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Marionettes in America IndexMarionettes
in America
Bibliography
Related Websites
"Brief History of the
Marionettes." Gambarutti, Massimo
Website that gives the history of
marionettes in Europe. Excellent pictures and good
information.
"Le Theatre de marionette."
This page provides information
regarding the Dallas and Fort Worth based marionette troupes known as Le Theatre de
marionette. This site does not have a lot about the history of the group but it does
provide information regarding plays, showtimes, reservations, and party packages.
Most of the shows on made for family entertainment and generally are based on well known
fairy tales.
"The Stavordale Marionettes Page."
Dixan, Michael
This page is dedicated completely to the
history of the Stavordale Puppet groups. This page contains information and
pictures regarding this famous couple and their various
theatrical endeavors. This site
also contains many links to other website of interest to
anyone who likes puppetry.
"Puppeteers of America."
This page is for the national puppet organization
in the United States. It provides some brief history of about puppetry in
America. The Puppetry Journal can be found at this
site and one can subscribe to it, become
a member of POA or just browse around. There
is a list of helpful book s and resources
for puppeteers be they amateur or professional.
Print Resources
Ackley, Edith Flack. (1936). How to Make Marionettes: for fun at home, plays at
school, and clubs and professional performances. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
Simple and easy to read, this book is a
good resource for learning how to make marionette puppets. It includes patterns and
detailed step by step instructions for stringing marionettes. It is simple enough for
older children to understand. This book does not contain very much historical information.
It is mainly only useful to learn how to make a marionette.
Joseph, Helen Haiman. (1920). A Book of Marionettes. New York: B. W. Huebsch.
Next to the McPharlin (1969) book this is
the most accurate and useful. Almost every book since 1920 regarding puppetry references
Joseph’s book. This book is easy to read, and is only frustrating when she talks
about puppeteers that the reader may not already have knowledge of. Joseph has written her
book like she is talking to a friend about a bunch of other friends. This is not
surprising when you consider that she knew many of the other puppeteers of the time that
were her audience. She was a puppeteer and therefore the book contains a lot of first hand
knowledge. I would suggest this book in conjunction with the McPharlin (1969) book.
Lindsay, F. W. (1946). Dramatic Parody by Marionettes in Eighteenth Century Paris.
New York: King’s Crown Press.
Although this book focuses on French
marionettes, it is great for anyone interested in parody. The book begins by explaining
parody, something that many books assume reader knowledge of. Then it explains the
different marionette characters used in parodies in France. Finally, it provides several
parody texts. The book covers operas, tragedy, and lost parodies. This would also be a
very good book for someone trying to learn more about French culture and society.
McPharlin, Paul. (1969). The Puppet Theatre in America: A history 1524-1948.
Boston: Plays. Inc.
This book is the best resource for someone doing
research regarding marionettes. McPharlin’s book has the most detailed information.
Most information for this website, especially the history, came from this book. McPharlin
provides great information and includes lots of documentation. This is one of the most
academic and resourceful books that can be found on the subject of marionettes. This book
also contains good illustrations throughout of what is being discussed. This helps the
reader understand what it can be like to be behind a marionette stage and what some of the
different marionettes looked like.
McPharlin, Paul. (1932). Puppetry: A yearbook of puppets and marionettes.
Detroit.
This book is full of interesting news
clippings that provide great puppetry trivia. The book however often leaves the reader
wanting to know more. Many of the clippings are short and create more questions than
answers. The book also ends with what was happening in 1932 and a follow-up book can not
found easily. This is sad because many of the news clippings sound hopeful that
marionettes and puppetry are coming back into their own. Ultimately this book is somewhat
frustrating to the reader because it does not finish what it starts. It is, however, a
good book for puppet trivia.
Philpott, A. R. (1967). Modern Puppetry. Boston: Plays, Inc.
This book has some general information in the
first couple of chapters. The rest of the book is useful for someone who is learning how
to make and manipulate marionettes. It gives various techniques for building marionettes
out of various types of material. It also includes techniques and experiments to lean how
to manipulate the puppets. This book is not very helpful for someone who wants to know
about the history of marionettes but it will help the hands on learner.
Sherzer, D. and Sherzer, J. (1987). Humor and Comedy in Puppetry: Celebration in
popular culture. Bowling Green: Bowling Green U. P.
This book is a great read. Although it does not
include very much information regarding the history of marionettes, it does talk about
different cultures around the world and the place of puppets in each culture. This book is
great when studying world cultures or different values placed on puppets. Each chapter is
a separate essay and can be taken by it self or in conjunction with the other chapters.
UNIMA (1967). The Puppet Theatre of the Modern World: An international presentation in
word and picture. Boston: Plays, Inc.
This book had some of the best pictures of
puppets. There are lots of pages of puppets and especially marionettes. The book was
compiled by the Union Internationale Des Marionettes, the international marionette
organization. UNIMA provided lots of information regarding differences between puppets
from different countries. For the purposes of this website I found the pictures in this
book to be the best I could find outside of the internet.
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