THE ‘40sīefore World War II PofA had 6 successful festivals. Puppets were featured at world fairs in Chicago in 1933 and New York in 1939. In 1937 ventriloquist, Edgar Bergen became a radio star. From 1934-1941 WPA government programs sponsored thousands of puppet shows around the country. In 1934 Glenn Hughes began a puppetry department at the University of Washington in Seattle. Pauline Benton was performing with shadows, and Marjorie Batchelder was introducing the rod puppet to American audiences. In addition to many marionette companies, Helen Haiman Joseph and Perry Dilley were using hand puppets. Burr Tillstrom, Lea Wallace, Walton & O’Rourke. PofA was founded by an extraordinary roster of artists under the age of 40 including Doug & Gayle Anderson, Marjorie Batchelder, Bil & Cora Baird, Pauline Benton, Meredith Bixby, Forman Brown & Harry Burnett, Lou Bunin, Ralph Chesse, Donald Cordry, Perry Dilley, William Duncan & Ed Mabley, Carl Harms, Hazelle Hedges (Rollins), Ed Johnson, Bruce Inverarity, Jero Magon, Basil & Georgia Milovsoroff, Vivian Michael, Roy & Harry Patton, Paul McPharlin, Romaine & Ellen Proctor, Helen Reisdorf, Catherine Reighard, Rufus & Margo Rose, Martin & Olga Stevens. In 1937 the first national festival of the organization, Puppeteers of America, was held in Cincinnati. The conference was so successful that there was an immediate demand to form a national puppetry organization.

Paul McPharlin brought together information about all these performers by publishing the Puppetry Yearbook in 1930 and then in 1936 he brought together 170 people for the first American puppet festival. Live performances were often classic children’s tales, but other offerings included scenes from Shakespeare, political protest, and experimental work with poetry and cubist design. In the 20’s puppets had already made their way into films. Rufus & Margo Rose met while working for Sarg… By the end of the 1920’s The Yale Puppeteers, The Tattermans, Lou Bunin, Ralph Chesse, Perry Dilley and Remo Bufano were performing. Sue Hastings studied with Sarg and by 1930 she was a major competitor with 5 companies out on tour. The Sarg shows toured the country stimulating a great interest in puppetry. Sarg’s large scale Broadway productions required many puppeteers. In 1920 Helen Haiman Joseph published the first important American puppetry book. Tony Sarg set up shop in New York City in 1915 and the same year Ellen Van Volkenberg did shows in Chicago and Helen Haiman Joseph did shows in Cleveland. Starting around 1910 in England, Germany, Switzerland, France, Russia, and in the USA puppetry was about to be reborn. Greek shadow puppets were seen in Chicago and Detroit. In New York, Boston, and San Francisco, small theatres showed Sicilian marionettes. The Lano family, Nicholas Nelson, Walter Deaves, Jesse and Mae Jewell, Lillian Faulkner, Len Ayres Mantell Manikins of vaudeville fame and George Pinxy Larsen’s Punch and Judy were all active in 1900. Middleton performed during the early years of the century and he was an honored speaker at the founding of Puppeteers of America. The Royal Marionettes performed at the Centennial celebration in 1876, with George Middleton assisting his family. Another good source is A Timeline of Puppetry in America published by Puppeteers of America 2003, edited by Paul Eide, with Alan Cook and Steve Abrams.īefore radio, television, videotape, the internet, interstate highways, and airplanes puppeteers entertained audiences around the country. Inspired by their example editors of Puppetry Journal continue the chronicle of American puppetry right up to the present day. They were interested in every aspect of the puppetry that was going on around them. A major source for this quick overview is the 700 page book The Puppet Theatre in America by Paul McPharlin and Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin.

History of puppetry