|
|
|
|
OPEN SESAME! Arriving too early, I wait for the Gift Store to open. At 10:00 a.m. the clerk unlocks the door, and drags out a large planter of pink blossoms, which blocks the doorway. She proceeds to carefully deadhead the flowers, and continues to fuss. Finally, I say as patiently as possible, ‘I believe I'm the customer for whom you're preparing.’ You might find that phrase useful sometime. The idea should be included in the Clerks' Bible, along with, ‘Thou shalt not ignore your customer, even if smoke is pouring from the back room, or the safe is being robbed.’
HANG IN THERE! On a tour of churches we found one where the organ and choir loft were located in the back gallery. Desiring to add more ranks to the organ in this limited space, someone suggested suspending the new case from the ceiling by cables. ‘What an original ideal,’ was the response. And so it was, until the organ tuner came along to lean his ladder against it.
POOR-LOST-SOUL The ‘Poor-Lost-Soul’ is wheeled up to a table for her meal. ‘Is this where I eat,’ she asks? ‘Yes,’ says the server, as she hurries away to the kitchen. Meanwhile ‘Poor-Lost-Soul’ explores the table setting. ‘Ah ... salt and pepper ...’ ‘Hm, and what's this’’ she muses? And so it was the mustard's first chance to act as a stand-in for hand lotion.
SAVE YOUR CELL PHONE - JUST SHOUT! It was convention time, and a session just finished at a Basilica. The fine edifice had a long flight of steps leading to the main doors, with elaborate stone-work on each side. The man in charge of Convention Transportation was stranded, as even his own bus had left without him. By using his cell phone he was able to contact the Chairman, and ask for a ride. ‘Where are you’’ asked the Chairman? ‘I'm at the top of the Basilica steps,’ he replied. ‘Where are you?’ ‘I'm at the bottom.’
TRIPLE-SPLIT PERSONALITY? Just having returned from entertaining at a large picnic in the park, the young fellow was excited to tell about his success in working with his puppets. He said he had been able to handle his green dragon character in one hand, and his black-and-white cow character in the other, including some of his own personality as well. Before he went home (with the amusing excuse that probably he should feed his dragon before it took a bite out of his cow), he made this odd comment: ‘Did you know that people with split personalities only get one side of their hair cut at a time?’ (So far his hair checked out as normal.) By Norma C. Plummer
Norma's Reading Snacks Three click play button for streaming audio
TIME FOR TWITTERING Walking along the street one day I passed a dense fir bush, in which a large number of sparrows could be heard, but not seen. They seemed to be holding one of their twittering conventions. Sparrows meet for these special bird gatherings on occasion without bothering to post any notices about time or place. Their twitterings go on without a break, without benefit of chairperson or secretary. Likely these sessions continue until time for their twittering vespers. One sparrow, however, remained away from the bush, perhaps as a lookout. This bird sang a little ditty for me, and was not frightened away. I can't account for my heart saying, ‘God is in the sparrow’. Maybe I needed to believe it was so. One would think that I am for the birds, when I also talk about meeting a single pigeon that rounded the corner of a building, also on foot. It appeared fearless, as we passed at close range; just one pedestrian to another. I said ‘Hello’ and passed along on my way. Strange encounter.
Time for Twittering click play button for streaming audio
PUPPETS JUST FOR FUN A simple cone-shaped puppet used to entertain a long term care patient took my fancy. A volunteer was operating this one, which had a stick jutting out from the point of the cone, that could be poked up to release a funny puppet head at the top, as a surprise. On my search for puppets I came across one which was the head of a lion, called Leo of course. While your hand supported the head, your fingers could move its mouth to match spoken words, in whatever manner lions might be expected to converse, using a low tone of voice. This would be the first step toward learning to synchronise your words with the movement of the puppet’s mouth. To work in front of a mirror is the system, until, after lots of practice over time, this becomes automatic. The puppet may be held at a height that will help cover up the fact that the puppeteer is doing the actual talking. Another character was found named Perky Ducky. He came with a wide yellow beak, big eyes, and a green plush body which included a pair of short arms and yellow flippers. With ones hand inside Perky, two fingers could be used to move his arms, and two more to work his wide beak. He was given a squawking sort of voice, and it was tempting to allow him to ‘quack up’. His conversation centred on his life on the Avon River in Stratford among other feathered swimmers, including the regal swans. Having established these two characters, my puppet project was expanded to include a more professional human figure. Uncle Louie came as a fully dressed old chap with soft white hair and moustache, and a kindly expression. His outfit consisted of plaid pants, green top, and real slippers with zippers. These slippers had a bad habit of slipping off, to the embarrassment of us both. On one occasion, when the visiting Red Hat Ladies Society were to be present, Uncle Louie was asked to welcome them. I had made a little red hat for him, tied on with ribbons. Well as we came on the scene, the hat fell off onto the floor. At the same time his shoes came off, taking his socks with them. This was not intended as part of the entertainment, but everyone had a hearty laugh. After that episode, Uncle Louie would have no more of this ‘Lose Your Shoes and Socks Burlesque’, and I sewed them firmly onto his legs without benefit of anaesthetic. Uncle Louie seems popular with his audiences. (Wait a moment! Where does his personality come from? I’m the amateur puppeteer here, or am I? Be careful not to lose yourself in these performances.) Before you spend all your extra money on puppets, remember they do not come with their own scripts. You may open your programme with a little preliminary chat together to warm up your audience. Now what? You’ll need some episodes or short stories, simple stories to be memorized. Research will be likely required unless you would rather compose your own stories. Those without conversation are best, but with straightforward plots, and suitable mostly for children. A point to remember! A puppet is not a doll or a toy, so be the only handler, in order to keep you investment clean, fresh, and in one piece. Pack it carefully in its carrying case for transport. Bring out your puppet for use at a performance, out of sight. It is supposed to represent a living object when at work. Even amateur puppeteers sometimes work two puppets at a time. The pair I saw once was a crocodile with a cow. This tends to keep a person very busy, as I found out. The trickiest thing about using two at once is fitting them first onto your hands, and then trying to open a door. Also the problem arises of keeping track of three voices, one for each puppet and your own. We are bordering on the split personality here. So now you have met most of the likely problems. But it is good fun! Oh, wait! Meet Puppet Miranda, who has wild, curly red hair. She speaks in a childish voice as a little girl would. Uncle Louie takes an avuncular interest in her welfare. Oh, oh! That must be Uncle Louie now, muttering about getting a new outfit. By Norma C. Plummer
PUPPETS JUST FOR FUN click play button for streaming audio
NOTHING LIKE A ‘RED HAT’ Our next meeting was to be special. Some of the ‘RED HAT LADIES’ had been invited. Five jolly ladies arrived to represent their group. Their aim is to provide an easy, undemanding group for ladies 60 years of age or over. They meet to relax and enjoy themselves. So on the day planned the ladies came wearing their pretty red hats. These were not just ordinary street hats, but very elegant, large brimmed ones. My puppet, Uncle Louie, an affable old chap, had been asked to make them welcome. With this in mind I rigged up a red hat for him to wear. It was based on the lid of a small circular tin, covered in red material with red ribbons attached at each side for ties. (He looked like an aged cadet in it.) We soon discovered that the ties came loose, and Louie’s lack of a solid chin made the connection even weaker. However, I just hoped we could make a safe trip from chair to the front without it dropping off. But the law of gravity remained in force, and not only did Uncle Louie’s hat drop off, but his shoes as well. They were designed for a normal human foot, not a foot without a proper heal. And worse still, his socks came off along with his shoes. I was kept busy picking up the discards before he could say his welcome. For awhile all that Uncle Louie could stammer was: ‘I’m so .... so embarrassed .... so embarrassed.’ Finally he blurted out, that he welcomed the RED HAT LADIES to our church with the red roof, and the warm heart. Their applause was enthusiastic, perhaps more for his entertaining mishaps than for his actual words. We relaxed at home, once that troublesome hat had been tossed into the garbage. With many an extra stitch his shoes and socks are now sewn on snugly, and will never come loose again. Uncle Louie sometimes worries whether his moustache might come off, but so far so good. He seemed to be rather nervous - similar perhaps to his boss, the puppeteer. By Norma C. Plummer
NOTHING LIKE A RED HAT click play button for streaming audio |
|
|
