FROM THE EDITOR STEVE ABRAMS


Challenging Our Silent Spring O


ur “spring” issue is being published later than usual, due to complications.


Since the last issue, from March to June, the entire spring season, we have all been dealing with COVID-19. This journal has something like nine articles about how puppeteers are creatively responding to canceled shows, closed theaters, and the loss of income. There is a great deal of discussion about presenting online puppetry. And, yes, there are some repeated themes as per- formers ponder their options and their new experiences meeting these challenging times. With so much effort to keep the art form alive and in front of audiences, this is not the time for criticizing. There is so much to celebrate. This issue has an inspiring profile of Allan Stevens, a founding member of the Puppet Co. in Glen Echo, Maryland. Bruce Cannon, who began working at the Swed- ish Cottage Marionette Theatre in New York in 1975 and became director in 1997, offers important personal reflections. There are reviews of two excellent new books, a look at Fraggle Rock: Rock On, and news about an exhibit featuring Paul Vincent Davis.. There are so many unanswerable questions. Is it worse to have no income, or to be working as a doctor, nurse, janitor, or grocery clerk, working but constantly at risk? We are all facing multiple tragedies at the same time. We are looking at more than 124,000 deaths in four months. After the murder of George Floyd, more of us are finally looking at our 400- year history of systemic racism. And we are living in a country that is bitterly divided. With museums and theaters closed worldwide, even the most affluent institutions have mas- sive losses of income. The Met- ropolitan Opera officials say they will lose nearly $100 million of income. A medium-size New York museum just laid off 40% of its staff. Orchestra musicians and ballet dancers, who had jobs that felt secure, are out of work. And yet, at a time when there are no public performanc-


John W. Cooper (1873-1966). Photo: Courtesy Todd Stockman


es, there is more puppetry, theater, music, dance, and opera online than ever before. There is an incomprehensible range of choices. In theory, I am happy that an archival, somewhat blurry black- and-white video of a Samuel Beckett play (with puppets) is now online, but I just can’t bring myself to watch it. There is drama in the streets that galvanizes my attention. Black Lives Matter. As we work for a better future, I want to take a moment to note some puppet history, and honor the memory of six puppeteers of color who have passed. Richard Potter, 1783–1835, was a magician, ventriloquist, and celebrity. He performed from 1811 to1834. A historical marker in Andover, New Hampshire, makes note of Potter Place Village, named after this performer.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Potter_(magician) 3 John W. Cooper,


1873–1966, was a noted ventriloquist who was a mentor to Shari Lewis. Puppetry Journal, Spring 1993, reported that John Cooper’s daughter, Joan Maynard (1928–2006), loaned her father’s ventrilo- quist figure to the Brooklyn Historical Society. https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ John_W._Cooper Ralph Chessé, 1900– 1991, was from a Creole family in New Orleans. In 1928, he created a marionette production of Eugene O’Neill’s play Emperor Jones. Ralph Chessé was a charter member of Puppeteers of America. He performed a revival of Emperor Jones for the PofA National Puppetry Festival in 1957. His son Bruce Chessé has served on the PofA board. http://www.chesseartsltd.com/ralphchesse.html Brumsic Brandon Jr., 1927–2014, was an artist who created “Luther,” one of the first African American comic strips. From 1970 to 1972, local New York station WPIX produced a show called Time for Joya, later known as Joya’s Fun School. Joya Sherrill was a jazz vocalist with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Ms. Sherrill asked Brumsic Brandon to be an on-camera artist, known as Mr. B.B. Early in the run of the show, he created and operated a puppet, Seymour the Bookworm.


Photo: Alex U. Griffin


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brumsic_Brandon_Jr. Alice (Woodson) Swann, 1928–2017, founded the Wonderland Puppets with Nancy Schmale Penney. Their photo appeared in a 1965 Puppetry Journal. They performed at Puppeteers of America National Festivals in 1967 and 1970. Her obituary appeared in Puppetry Journal, Fall 2017.


Matt Robinson, 1937-2002, was the first actor to play the character Gordon in Sesame Street in 1969. He helped develop the puppet Roosevelt Franklin, and supplied the voice for the charac- ter. In 1979, Philadelphia station WCAU produced Candy Apple News Company, with Matt Robinson as the host who interacted with a variety of puppets.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Robinson_(actor) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bOUeVu1LG8 From July 11 to December 31, 1994, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta presented the exhibit African and African- American Puppetry, curated by Dr. Schroeder Cherry. The exhibit highlighted the careers of Brad Brewer, David Chapman, Schroeder Cherry, Kevin Clash, Garland Farwell, Akbar Imhotep, Gary Jones, John McDonough, Leslie Perry, Willie Reid, Sandra Robbins, and Winnie Wilson.


https://puppet.org/resource/1994_african-and-african-american- puppetry/


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