No, the best one wasn't this year, unfortunately. The best one occurred years ago when I put on a Halloween show in my living room for my kid's Indian Guide den (Den? Troop? Coven? I'm forgetting what they were called). Actually it was the night before Halloween and I and a few Guide dads and cartoonists were the actors.We put on three short plays...three...and two of them were serious EC-type horror dramas requiring costumes. No rehearsal, and I was writing them almost up to the minute when the makeshift curtains opened and it was time to perform. I also had to make food for everybody. Now THAT was stress!
One of the plays was about an astronaut who murdered his friend on the moon (above) because he thought nobody could ever find out. I'd rented a spacesuit from Western Costume, the people who outfit Hollywood movies. It looked great! It was the 50s kind with rings around the joints and a big, round helmet. Here's (topmost, above) a black & white picture of the suit from "Destination Moon."The reason I'm writing about all this is to say that even though that day was one of the most stressful and exhausting I've ever had, It was the one that delivered the most fun in recollection. It really is true that it's better to give than receive. I'll bet it was fun to watch the play but it was even more fun to put it on...fun when I look back on it I mean.
That show also made me think about building an outdoor stage for my kids in the backyard. I love the one in this picture (above) that I got from a picture archive. What a great design! Don Selders, Rod Scribner's assistant animator, told me that Scribner built one of these for his kids back in the day.I hate to say it but I never made a stage. I made the mistake of asking my kids if they would ever use it and they were appalled. Both swore that they'd rather die first. Stupid me, I should have made it anyway. Think of the memories that might have been.
I did get them one of these little Creative Playthings puppet theaters, but that was a mistake too. They never used it and never played with the puppets. Never, ever buy one of these little puppet theaters! They look great but they're too tiny to hide behind...the kids see everything you're doing, and that ruins the illusion of reality.I did get some use out of the puppets. I'd have the puppets kiss the kids good-night when they were tucked in. Unfortunately this got them so excited that it always ended up keeping them up longer. They always wanted to beat up the puppets and, since it was my hand that was being mauled, the puppets had to fight back to defend themselves. It ended up being a brawl every night. 
Believe it or not, this (above) is a more practical puppet theater. It's adult height so the kids can't reach the puppets and try to kill them. By the way, that's not me in the picture.
Believe it or not, this (above) is a more practical puppet theater. It's adult height so the kids can't reach the puppets and try to kill them. By the way, that's not me in the picture.
Indian Guides "tribe."
ReplyDeleteHahaha this post makes me want to be a father! I can picture them trying to beat up the puppets so well
ReplyDeleteMy Mom put together a puppet theater for my brother and I and it did indeed leave me with some of happiest childhood memories.No doubt aided me in my current profession when I have to write pitch a storyboard.
ReplyDeleteI like the space helmet which is just a fish bowl with a football helmet underneath. We never had that kind of tackiness in the actual space race.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is no better audience than children. They'll let you know right to your face if they hated something, no questions asked. But when they like something they absolutely go nuts over it. It's great.
A large cardboard refrigerator box works well to make a puppet theater. It doesn't need to be fancy or manufactured by some toy company. Puppetry is all about the suspension of disbelief. In early television, everything was made of what looked like cardboard, anyway. That was truly cool, like a world of possibilities needing just a cutting tool.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to ID an old animation cel. Would you be able to help with that?
Haha! That sounds great! You can adopt me and make me a stage, Uncle Eddie! It you want a 30 year old son, that is.
ReplyDeleteI did a puppet show for my parents and grandma once. I had gotten these Land Before Time puppets from Pizza Hut and I spent all afternoon making outfits for them out of construction paper. T-rex and Peetwee were the stars. Rex in his top hat did the "Me and My Shadow" bit from "Hold that Ghost" I was...10-12. I hid my body under the coffee table.
Some kids, left to their own devices, will do things the adults are sure they'll find fun. Like if you had built that stage for them they would have warmed up to it I imagine. At some point kids start getting self conscious. Later elementary school, somewhere around 6th and 7th grades.
I never fell into that for long... I'd still ask my pal over "Ryan, wanna come over and play?" And he'd roll his eyes. Those were confusing times for me as a kid. why is everyone just standing around at recess!? Where's the play time? Sigh. Boy did I get ostracized for continuing to play and have a good time. But I had the last laugh!
Your poor kids aren't getting enough violence in their cartoons.
ReplyDeleteThere should be congressional hearings about why kids just stand around at recess.
ReplyDeleteThis post makes me look forward to having kids too!
ReplyDeleteEddie, did you go trick-or-treating much as a kid in Philly?
ReplyDeleteAnd can you remember your favorite kid getup? What was it?
(Mine was the infamous kid leopardskin).
"By the way, that's not me in the picture."
ReplyDeletehahaha. what a funny lookin' eddie-double, though!
also: yr kids fighting you & a puppet as they go to bed. hahaha. fun stuff. what an image!
also also: guy killing another guy on the moon. reminds of an awesome episode of the twilight zone. guy kills other guy for his water. then later finds out he never left Earth & was in Nevada. haha, i've just ruined this great episode, but had to share it all the same.
so everyone erase yr memories & start over.
Max, Chip: You won't regret it!
ReplyDeleteVincent: Excellent mother!
stacey: Put it up and link to it!
Micah: Yeah, that change to self-consciousness is rough!
Jenny: Me? I was always something that had to do with space: an heroic Space Patrolman, a hideous beast, a conqueror...like that.
Nothing wrong with the kid leopard skin. I'd have worn it.
is it ever you in the pictures, eddie?
ReplyDeletei think putting on small plays is one of the highest forms of art. it's so much harder to maintain illusion when everyone in the audience actually knows the players. Therefore the costumes and acting would have to be that much more convincing to impress the audience.
Forget the theatre (unless the kids want it), just give the puppets.
ReplyDeleteThen anyplace can serve as the theatre. Ask the restaurant patrons in the booth next to mine when I was five. Even a Movie Theatre can serve as a theatre!
Yeh, why is it kids want to punch puppets? To see if they feel? Is this why people smack costumed mascots?
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of these Muppet show toy puppets and whenever I entertained the kids, they's want to punch them.