Origins of
American Marionettes

How old are

marionettes

in America?

--Helen Joseph

In 1900, Dr. Jesse Walter Fewkes was able to publish a minute description of an ancient Hopi drama that he witnessed at Walpi.  The Great Serpent drama of the Hopi Indians, called Palu lakonti, occurs every March.  This drama uses several forms of puppetry.  In the opening scenes long serpents extend through holes in the decorated cloth screen.   The serpents' heads sweep across the imitation corn field knocking over the pedestals and corn leaves.  In the fifth act of the ceremony serpents come out of vessels rather than through a screen.  These serpents are manipulated by strings.   In this act the serpents are accompanied by two women, Corn Maids.  in some Hopi dramas the two Corn Maids are replaced by marionette women.  The snakes and the substitute women suggest that Hopi Indians have used marionettes and puppetry long before the United States was established.

Marionettes as we think of them today are largely taken from European design.  In fact many groups of immigrants brought marionettes over with them from Europe.  Before there were professional marionette troupes in America there were private shows for friends and family and street shows.   Punch and Judy were very popular, as were paladin puppets. 

The first English puppets to sail for America did not reach the mainland.  Instead the landed in Barbados and stayed there for awhile.  After some time they returned to England having never made it to America.  Most puppeteers agree that the first puppet show in America was probably done by Henry Holt.  Henry Holt was not a puppeteer but a dancing master, which has lead people to wonder if there were actual puppets in his show.  Some things that lend people to believe that he must have used puppets are the mores of the time and the height of the room.  The room if equipped with a stage would allow only short men and women head room to dance.   More importantly it would have been hard to find people who would dance in public in a show.  Although ladies and gentlemen of the time might have acted in amateur theatricals they would never do stage dancing because it was not proper.  Finally the bill claimed that the show would end with an "optik tragedy".  Optiks at the time were thought of as miniature stages or puppet shows.  In the very least most skeptics have agreed to say that the show had a least an air of puppetry.

Many troupes from other countries were often invited to perform in America in the late 1800's.  At this time many troupes in America were already making a name for themselves in the Vaudeville Manikins.  Till's Royal Marionettes, Deaves' Marvelous Manikins, and Middleton's Marionettes were all popular between 1864 and 1946.  Their proliferation and the existence of old playbills suggests that these troupes were not the only ones in the United States.  In the early 1900's puppetry underwent a revival of importance.  Many groups began focusing again on the artistic and moving away from the pure entertainment of Vaudeville.  Gordon Craig, Tony Sarg, and Remo Bufano are a few of the people who pioneered the revival of marionette as artistry.

In 1937 American puppeteers were finally successful in organizing under a common name.  The Puppeteers of America was founded in Cincinnati and from then on sponsored annual conventions and exhibitions.  Since the 1940's puppetry can still be found in most of the United States.  To some degree puppetry is used so much in movie-making that the audience seems to take it for granted.   Illuminata is a recent movie that uses puppets in a more obvious way as a show of artistic expression.  The puppeteer involved in the movie wanted people to realize that the actors and puppets are different.  Being John Malkovich even has a struggling puppeteer as a character in the movie. 

Not all puppeteers are in Hollywood movies or struggling to make ends meet.  Many puppeteers still exist today and those who chose to still can make a living off of their art.  Dallas and Fort Worth Texas both have marionette troupes.  Atlanta Georgia has a renovated school building that serves as the Center for the Study of Puppetry.  On any day of the week people can go in an participate in various classes on making puppets, staging an show, and the art of puppetry.  People can also often see a regularly scheduled show.  Many colleges around the country have had puppetry offered as some part of the curriculum since the early 1900's. 

Puppetry in America has found its way from the Hopi ceremonies and European streets into the lives of almost every American.  It would be hard to find a person that has not experienced a puppet in American today.   Not only are they on television and in movies, but they visit schools and are often used by teachers or sometimes even therapists.  Puppets have been around for centuries and they will continue to be a part of the life of our society.

Amanda Gross.
Copyright © 2001 by University of North Texas. All rights reserved.
Revised: 27 Aug 2001 09:51:40 -0500

In act 6 of the serpent-deity
play at Walpi two serpent
puppets rise out of jars
controlled by strings.

1900

Older than
the white
races which
now inhabit
the continent,
...more 
indigenous to the
soil than
we who
prate them.
--Helen
Joseph

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