told me that he knew  
Roberto in New York when he was doing shows about things like why you  
should go to the dentist.

Linda

On Apr 4, 2010, at 7:34 PM, Charles Taylor wrote:

> So whose work did you see that got you going in puppetry?
>
> I had been introduced to puppets before we had television  with a  
> cub scout puppet. Then I learned about Hazell puppets. I probably  
> only had one or two as Christmas gifts.  Although I vaguely  
> remember having a Mickey Mouse Puppet and an Alice in Wonderland  
> Disney puppet.
>
> One foggy Christmas, my aunt, uncle and cousin Bobby had to stay  
> over.  Bobby and I slept in sleeping bags on the floor while the  
> other unexpected guest had our beds. Bobby and I talked about what  
> we were getting for Christmas.  I knew he was getting a large set  
> of Hazell puppets but was sworn to secrecy.  All he could talk  
> about was a motorcycle he wanted.  If he didn=92t get it, he swore he  
> would run away.  I would have given anything to have had the  
> puppets.  Later I learned, he refused to even open the large box of  
> puppets.
>
> Once my family could afford to buy a television around 1952,  Bob  
> Kelly=92s Cyclone Malone was one of the first marionette shows I  
> would have seen.  It was wonderful with beautiful crafted puppets  
> and I was entranced. Later I learned that Bob Kelly had worked for  
> the Turnabout Theater. He wound up owning an antique store and was  
> in business with Liberace.  Of course when I was a young teenager  
> we had Kookla Fran and Ollie, Beanie and Cecil the Sea Sick Sea  
> serpent, Howdy Doody, and Bil Baird=92s specials on television. All  
> were treats and each demonstrated very different approaches.
>
> I was creating my own crude marionettes and shows all during my  
> childhood and teenage. Finally, I learned of a puppeteer, Barry  
> Campbell,  giving lessons in a public park. I rode my bicycle ten  
> miles to attend his workshops. It was disappointing that at the age  
> of eleven I was too young to be allowed to participate in the show.  
> That is where I learned to make sawdust heads over a wad of paper  
> tied on a dowel with string.
>
> Next, I  teamed up with some friends and we put on shows in a  
> fledgling dance studio. The owner was happy that we could bring in  
> an audience after posting home made signs all over the town. The  
> show was free and the dance instructor=92s studio became well known.   
> As my friends grew into high school, we were allowed to have  
> parties in her studio.
>
> It was those amateurish puppet shows we put on that introduced me  
> to Margaret Fickling, a Los Angeles City Special Education teacher  
> and a puppeteer.  She brought me to my  first Puppet Guild meeting  
> on August 28, 1958. That was a memorable date and turning point in  
> my life.  I had just graduated from high school that previous  
> June.  The guild meeting was at the home of Don and Norma Coleman  
> where I met nearly all of the major puppeteers in Los Angeles and  
> many of my  life long friends such as Gayle and Don Schluter.   
> Present were Bob Baker, Tony Urbano, René Zendejas, Blanding Sloan,  
> Vera Leeper, Howard and Marjorie Mitchell with their daughters,  
> Nancy and Susan, and of course Harry Burnett.  It was quite an  
> exciting evening to find there really were other people that shared  
> my  same passions.  I didn=92t feel quite so odd anymore.
>
> I learned that the Los Angeles Puppet Guild sponsored a puppet  
> workshop once a month on Saturdays led by Harry Burnett for a fee  
> of about six dollars.  I attended every one.  What ever we were  
> taught, I went home and made at least ten more.  That brought be to  
> the attention of Harry Burnett. He invited Margaret Fickling, my  
> ride, and me to his home in Hollywood to take private lessons.  As  
> I learned more and became proficient, I was invited to work with  
> the Yale Puppeteers and became involved in several of their  
> projects.  They invited me to live in the Turnabout House while I  
> attended college.  I earned my way by building puppets and shows.   
> It was  an extraordinary experience to meet many  celebrities,  
> theater people, poets,journalist and people of all walks of life.  
> Amongst their many friends were the heads of departments at U.S.C.   
> and Los Angeles State University.  It also helped my  college  
> education with an introduction to these professors and their wives.  
> I worked with Marion Bell, Vivian and Rosette Duncan, Penny  
> Singleton, Gilda Gray, Dorothy Neuman, Elsa Lanchester, Bill Buck,  
> Joseph and Miranda Marais.  I got to meet Van Johnson, Ray  
> Bradbury, Charles Laughton, Rudy Heinrich, Virginia and her brother  
> Chic Sales, Virginia O=92Brian, Jean Simmons, Bob Wright, Gayle  
> Gordon, Sig Arno, Patricia Munsel, and so many others that would  
> come to dinner or attend parties. The Yale Puppeteers seemed to  
> know everybody and entertained frequently.
>
> Odd the way things turn out; Barry Campbell, who wouldn=92t let me  
> perform when I was eleven, by the early nineteen-sixties had me  
> make molds of puppet heads that he produced commercially for  
> children with a stage that fit into door ways.  He didn=92t remember  
> me.  I am always amused when I see those simple rubber heads turn up.
>
> Although I became an elementary school teacher, I kept up my  
> puppetry by building shows, touring during vacation periods and  
> working as an extra with Les Poupes de Paris for a short stint.  I  
> taught puppetry ten years at the  University level at California  
> State University at Long Beach. All in all, it has been a very good  
> life.
>
> I was in the middle of typing this when we had a 6.9 earthquake on  
> Easter Sunday at about 4:43 p.m.  Everything is fine here though  
> things swayed for quite a long time but no damage.  What a great  
> place to live. The weather is fine. It took me nearly forty-five  
> minutes to get back and finish up.   Happy Easter everybody!
>
> Charles Taylor
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org

_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org