Three Cheers for Puppeteers!
07.17.06 By Deanna Dahlsad
It wasn’t until I went to the Fargo Downtown Street Fair this weekend, and saw the booths with puppets for children, that I realized I had a puppet collection.
It began over 30 years ago with “Maria”, a marionette purchased on a family vacation to Mexico. While she was a simple tourist souvenir of simple creation, neither so fine or fancy as to be out of my parents price-range or to be admired for artistic value, Maria has survived. My sister also received a marionette that day, but she did not last long enough to be packed into one of those boxes our parents put away for us and then begged us to take with us the day we moved-out ‘for real.’ Unlike Maria, that marionette met a childhood death of neglect. I, however, cared for Maria, moving her from place to place, even if I never mastered how to make her come alive on her strings.
In fact, Maria may have survived because I didn’t know how to create a wonderful performance; she spent many years carefully packed away in a box.
When my family visited the street fair, and I saw the booth with the stringed puppets that even the tiniest of children could maneuver with delight, I had to stop and admire both the charming moves of the puppet creatures as well as the look on the faces of those that tried them.
Our children tried them as well, and easily made them walk, bound and sit. It was then that I remembered Maria and where she lay sleeping…
Maria is currently the only puppet I own with strings. All my other puppets are of the ‘hand’ variety, and most of these are not often used either. Oh sure, I read the the kids with my wolf puppet (he’s particularly delightful reading “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs“), but mainly, I just lovingly stacked them in giant baskets, protecting them from the status of ‘kids stuffed animals’, and let them be. But then I met and married one of the best puppeteers I know: my husband.
Hubby is not only willing to be silly and put on a show for me, but is gifted with the ability to move a puppet so that it looks real. And, he has ‘a voice’ — the ability to do voice acting work — so puppets really do come alive!
And now that my puppets do come alive and provide entertainment for the family, we’ve indulged in buying other puppets at rummage sales and flea markets, like these two retro primates. Both have the arms which wrap around you, hands secured with velcro tabs, to give you a hug — and the one on the right squeaks when you move his mouth, which drives the dog crazy.
Because we don’t hunt for puppets, or think of their values in any terms but our own sense of fun, I’ve never thought of my puppets as a collection before. But once we came home from the street fair, and I looked for Maria, and began counting the number of puppets I do have… Well, it was time to face facts: I am a puppet collector.
For information on puppets, and images of puppets, check out these websites:
COPA: The Conservatory of Puppetry Arts (COPA) is dedicated to promote, to preserve and to advance the international art of puppetry.
The Ontario Puppetry Association, a strong advocate for the art of puppetry, is a non-profit corporation. It supports the work of puppeteers of different styles and at all levels of expertise.
is in Italian, but has wonderful photos and a nice article in English on museum collections of puppets
EthnicArts.com has stunning Balinese shadow puppets (Wayang).
Pelham Puppets Online, a UK based site dedicated to Pelham Puppet collectors made by the Pelham Puppet Company, Marlborough, England from 1947 to 1992.
The Official Homepage of Larry Smith Puppets will ring a nostalgic bell for sure!
Gasoline Alley Antiques carries many highly sought after vintage puppets, including advertising puppets, string puppets, character puppets, plush and more.
(I should point out that the Raven and Dragon puppets shown here are still made by Folkmanis.)
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Article Tags: , COPA, finger, fingerpuppets, marionette, Ontario Puppetry, puppets, street fair================
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June 12th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
You missed the obvious, which is to link to UNIMA USA, the American branch of the international puppetry organisation. http://www.unima-usa.org. And Folkmanis are probably the biggest seller of glove/hand puppets around the world.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
[...] would almost seem that no collector is immune to the draw of puppets, as I’m the third writer here to express an affinity. My own attraction comes from some kind of genetic disposition towards [...]