File spoon-archives/puptcrit.archive/puptcrit_1999/puptcrit.9906, message 292


Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 21:56:22 -0400
From: "David A. Syrotiak" <nmt-AT-sover.net>
Subject: Re: PUPT: movable mouth puppets




HobgoblinH-AT-aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 99-06-29 12:56:22 EDT, you write:
>
> << I think that of all the
>  hundreds of figures I have designed and constructed over the years 'perhaps'
> a
>  dozen of them have moving mouths and were, I felt, absolutely necessary for
> those
>  characters. >>
>
> I admit that the addition of a moving mouth takes enough time to be daunting,
> but let me put it in a kid's perspective for a moment. I saw Bil Baird's
> marionettes when I was pretty young, and they all, if memory serves, had
> moving mouths. On the pretty characters, the harsh extra line was
> disconcerting and unattractive; on the old or funny or ugly characters, it
> was a plus. In puppet shows where none of the puppets had moving mouths, the
> lack almost always bothered me.
> So now, I tend to add a moving mouth to all animals, and to many uglier,
> older, or funnier characters who talk a lot. That's a lot of ifs and maybes,
> but I make a lot of puppets, and so that works to one moving jaw puppet in
> every four or so.
> Alice
> Hobgoblin Hill Puppets
>

Alice:

This thing about 'to animate or not to animate' is, like so many other things in
puppetry, simply a matter of personal preference.  I had meant to include this
statement when I sent a reply but because of advancing senility I forgot - ALSO I
should have prefaced the whole thing with, "This is just my personal opinion".

David (the elder)



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