Today is World Puppetry Day!

Today, March 21, is World Puppetry Day. While this blog has not posted specifically about puppetry before, we've covered stop-motion animated films many times. The January 27, 2024 post Stop-Motion Saturday was devoted to a slew of puppetmaster/filmmakers, including Wladislaw Starewicz, Joop Geesink and George Pal.



Of course, World Puppetry Day invariably gets me thinking of the following tune!



As fate would have it, the singularly most perverse “golden age” animated cartoon features puppets. That would be the 1935 Charles Mintz Studio/Screen Gems opus, The Puppet Murder Case (1935), a brutal beaut from the often twisted crew led by Sid Marcus and Art Davis. Is this a sadistic cartoon? Yes. Kafka-esque? Indeed. Did this particularly vicious version of Scrappy richly deserve to be strung up like a puppet (as he does to Oopy/Vontzy, his hapless little brother)? Yes!



Only slightly less sadistic than Scrappy is the following Popeye cartoon, Puppet Love (1944), notable for the imaginative and bizarre animation of Jim Tyer. Just because he could, perennial bad guy Bluto builds a Popeye puppet which, of course, turns out to be a violent psycho. Boomerang actually ran this twisted cartoon!

Getting back to the topic of World Puppetry Day, here's some stop-motion fun from Bryclreem! Bear in mind, us guys who were never even close to tall, athletic and movie star handsome could squeeze the contents of an entire tube of Brycreem on our heads and definitely NOT get the result the puppets and humans in the following commercial enjoyed.



Some of our favorite puppets are in Bob Clampett's TV series Time For Beany! Providing blazing voice-over genius to the puppet-packed proceedings: Daws Butler and Stan Freberg.



Stop-motion goes back to the beginning of movies, with cinema pioneers J. Stuart Blackton and Émile Cohl.



Cohl made a film titled Puppet’s Nightmare in 1908.



Back in the 1920's, stop-motion innovator Lotte Reineger animated using paper cut-outs in silhouette.



Our friend Steve Stanchfield has been posting some very cool stop-motion films on the Cartoon Research website. Here are two by puppetmaster Lou Bunin.





Bunin's stop-motion Alice In Wonderland is an amazing film.



Much enjoyed the two Stop-Motion Marvels Blu-rays that Steve and Thunderbean Animation staff put together.





Continuing on the topic of puppets, there's fantastic news regarding a new Blu-ray of The Puppetoon Movie.



Does the gang here love George Pal Puppetoons? Yes!



First saw The Puppetoon Movie, a feature-length compilation put together by George Pal and stop-motion historian Arnold Leibovit on the big screen back in 1987. After numerous viewings, still find George Pal's stylish 1930's musicals for Horlick's Malted Milk and Philips striking and weirdly beautiful.





Does the new George Pal Puppetoon Blu-ray look like a blast and a must-see? Absolutely!



Arnie Liebovit elaborates on his work restoring George Pal's work in the following podcast.



Another inventive puppetmaster/animator/filmmaker was Karel Zeman. Thanks to Castle Films, lots of us 16mm collectors are familiar with REVE DE NOEL (1945) a.k.a. A CHRISTMAS DREAM.



Karel Zeman's Adventures Of Baron Munchausen in particular is a must-see.



Another devastatingly imaginative animator who made cinematic magic from puppets was Wladislaw Starewicz (1882-1965).

Hope to see such outstanding Starewicz films as The Magical Clock released on Blu-ray in the United States.



The Starewicz family and Doriane Films have made a few of these terrific films available on Blu-ray and DVD in Europe.



Wladislaw (a.k.a. Ladislaw Starewicz, Ladislas Starevitch, Ladislaw Starevitch and Ladislaw Starewitch) created astonishing cinematic works.



Starewicz, an entymologist turned animator, began making stop-motion films in 1912.



He began his career in Russia and relocated to France as a result of the 1917 revolution.



Wladislaw and Irina Vladislavovna Starewicz produced stop-motion films through 1958.







The Mascot (1933) packs more startling imagery into its 33 minute length than can be found in 140 minute feature films.



IIRC, the following Starewicz DVD is still available.



The visionary films of Starewicz inevitably compel one to delve deeply into a Willis O' Brien playlist.



Next up on World Puppetry Day: a piece on the great artist O'Brien mentored, Ray Harryhausen.



Can never see too many interviews with Ray Harryhausen.





Another all-time favorite is the great Charley Bowers.



Bowers' last stop-motion film was Pop & Mom In Wild Oysters (1941).



Bowers' blends of stop-motion animation with silent era slapstick remain astounding 100 years after they were produced.









How do we close a World Puppetry Day post? With Jim Henson commercials, of course. This blogmeister is preparing a pot of hot Wilkins Coffee for the occasion.