A Delightful Season's Greetings

This unique and delightful animated Christmas card came my way today from Steve Arnott and his family. Please note that to see the animation, you'll need to click on the image above and open in a separate window...

History Toy Theatre DVD Released

A new DVD has been published by Pollocks Toy Theatres, Ltd in their toy theatre series...
A Small History of Toy Theatre
Producer Steve Arnott says that the DVD includes...

...the recollections of Norman Pollock, grandson of Benjamin
Pollock, Laurie Webb, great-grandson of W G Webb and grandson of H J Webb.

Introduced by Hugo Brown, great-great-great-grandson of J K Green and Eddy Fawdry, grandson of Marguerite Fawdry the founder of Pollock's Museum, also an interview with Robert Poulter of New Model Theatre fame.

As well as rare footage of Benjamin Pollock and his family and of H J Webb making tinsel pictures. The DVD runs for 63 minutes and contains a wealth of images and firsthand accounts that bring the history of Toy Theatre alive.

He says the cost of the DVD is £10 or $20 US and shipping is £2 or $4 US. It can be ordered from Pollock's Toy Theatres Ltd one of four ways - by mail at Number 1 Scala Street, London, W1T 2HL, UK; by phone at 44 20 7636 3452 from outside the UK or 020 7636 3452 from within the UK; in person, at the Scala Street shop, for the price of £10; and with PayPal (using fenmoor_uk@yahoo.com as payee). Other DVDs in the series include, Ali Baba, Cinderella and Pollock's Museum Virtual Tour, all priced at £6.

Trompe l'oeil

Being a novice in toy theatre, I was thinking in response to another missive from Tony I received yesterday, that an argument could be made that toy theatre sheets - specifically backgrounds - are, at their best, a form of this...

I thought your readers might also be interested in the following: Apart from making model theatres I'm also a working theatrical scene painter. Part of a scene painter's training is in the theatrical illusion of trompe l'oeil which for four hundred and fifty years dominated stage design and interior decoration. It isn't used much in theatre anymore but lives on mainly in mural painting. In reverence to this art I started painting illusionistic pictures to hang on walls or use as firescreens. The subject range is quite wide but also includes some theatrical pieces. They use the classic formula of light and shade and cast shadows along with perspective. They have cut profiled edges which helps the illusion. The source of the Harlequin and Columbine characters are the illustrations of William West who is credited with the invention of 'pennny plain. tuppence coloured'. Here, I've given them a Commedia del Arte spin which is , of course, their origin.

Tony also mentioned that he's working on a website of his own, and hopes to get it online soon; I shall post the news as soon as I hear...

Designer of the Small

Earlier this week I heard from a gentleman named Tony Banfield. Some of you may be familiar with Tony's work, on the large or the small stage. I was thrilled to hear from him, and deeply impressed at his meticulously detailed miniature theatres he creates. Tony had this to say...

Dear Trish,

Louise Heard from Pollocks, Covent Garden, London suggested I contact you re the Victoria Model theatre which might be of interest to your readers. I have one on show at Pollocks and I've made 21 versions so far for clients in the UK, USA, Norway, Switzerland and Portugal.

The model is based on London's Old Vic Theatre as it would have appeared in 1871 and very much how it looks now having been restored in 1982.

My first experience of theatre was aged five or so. I recall being taken to an immense building, climbing hundreds of stairs and emerging into a fantastical palace of red plush and gilt. I was hooked - a victim of the “red and gold disease”. Way below an orchestra was tuning and footlights had set the gorgeous velvet curtain aglow. When Peter Pan flew through the air it was no surprise. In such a place anything was possible.

Next day I made a theatre out of an old shoe box. In time this was replaced by a hand-me-down Pollock’s cardboard theatre where I discovered the delights of “penny plain, tuppence coloured”. Eventually I had built a rickety theatre with fly-tower, revolving stage and fan shaped auditorium. Like so many real theatres of the day I converted mine into a cinema and then I grew up....but not quite.

Years later I had become a set and costume designer and in between design jobs decided to use my set design model making skills to make the model theatre I had always dreamed of as a child. I soon found I need new skills and entered into the astonishing world of the miniaturist model maker. In nine months I had the prototype and soon found that other kindred spirits wanted it too. Since then I have made 21 versions for clients in the UK, Europe and USA. Each model is signed and dated.

Congratulations on a fascinating website. What a find !

All the best
Tony Banfield

Tony included the following details about this particular theatre he makes (he makes others):

This is a fully working scale model based on London's famous Old Vic Theatre as it would have appeared in 1871 and very similar to the present day restorations. The decorative auditorium is housed in one of three cabinet designs. The simple version has an open front and stage area with a framework grid to support scenery. The intermediate version is the same but has a semi enclosed stage with fly tower and flying system with around 18 bars from which to hang scenery and perform magical scene changes. The full cabinet version is enclosed like a dolls house with an exterior decorated with an architectural rendering of the 1871 theatre. Optional extras include a revolving stage, working stage trap, special front curtain based on that at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and a miniature lighting rig with around 150 lamps and a lap-top control board with up to 30 dimmers. This operates house lights, footlights and overhead battens in three colours and sets of spotlights. Each model is signed and dated and there are 21 versions so far in the UK, USA & Europe.

And I thought my lighting setup was complex!

Miniature Masterpieces

Ilisha Helfman at Hestia House has done it again.

Ilisha has many talents as an artist, but the one I appreciate the most is her love of paper. She has created three miniature toy theatres that are exquisite in their detail and design. They would be an amazing addition to anyone's collection, and a delight as a gift to a little boy or girl this Christmas...

Sita Sings the Blues

An animated classic-in-the-making, Sita Sings the Blues is heading towards the finish line. I've been watching the artist create this over the past few years, and it's been an amazing story in and of itself...

New Play Adaption: House of the Baskervilles

There is now a new Sherlock Holmes play available, a new adaption for the toy theatre of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Hound of the Baskervilles"!

The author of the play, Steve Arnott, writes:

It can be purchased from both Pollock's of Scala Street and Benjamin Pollock's Toy Shop in Covent Garden or from myself at fenmoor_uk@yahoo.com; The price is £12 in person or £15 with postage, which is about $30 US...

High-End Collectors, Attend!

"Leading international dealers in
antiquarian books, ephemera, and autographs
specializing in 18th- and 19th-century
performing arts and popular amusements"
Dramatis Personae Booksellers just posted their catalogue online today. Some very nice toy theatre related items. Not cheap, but definitely for the discriminating collector.

Only my bank account prevents me from being one, alas!

Incommunicado No More

My deep apologies to readers of this blog for my long absence over the latter part of this summer and early autumn. You can blame another obsession of mine...family history. Along with that is my ongoing research into my hometown village, which I always knew had a fascinating history, but only since starting the journey of purposeful investigation have I realize just how fascinating.

But back to the juvenile stage. Earlier this summer, a friend graciously offering to machine or mill (not sure of the correct term here) some footlight fixtures for me. This is a busy person, and the task is not easy. It is more than a kind offer, of which I am a humble beneficiary of. Recently he contacted me regarding his progress; the project if about half completed. To say I am excited would be an understatement! I have all the lighting and wiring, etc. ready and awaiting the final ingredient, his hardware, the part that will be seen by the audience. Going by his example images, they will be an amazing addition to my first toy theatre...

Puppet Rampage Diaries!

For those of us who can't be there (sigh), or for those that are and just want to remember, be sure and check out the Puppet Rampage Festival video diaries and blog! Sounds like they are having a blast in Minnesota this weekend!

Automatic Organs

Remember the sawdust? The cotton candy? And remember the carousel organ?

Hear it again...

Video Highlights from Fishmarket

Digitized Magic Lantern Slideshows

Thanks to the Victorian Peeper, I learned that there has been a project to digitize some magic lantern shows put online.

Turn off your lights, and you'll almost be able to imagine what it was like to see a magic lantern show over a century ago...

Rampage Performer

Cashore Marionettes are one of the many amazing performers at Puppet Rampage this year...

Latest Toy Theatre Newsletter

Harry O. has a new toy theatre newsletter out, and a very special - and moving, might I add - section called 1963...

More Amazing Photos from Fishmarket!

More amazing photos from the recent festival (courtesy Rainer and Marliss Sennewald)

If you would like to try translating to another language, try this...

Query Request

three_musketeers
Originally uploaded by morganthemoth

Kent from San Francisco wrote to say...

I came across your site while looking for more information about Peter Baldwin. I was just recently in London where I spent a rainy afternoon in Pollock's Toy Museum, and in Dusseldorff where I saw a marionette performance of Krabat. I've learned so much on your site about Dante, The Seven Deadly Sins in marionette form...I will be returning often.

On a related note, on a recent art-scavenging mission I came across a complete punch-out set for "The Three Musketeers" drawn by an artist named Hillenbrand (no copyright date, but the sets say "Hillenbrand '43"). I'm wondering if you know anything about this artist. I had thought of using it in an art piece, but I may just create a facsimile, as I wouldn't want to alter anything of historical significance if it is historically significant. If it's a dime-a-dozen, I won't worry and I'll make art with impunity.

There is a stamp on the inside cover that says:

Diggon-Hibben Ltd.
Victoria, BC

best regards,

Kent

Fishmarket Post-Festival UPDATE

The website for the recent International Toy Theatre Festival at Fishmarket has just been updated!

Fishmarket Festival Highlights

From Harry O.: The first pictures of the International Toy Theatre Festival at Fishmarket are online.

Seven Deadly Sins, Puppet Style

Erik Sanko is a very talented artist, who happens to have a passion for puppets...well, marionettes to be exact. His latest production, The Fortune Teller, played in New York to enthusiastic audiences.

I REALLY love the video below where they show more of the 'behind the scenes'!