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Milestones In Memoriam


Bernice Silver with Sharon Murphy Boski (left) and Katie Kangaroo (right). Photo: Tih Penfil


Bernice Silver October 7, 1913–April 18, 2020


The New York Times, May 21, 2020, included her in tributes to those who tested positive for the coronavirus: “Bernice Silver, Impish Puppeteer and Activist, Dies at 106.”


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Bernice was born in Brooklyn, the oldest of eight children. Dur- ing the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Bernice worked at a nursery school. Always interested in singing and performing, she joined theater groups devoted to progressive causes. Howard Da Silva was one of her acting teachers. She was involved in mu- sic at the Henry Street Settlement House and with the People’s Music Network and Pinewood Music group. She was a long-time friend of activist folksinger Pete Seeger (1919–2014) and worked with him on the Clearwater project to clean up the Hudson River. Bernice wrote an article to tell of Pete Seeger’s work in a WPA


oy and a warm embracing friendliness are qualities that Ber- nice Silver always brought to her puppetry friends, and all her friends.


puppetry troupe in 1939 (Puppetry Journal, Spring 1995, “A Link in the Chain”). Standing at 4 feet, 8 inches, she was always delighted to be on stage or protesting at a rally. In 1942, she drove to California in a very used car, and for a time she sold encyclopedias from door to door. She remained in California until 1950, and while there she met puppeteer Harry Burnett at his famous Turnabout Theatre in Los Angeles. Bernice worked in a variety of factories and stores, including candy and ice cream factories. In New York in 1962, she set up a playroom at the Family Health Center on West 100th Street, continuing there until 1971.


Around 1962, she began studying puppetry with Frank Paris. She attended her first puppet festival at Hurleyville, New York, in 1963 (Jim Henson was the festival director). She often col- laborated with Lea Wallace. Bernice was also a charter member of the newly forming Puppetry Guild of Greater New York. She did shows for the Education Department of the American Museum of Natural History. She performed in Mexico and Canada. She was on the program of the national puppet festival in Oakland, California in 1972.


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