PUPPETS MORE POPULAR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20587, 28 November 1936, Page 14 (Supplement)

PUPPETS MORE POPULAR

MODEL THEATRES IN ENGLAND LONDON, October 21. Punch and Judy shows, puppets, and model theatres are finding a greater public in England. Their popularity is steadily increasing, and there are now some 200 professional marionette theatres throughout the country. There is also a society known as the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild. Its membership is something like 500. Age is no bar or qualification to those who wish to join. Nobody is too old at 80 nor too young at 8. A fascinating exhibition in London this week enabled enthusiasts to show over 1000 little figures and many diminutive theatres. In a mechanical age it is only to be expected that clockwork has made its influence felt upon this ancient section of the theatrical world, which, it may be remembered, met with Cromwell's frowning disapproval. It was not surprising to find that one of the exhibits was a mechanical model of the “Sleeping Beauty.” It had an ingenious device for working a revolving stage and the tiny models. A more modem version of the puppet world included marionettes representing film stars. These were mimics of Mae West, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. But, as in other sections of the theatrical world, the model theatres are not limited in scope for subjects or characters, and in the small space of a few yards, princesses rubbed shoulders with witches, charwomen, sailors and Mickey Mouse.