Puppethouse mayhem – linked to our puppethouse website. www.puppethouse.co.uk That site was set up over 15 years ago to record the history of Ron and Joan Field’s Marionettes and to acknowledge their contribution to the world of British Puppetry – photographs, articles, anecdotes and films. I was a puppeteer too and the story just goes on and on……
Click here to see the full puppethouse web site http://www.puppethouse.co.uk/
Topics on this page -
Punch and Judy’s 300th Anniversary
Frank Mumford – ageing puppets and puppeteers.
The Goon Show Plague – Eccles from the Telegoons
Workshops at Saltdean Library –
Pelham Puppets –
Paul’s Punch and Judy –
Magical marionettes on our allotment,
Please scroll down to find the relevant infomation.
————————————————————————————-
Film edited at last! Mr Punch’s 350th Birthday Party.
I have been going on about Punch and Judy a bit recently. We were not Punch and Judy people, (but my son Paul has taken it up in recent years)
We were marionette makers and performers, but in those days everyone knew everyone else so we knew the original Percy Press who was famous for his performances in Covent Garden as was his son Percy Press Junior.
Another puppet mate was Bob Pelham who made the toys in the late 40′s and 50′s and here today is David Leech who was one of Bob’s associates. He has his own company making toy marionettes and today was launching a new addition to the family, a marionette Mr. Punch! (check his website)
Whatever you think about Mr. Punch and lots of people don’t like him or approve of his antics, he was very much part of the old seaside tradition.
Some Punch and Judy men barely made a living, the work in the old days was seasonal and the takings relied on a ‘bottler’ the person who went round with a bottle to collect the money for the show before the audience slipped away without bothering to pay! Later the ‘bottler’ would use a hat for the money. These days many Punch men command a fee for their show so the bottling bit is the icing on the cake!
I can’t help smiling when Punch and Judy men claim to be the original Punch and Judy man from this or that town. There was always more than one, striving to keep their status and their plot on this or that beach! Now there are schools to teach the art, no doubt awarding diplomas, but that is only the beginning, a Punch and Judy performer will still have to spend years developing his skills. Success in this business depends on whether one can actually made a living as a Punch and |Judy man, or woman, or indeed a marionette maker and performer.
As a daughter of puppeteers despite our successes, it was a very insecure life. I used to say we were rich or poor depending on the sun and the season! I have in the past sometimes envied puppeteers who have been subsidised by grants from public funding for the arts. My father prided himself in never accepting a penny from such funds!
Our marionettes are of course works of art, (as many Mr Punch puppets are). My father who created most of them, had their character and its movement developing in his mind as he made them. This was why he never made marionettes for anyone else. Although I remember he once broke this self imposed rule, to make copies of two or our marionettes for a theatre company in Windsor. Even our marionettes for the feature film ‘ Oh A Lovely War’ on Brighton’s West Pier, were not for sale, but dressed, played their part and came home, and, like real actors, paid their rightful fee!
So back to the Big Grin. This film has been a bit of marathon, I had about an hour and half of footage. I wanted to make sure that every Mr Punch who had made the effort to attend was in the film. Some of it required quite a lot of editing as I was whizzing round without a tripod, filming much of it with my camera above my head.
It has ended up being a compromise between quantity and quality, with some stills in it to keep the show on the road! I edit in Adobe 6.5 transfer it to Movie Maker and then download on to Youtube so the process takes forever. Eventually I said enough is enough and put it up!
Hope all you fond followers like it!
Post script – I have just received a wonderful book called ‘A Timber Idol’ by Martin MacGilp about the evidence that Mr Punch has been in Scotland since the seventeeth century. A gem of a book full of pictures and history anyone who loves Mr Punch will love it. www.gilpress.co.uk
April 23rd – Punch and Judy’s wedding day for their 300th Anniversary.
Preparation. Booth, Judy doll, thread, two controls, scissors, enthusiasm.
Dialogue (prior to the event – not that of Mr Punch who was nowhere to be seen).
Alan (my partner yelling ) “What are you doing in the loft?”
Me (yelling back) “Trying to find a bit of lace for Judy’s wedding veil.”
Back story
Ten years ago I had bought a little comedy booth from a fellow puppeteer called John Dudley, it was a fun item and I think John was just having a clear out. I was really intrigued because he had bought it from the late Eric Bramall, a well respected puppeteer. The Judy character in the film was a doll that I bought on ebay.
This is the nature of creativity- ideas evolve and connect in one’s mind and suddenly one feels compelled to run with them.
Today
The day of the shoot (technical word for filming) Alan was playing his fiddle and the real Punch and Judy Professor in the family, my youngest son Paul, had come over to play duets, so I knew I couldn’t disturb them.
So it was Punch and Judy celebrating their ill fated wedding in the garden. The only witness to the proceedings me and my camera. No wonder Punch was not impressed!
Comedy… a bit like life, a lottery! Did the film make you laugh?
Pauls’s Punch 
Judy from Ebay being made into a marionette
her posh wedding veil 
and finally in all her glory!
I bought a very old piece of music from ebay with this title. Unfortunately when it arrived the piece was so complex no-one could play it. Here on the right.
February 2nd Ageing puppets and puppeeteers story
if you came in from the main blog please scroll down to part 3
Part 1
On Wednesday a friend forwarded me a clip called ‘Puppets in the Attic’ – it was all about a film company who were trying to raise funds to archive the work of ’The Mumford Marionettes’ and the clip had been shown on TV on Monday.
‘Puppets in the Attic’ showed Fred Mumford, a cheerful 90 year old puppeteer, with his marionettes. It transpired that most of the collection is currently stored in his loft, together with historical film clips of Frank and his wife Maisie’s extensive career.
While I sincerely hope they get the finance to make the film, it reminded me that I still haven’t put enough energy into trying to place my collection recently.
Sometimes I despair that, despite the fact that I have a dedicated website www.puppethouse.co.uk, have ploughed both time and money into making films for youtube and continued to pay for their storage unit, they still don’t have permanent display space.
I was only thinking about all this so much because I had a bad cold and was staying in bed feeling pathetic and sipping Lemsips. But, as luck would have it, I also kept remembering things about my puppet history that haven’t been recorded, so I thought I may as well blog them.
I’ll be glad when this cold is over!
…..it was in the late 40s, my parents converted two rooms in our house in Highgate into a theatre, it had 30 red plush tip up seats bought from a local cinema. Our shows took place on Sundays and were often attended by local writers and the arts fraternity.
I’ll remind people who have not checked our puppet site out that in the 50s our family staged huge marionette musicals in theatre on the North Pier in Blackpool. This show then moved to The Spa, Scarborough the following year, at 15 I was expected to run this second enterprise. The family met in Harrogate on Sundays to discuss how business was doing.
When winter approached, it was back down to London to make a new show for Blackpool and so it continued for three or four years, a triangle of enterprise.
…the kind of preparation that took place.
There was also the ritual every spring, when my father dressed in his one and only suit, went down to see our local friendly bank manager. Having secured a temporary overdraft with a the shake of the hand, we then spent our time working to prepare the new show.
Marionettes in my view are nothing, unless they can move and I am the only person left in our family who can still operate them and at least my films are on youtube.
A few highlights from our Puppet Circus.
Part 2
Puppet companies in Europe certainly in the 60s, were often subsidised by the state. There was also a culture of street theatre in many countries and puppets were used for satire/to challenge political ideals. In Italy they had the Commedia d’Arte, an improvised drama and some of its characters developed into Britain’s Punch and Judy tradition
Although we knew Percy Press (well known P&J man) quite well and later met his son, my parents never did Punch and Judy. However Paul my youngest son, has always had an interest and now does this own show. I did carve a Punch head about ten years ago, life intervened, so we purchased the booth and characters from John Styles three or four years ago.
The show that follows was part of an entertainment weekend to launch the new theatre space on the terraces in Rottingdean last year.
Highlights from Paul’s Punch and Judy on the terraces – Rottingdean
I took a few marionettes out to perform at the Rottingdean Fair in 2011 but the dolls were not impressed! Plonked on the grass between the barbecues and the potted plants, they didn’t feel it had the same ring as being in cabaret at The Cafe Royal. Posh puppets below!
Part 3
We had very modest means when we started and no backing at all from anyone, something that later in life my father prided himself on. Luckily for us however every season was a success, the overdraft was settled and we could survive the winter with children’s entertainment.
Once or twice we were employed to perform a pantomime, but more often than not we managed to survive by performing at private parties, writing and publishing puppet plays and unusual project sometimes came about e.g my first solo performance was bringing stories alive with Johnnie Morris of ‘Animal Magic’ fame, somewhere improbable, like Hackney Baths!
Our marionette musicals were lavish for the 50s. We had a huge theatre with stage lighting, a professional stage manager and at least four puppeteers. We made the marionettes, constructed theatres , devised productions, rehearsed endlessly as well as marketing and printing our own programmes, travelling and finding digs or renting a flat.
As we expanded we either had to train people to be puppeteers or employ fellow puppeteers, then pray for a sunny holiday season with people willing to spend their money.
The show would have extracts from ‘Peter Pan’ or ’Alice in Wonderland’ or ’The Importance of Being Ernest’, as well as underwater ballets, arias from ‘Madam Butterfly’, a drama around ‘Pedro the fisherman’, as well as the puppeteer’s best friend – a huge puppet circus with clowns and performing animals. A puppet version of Shakespeare may have had appeal for some, but as my old mate John Dudley (fellow Telegoon Puppeteer) who had played Stratford once said “It’s the puppet circus that brings in the punters and pays the bills” (or words to that effect)
Our shows were well supported, due to the tradition of wakes weeks, when the mills closed for two weeks and everyone went on holiday together. Miners and their families from Wales came to Blackpool too. Scarborough considered itself a bit more upmarket, but workers from the North would enjoy a good seaside holiday there too. It was much later than southerners would discover the joys of northern seaside resorts sometimes lured to Blackpool for the famous illuminations.
Many puppeteers in the mid 40s and early 50s, aspired to perform on television. This could be a double edged sword. Jan Bussell of the Hogarth Puppets, used his Mule (made by Fred Tickner – a famous Punch and Judy man) in his puppet circus. Later when working with Annette Mills, she called the puppet ‘Muffin’ and both puppet and presenter became part of our popular culture. Later in there lives anywhere in the world where the Hogarth puppets performed, the question was posed ”… but where is Muffin?”
It was fatal to appear on television with a popular stage puppet act, once it had been on the box, that was it! All those years of building a routine. gone in minutes. Some famous comediennes of my acquaintance, wisely shunned appearing on TV.
We were never really part of the closer knit puppetry fraternity and from what I can remember it was not always supportive – there were internal politics, rivalry and even jealousy at times. But I remember our family had a long term friendships with Jan Bussell, John Wright and Bob Pelham, the toy maker who created Pelham Puppets.
Nevertheless my parents enjoyed the honour of being the only puppet company to entertain Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Charles and Princess Anne at the Queen’s first party after the war at Buckingham Palace. However my parents were politely requested to avoid creating any publicity. I can’t remember exactly why, but there was a good reason. Our agent never forgave us for agreeing to the request she felt it would have made our careers! My father however was proud enough to use it on all our subsequent publicity.
We entertained many celebs of the day at their private parties and did the first TV commercials featuring puppets.We made the pied piper for Pye Radio and Mr Lucas for the electrical company. Later we made and operated the puppets for a backing number for Cliff Richard on a TV spectacular and, of course, the marionettes in ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ (in storage) and we were the original puppeteers for the Telegoon Series.
Many people envy such an interesting childhood, but it was what is known as ‘hard graft’. We were journeymen puppeteers, no fame and certainly no fortune!
,
Bognor 
Our pantomime puppets.
My mother and I moved into cabaret but with each with different marionettes.
My mother loved her ’Rose Murphy Marionette’ 
while I preferred one of my characters ‘Misty’.
—————————————————————————————————————
25th January 2011
Being creative is just tiring. I really want to get on with my poetry, but this week have been trying to rescue a piece of armour from one of the marionettes from ‘Oh What a Lovely War’. It’s taking ages working out the best of way of doing it.
At times like this I miss my mother, she would have known what to do in no time. But it still seems important I try and keep them all in good order, for some unknown and probably unappreciated posterity!
At least only a handful of our marionettes where made of rubber, so escaped the fate of the Telegoons. All of the Telegoons were made of made of rubber, not by us I hasten to add. because they all them disintegrated over the years. Neddie Seegoon, the wonderful Bluebottle, Minnie etc just wire frames! Sort of puppet skeletons I quess.
Apparently we were too expensive at the time, so we just got the contract for make the pilot film and the proto-type of the hands and the boots. Lucky old Eccles at least his spare pair are kicking around, I last saw them on our Humpty Dumpty marionette.
—————————————————————————————-December 4th
Just noticed that the Goon Show Preservation Society mag. had a photo of two people alongside ‘Eccles’, not that he got any credit for hanging around, just some comment about him hanging over a clock and everything being late? Not sure about that exactly… didn’t have time to read in detail …but just shows people think of my marionette as ‘Eccles.’ Perhaps I can auction him at Sotherby’s in my old age!
——————————————————————————————————-
November 2011 Suddenly took it into my head to clear out some of the Pelham puppets and sell them for the Poppy Day appeal. Put a DVD of some of our plays with each one and put them up on Ebay. Sold six in quick succession. my mother, who was in London during most of the second world war was always moved to tears on remembrance day, so she would have approved.
Thank you bidders! Not a lot else on the puppet front been too busy trying to be a poet in recent weeks and cleaning the oven, takes it out of you!
A bit more excitement on this page soon hopefully. Ann
——————————————————————————————-
September 2011 
Trying to adapt an old script about the environment, all about a small field with leaky pond, in the new venue – our new allotment. Here we are the owners of a plot with a second hand shed and some new raised beds. Maybe a new film is in the offing!
——————————————————————————————————-
Plays for Pelham Puppets - Everyone who likes Pelhams loves our Caterpillar Capers on You tube but I thought the interest in our play book and DVD had disappeared. But suddenly the demand has returned so much so I am about to edit the DVD for book two. Watch this space.
————————————————————————————————————–
The 60th Anniversary of The Goon Show. Today I am a very minor celebrity, I was one of the ‘Telegoon’ puppeteers in the 60s. Off I go to the The Strutton Arms in London with Alan my partner and my two sons Robin and Paul Perrin. 
Saturday 28th May 2011 is the 60th anniversary to the day of the first broadcast of “Crazy People”, which subsequently was renamed “The Goon Show”. Celebrations will be held at The Strutton Arms (formerly Grafton) 2 Strutton Ground London
There was a list of celebrities most likely to be there: Graham Stark, John Antrobus, Joe McGrath, Sandra Caron, Burt Kwouk, Sally & Jane Grafton (children of Jimmy Grafton), Marcel Stellman and Eric Sykes who it was hoped will unveil the commemorative plaque.
Many more have also been invited. The Programme -The Order of Confusion for the day:
1. (Noon) A message on behalf of HRH The Prince of Wales
2. Unveiling of the commemorative plaque
3. Performance of the first Goon Show
4. Buffet
5. Discussion on all things “Goon”
The Goon Show Preservation Society under the enthusiastic guidance of John Respech the chairman and secretary Tina Hammond had raised funds to put up a plaque to commemorate the pub where the Goons first started to write their scripts. 
Jimmy Grafton was the publican at The Grafton (now Strutton Arms) and had done much to encourage many artists and comediens to start their careers after the war. His daughter was much in evidence at the event as was his son, who provided a lovely buffet 
What a wonderful walk down memory lane the event proved to be. The pub was full of Goon related celebrities, including Charles Chilton, writer of many things including ‘Journey in Space’ and ‘Oh What a lovely War’. It was Charles who gave Spike his first break in show business at the Palladium. 
Marcel Stellman and his wife were also honoured guests.Marcel was responsible for producing many of the Goon songs, especially the world famous ‘Ying Tong Song’. Bert Kwouk, who worked with Peter Sellars in the film ‘The Pink Panther’, attended among many others…
Of course my lookalike Eccles made for a Goon Show convention insisted on travelling to London to enjoy the fun. 
After the unveiling of the plaque leading actors of the day performed the first Goon Show script, generously donating their time, enthusiasm and completely without rehearsal. The wonderful Dave Withall, Peter Stanford, Phil Ladd, Jon Glover, Jeffrey Holland and not forgetting the lovely Les Drew on sound effects! A huge success of course, followed by the buffet and anecdotes from the celebrities.
We also had the pleasure of the company of the writer Brad Ashton from London Associated Scripts. 
It is sad to note, however, that as the years go by there are less and less of these fascinating people at such events and that some of the younger people present had apparently learned of the Goons though the Telegoons.
Graham Stark, who is an old buddy from my first summer season in Eastbourne sent his apologies as did Eric Sykes.
Robin and Paul my sons managed to win two raffle prizes, a bottle of Scotch and a wonderful CD donated by Marcel, lucky them!
Eccles disgraced himself unfortunately by insisting on being photographed unveiling the plaque when in fact Charles had performed the honour..
“Doh” said Eccles! 
——————————————————————————————————————————-PHOTOGRAPHS Paul Perrin.
Robin operated Eccles, when we did a Goon Show convention performance a few years ago.
Note on the Telegoons - we were involved in the development of the Telegoons, the puppets and visual expression of the famous radio series ‘The Goon Show’. I went on to perform with the Telegoon
puppets for fifteen episodes.
The Goon Show Preservation Society, is a still a thriving group. press on this link to see for the 60th Anniversary on youtube.
Ann’s effort for their convention a few years ago, thrown together as Ann had just done a talk, was out of breath and can’t sing anyway. Robin who had never operated a marionette or sung before in public. So pretty good really.
===============================================================
May 2011 Misty is wondering whether to persevere with her blog, no one has read it, ever! This could be because more popular marionettes are busy being ‘luvvies’ on youtube or Stratford!
===============================================================
April 2011 Puppethouse which actually means me and some extremely unhelpful marionettes…have been busy organising a green screen to modernise some of our film material. 
Soon we will have marionettes appearing all over the place. for those who don’t know, they use the green screen for weather forecasts. It is where the presenter stands in front of a giant globe and some such wonders….our use however will be far more interesting!
This whole idea is not as easy as it sounds as it has meant changing from Adobe 6.5 to Studio 12 and as my computer skills have all been ‘another mountain to climb’ the thought, never mind the action has taken months. Never mind new things will develop!
==============================================================
12th March Saltdean Library. On the 12th March children and their parents enjoyed improvised plays including a new version of Jack and the Beanstalk. 
More puppet fun followed with plays for Pelham Puppets from our book of plays. The Cat and the Cauldron always a favourite with a neat spell and lots of misunderstandings. 
Janet Cameron a local author
and Marian Philips who writes short stories 
kindly agreed to read the script and and the children performed with the marionettes for an enthusiastic audience. 
The play competition was won by a story about a Magician on an adventure. 
The Saltdean Residents Association have donated funds for a portable puppet theatre for use in the Library 
A video of the children performing has been delayed due to updating our editing programme. Thank you to Library staff and volunteers for all their support. Ann
==============================================================
15 Feb 2011 Saltdean Library This week the children tried out rod puppets and created their own version of the play ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The local paper came to take a picture (look out for a special picture in The Argus) and Saltdean Residents Association brought down a cheque for a puppet theatre, formally presenting it to the Librarian. We are holding a play making competition for children aged 5 to 12, living in Saltdean, Rottingdean or Peacehaven.
All you need to do is to outline a play using any of the following characters: boy, mother, king, queen. wizard, witch, princess, prince, fairy, giant, giant’s wife, Neptune, seagull, brown bird, cat, white rabbit, cow. Some of these characters are in the picture above.
You can have props that are easily made: fish, butterfly, box, net etc.
The play should start ‘One upon a time…’
It should be no more than two sides of A4 and can be dictated to an adult if necessary. Entries must be given into the Library by 12 midday 12th March which is the day of the next workshop.
Entry forms from Saltdean Library or from Sam owner of the greengrocers in Lustrells or from The Open Arts Cafe in Rottingdean or email me ann@puppethouse.co.uk and I’ll send an attachment.
Judges are: Janet Cameron (writer) Marian Philips (writer) and me. Prizes donated by Puppethouse will include one ten pound book token, and three Pelham Puppet Play books with a DVD. Have fun, Ann Paul Perrin took the photos on this page. Nicky Perrin helped to make the puppets. 
The last workshop in this series is on 9th April. However the Library intends to continue with puppets on a regular basis. .
==============================================================
19 Jan 2011 Saltdean Library Here are some of the characters from Ron and Joan and Ann Field’s historical marionettes 1947 to present day, on display in Saltdean Library (near Brighton)
- I hope you will enjoy sharing our Puppethouse Events
We are hoping to get a permanent display space for our marionettes. Interested parties please note! However ‘Puppethouse’ has also been very happy to donate time and expertise to run a series on Puppet Workshops in the Library, in order to support their community involvement.
———————————————————————————————————-
Displays: December – A display of marionettes from Cinderella.
———————————————————————————————————
January – A display of marionettes from Alice in Wonderland.
——————————————————————————————————
February – Our wonderful Swingalong Jazz man and some of our marionettes featured in the feature film ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ on Brighton’s West Pier
===————————————————————————————————–
Workshops: December Workshop - The Rod Puppet Workshop were a great success. Photos of the children are on display in the Library. Both parents and children enjoyed making a wonderful range of characters, we hope they will feature in plays written by the children in future sessions.
————————————————————————————————————–
February 12th - A demonstration on how to operate glove, rod puppets and how to operate a marionette. We and we also attempt producing ‘Jack and Beanstalk with rod puppets in two hours flat! Come ready to help create a beanstalk. We also hope to launch a play writing competition in the near future.
———————————————————————————————————–
March – Making plays and playing with ‘Pelham Puppets’ which are those wonderful toy marionettes popular in the early 60s Feel free to bring your own puppets.
Photographs from the Library all by Paul Perrin www.puppethouse.co.uk has our entire puppet life story…
Left click on http://www.youtube.com/user/puppethouseuk to see all our puppethouse films including, slide shows, our puppet circus that went to Buckingham Palace and Ann’s talk about marionette manipulation as part of a module for a University course at Egham.
