An American Marionette: Part II
August 8, 2008: The Buckskin
This horse has been featured in a book on puppetry by Time/Life books in the 1970's For a photo of how it looked then, go to: http://www.puppetconnection.com/collection.html
I have begun to work on restringing the second horse (a Buckskin). This horse has no broken pieces, but there are signs of wear, and I believe that it may be older than the first one I worked on (the Bay, back in June).
The leather loop on the controller had broken, and been covered over by a rope covered in tape.
There are cracks in the plastic wood at the back of its head and at the nostrils.
There is a copper piece repairing one of the joints on the right foreleg, unlike the trunk fiber that forms the tongue parts of the other tongue-n-groove joints. The right hoof joint has some strange compound added to it -- as though it also had been repaired.
The mouth is moving, with a leather covering over a wooden lower jaw.
The leather of the ears have print on them.
I believe that this horse was built first, then adapted for the 1933 exhibit, and then later repaired and/or restrung. I doubt that McPharlin did the repairs.
This horse's legs are slightly larger than the other horse's.
The controller's leather handle had ripped and the repair poorly done. Perhaps it was done as a "stop-gap" measure in order to hang it, but not damage the controller.
This head has a different joint for the neck; but a small bit of the blue foam can be seen on the black plastic bead spacer. Notice the movable jaw, with chamois joint to match the body. Inside the head, you can see how the lever is connected with a single pin transversing the head.
Copper flashing for a joint repair - there was no trunk fiber available? Or was the repair done by someone who was handy with metal -- like John Miller, a jeweler?
Someone was messy when they touched up the hooves long ago:
The horse's head has a couple of very serious cracks in the plastic wood; notice the printed leather of the ears. The little hole in the forehead is for the string that operates the moveable jaw - a simple lever - without a spring. How does it work? Well, it seems like the string must only OPEN the mouth, not open and close it. Since the jaw joint is chamois, perhaps friction keeps the mouth closed until the string pulled it – and it opens suddenly, neighing!
The first job is to make sure that the cracks in the head will not go any further -- this means patching them from the inside, so that any repairs do not show.
12 August 2008: Repairs and restringing
I repaired the cracks in the head using Fabri-tac (an acetone-based adhesive) and 3mm silk gauze. These materials were chosen primarily because it would not add much weight or volume to the head. As acetone is part of the formula of the old plastic wood (the material of the head), I thought it may be also consistent. The silk was used as a “bandage” on the inside of the head where the cracks appeared.
Inside one crack, toward the back of the head, I inserted a small amount of adhesive and some silk fibers so that the crack would close more tightly, and be a stronger bond. The mane is to be over this area, so I didn’t try to paint over the repair or hide it in any way.
The Controller:
The next job was the controller. I took apart the rope and the tape, and discovered that the leather was still there, underneath. The broken part was evident, but had not been changed.
Instead of drilling additional holes into the controller, I wrapped a black vinyl-covered wire around the wood as a loop handle to hang the controller. This way, any other conservator could see exactly how the controller had been constructed.
Head bar:
There were strings still attached from the head to the head bar, so I untangled them and found they were very well tuned! Unfortunately, one broke, so I need to replace all of them – again, keeping consistent. It’s hard to tell if they were the original strings or ones placed on the horse later in its life. They are twisted, not braided. The controller and head bar has grooves carved into the ends so that the strings can wrap easily around them, and be tuned as needed. This method is ancient - I've seen it on several antigue marionettes. It also is extremely logical, and works well. I continue to use it on some of mine.
I’m using 15lb. test braided Dacron fishing line that is close to the color of the original strings.
The place where the head bar attaches to the main controller does not seem logical (or original) to me. There is a small screw so that the bar can be taken off and on – but the head bar tends to fall off easily (it had been taped on with electrical tape when I received it). I believe that the screw was something John Miller added in order to hang the horse for exhibits and photographs. I believe that the head bar attached to another controller, in tandem with the other horse (which had a similar bar). I am tying the head bar to the main controller with the excess mouth string so it doesn't fall off, and so people can see exactly what it is. I don't want to change the controller or add tape to it.
If this horse was used in the Abe Lincoln play (1929?), where is the saddle? Had it been taken off so the horse could be re-used in the “transport” exhibit at Marshall Fields during the 1933 Fair?
Head with mane glued back on, and mouth closed.
Full frontal horse, preliminary stringing.
Side view, preliminary stringing.
Many questions remain about these horses (and their human drivers). Why didn't McPharlin keep them? I have yet to find any documentation about the "transport exhibit".
Sometimes, when puppets are made & used in a one-time exhibit (not strickly a performance), they are kept by the sponsoring organization. These may have been in storage, then given away to a school group when a general "clean out" happened. This happened with the stage & puppets I designed for the Old State House in Hartford. The stage is owned by Wish School on Barbour Street, and has never been used. Some of the puppets were given to a former employee of the museum, and some 'went missing' in the years after the show closed in 2002/3.
Many puppets have also been stolen. Their owners give up searching for them, and years later they may turn up at a tag sale or an antique shop. People who buy or
trade in puppets must always ask where the puppets came from (the name of the maker if possible), and keep a record of that information with the puppet.
Puppets from China, Indonesia, India, Burma and other parts of Asia are commonly found in antique shops. Sometimes they are genuine performing objects that the maker has sold in order to get a little income. Often they are very good copies made for the tourist trade. A puppet which has been used in performances is very different from one made and sold as a toy or tourist item.