It 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 giving inanimate things personalities while sticking your head up their nethers.

The inherent awesomeness of puppets was instilled in me at a young age, and one of the first puppets that I ever had was a finger puppet. It was a yellow rabbit, crocheted by a volunteer at a hospital, and it was given to me as I emerged from getting a dozen or so stitches in my forehead after a fall. One might think that the very sight of finger puppets would cause me to clutch my head and fall to my knees after that, but the effect was just the opposite. Later, I would terrorize one of my girlfriends with a California Raisins ‘Fingertronic’ puppet and a creepy soul brotha’ voice. My, that Raisin was amorous.

And just this past summer, I was innately attracted to an alligator marionette at a street fair in Stone Harbor, NJ. I didn’t know why, but it was just one of those things that I was meant to have for no particular reason.

Well, it was this past weekend that I found the best finger puppets ever, and I found them at a Dollar Tree in New York. My dollar store toy collection is another blog entry entirely, but once again, I discovered that I had no choice but to purchase a handful and make them talk to my niece in the car on the way home.

The puppets, distributed by Greenbrier International, cover a small range of fairy tale stories - Little Red Riding Hood, The Wizard of Oz, and The Emperor’s New Clothes. But wait… if you really wanted to tell the whole, deliciously uncensored tale of The Emperor and his New Clothes, wouldn’t you need a… naked Emperor?

Yes, you would. And yes, you do. Thankfully, the Emperor’s nude frame isn’t very detailed, and curiously, there’s no alternative, clothed Emperor to tell the tale with, but a little finger puppet of a naked guy, wearing nothing but a crown and a slightly concerned expression, was enough to win me over. That probably sounds exceptionally creepy, and I can assure you that this does not translate into any real-life situations.

Needless to say, they exude more than their dollar’s worth of personality, and there’ll come a time when the puppet melee will take over my small town, or at least a small corner of YouTube. I’m particularly fond of the variety available at T&C Fingerpuppets, and also the ease at which one can make their own awesome set. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to make my Samus Aran vs. the Metroid finger puppet set, and Dwight Shrute would already be having tiny battles of willpower against a tiny Jim Halpert. The Cloverfield monster could be a perfect arm-sized, in-scale terror. Namor could abscond with the lovely Invisible Woman into the safe Atlantis in the palm of your hand. Clearly, the medium of fingerpuppets is being severely underexplored.

Grab a few and entertain your friends. Or at least yourself. Or at least me. I’ll giggle like a schoolgirl for you.

My two young kids and I traveled to Atlanta last week looking for a change of pace and some warmer weather, and while there we took in some of the city’s top family attractions, including the quirky Center for Puppetry Arts - a must see for puppet and doll collectors. The Center opened almost thirty years ago, the first organization of its kind in the United States. Its museum started out with 150 puppets that were donated by a puppet collector, and over the years the collection grew to its current size of more than 1000 puppets.

The price of admission included a puppet making workshop, a puppet show and a visit to the museum. I was impressed by the puppet show, an entertaining and educational production about dinosaurs, especially when I learned that the dialogue and singing were not taped but performed live. The artists used several different types of puppets to tell the story, including rod, shadow and body puppets. The usher advised us to sit in the back of the theater, where we wouldn’t be able to see the people in blacksuits operating the puppets on stage and could stay focused on the puppets. After the show the performers came back on stage to demonstrate how they worked the different puppets, which was fun to see, especially with the body puppets. The Center puts on performances for the whole family as well as teen shows and those intended for adults only.

Young kids will enjoy the puppet making workshop and the puppet show, but the museum was full of many different types of puppets, including nightmarish, creepy puppets from all over the world - fascinating to adults and older children, but quite scary for the little ones. Right off the bat a trash can turned into a huge phoenix amidst flashing lights and crashing noises. I was impressed, but it convinced the kids that they were going to hate the museum. The puppets in the next room that were on electronic timers that made it seem as if they were moving by themselves didn’t help much either.

After that, though, came room after room of amazingly detailed and varied puppets. There was a video of reknowned muppet creator Jim Henson, who cut the ribbon at the Center’s opening ceremonies, interviewing several of his top puppeteers. There were puppets from cultures around the globe that were used in festivals and ceremonies, as well as those seen in films like The Dark Crystal and tv programs like The Muppet Show. My personal favorite was the Elizabeth I puppet shown above.

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.)