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  1. Jinx

    Puppet Script

    Really, this is not brain surgery. Take virtually any script written for two people and cast one of them as a puppet! Years ago I performed in a vaudeville show and we did an old Smothers Brothers routine. I performed my half of the routine with a puppet and it worked like a charm. The long...
  2. Jinx

    What roles have you played in Musicals?

    Well, this could take awhile.... I've played: Jinx; Forever Plaid (2 productions) Max Detweiler; Sound of Music Nicely-Nicely Johnson; Guys and Dolls Benny Southstreet; Guys and Dolls Pseudolus; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum The Baker; Into the Woods Ali Hakim...
  3. Jinx

    i feel like ive been doing something wrong

    First of all, you will probably want to consider using something other than felt. Felt is actually rather lousy for "skin" on a puppet. Of course, Antron Fleece is the preferred fabric, but the garden-variety polar fleece you can get virtually anywhere works quite well. The puppet in my avatar...
  4. Jinx

    Phantom of the Opera

    Thatannouncer: Thank you for your concern; however with all due respect it is not your place to apologize on my behalf. I do not apologize for anything I've said, only perhaps the way it was said. I have never meant to hurt anyone's feelings. Krazedmuppet: Please believe that I mean no...
  5. Jinx

    "Of Muppets and Men" Exposé?

    Barge cement is an industrial-strength contact cement. Shoe makers use it a lot, I'm told. (Barge is the brand name) It will glue virtually anything to anything, and is about the most toxic substance I've ever been around. I think that for most puppet building projects it's overkill...
  6. Jinx

    Guilty Pleasure

    I love Kim Possible. It's so well-written and the villains are truly entertaining as well as the heroes. I was also a big fan of Fillmore, but they seem to have taken it off the air. I just loved how they turned trivial things like miniature golf into a crisis of near international...
  7. Jinx

    Phantom of the Opera

    Certainly no personal assault was intended. I don't even know "Katie" and I don't believe any comments were directed at her personally, only the errors themselves. If we are in fact going to "raise the bar" it begins with identifying problems or difficulties. If we all just hang our heads and...
  8. Jinx

    Phantom of the Opera

    Thanks, Docnzhoss! I appreciate you catching me there. (I was in a bit of a rush to get to work this morning, and should have been more careful.) I know what you mean about letting it go when you can at least understand the gist of what's being said. And of course the errant keystroke is as...
  9. Jinx

    Phantom of the Opera

    Right or wrong, I find it very difficult to take seriously any post that contains as many spelling errors and convoluted sentences as this. In particular, I wonder when you say of adapting the story to film that "it's not easy, trust me", why should we trust you? Are you a screenwriter? Do you...
  10. Jinx

    Phantom of the Opera

    At the risk of starting a riot, I HATED the film! Really, I thought it was the worst film I've seen in many years. Phantom is my favorite obsession, and has been since 1987 when I first heard the cast recording. Yes, I'm one of those fanatics that gets upset when people refer to cast...
  11. Jinx

    Is "the foam book" any good?

    I think this book is great, and I also like the companion video(s). Many years ago Gray Seal put out a book called The Wit and Wisdom of Polyfoam Puppet Construction, which I found to be a whole lot more wit than wisdom. But The Foam Book is a different matter entirely. The approach is simple...
  12. Jinx

    Patterns for "Practical Hand" Puppets?

    A very easy way to do this is to simply trace your own hand to make a two-piece glove. Many puppets only have 4 fingers, so often the ring finger and pinky finger occupy one space in the glove, so trace accordingly. The sleeve then is basically a "Y" configuration with the puppet's upper arm...
  13. Jinx

    A Muppets Lifetime

    It's a bit like asking "how long does a car or truck last"? Of course it all depends on the amount of use, the amount of (necessary) abuse, the materials used, etc, etc, etc. As for my puppets, I just use them until they begin to show too much wear or they don't manipulate as smoothly as...
  14. Jinx

    Jay Marshall, Magician and Puppeteer, Passed Away.

    Sad news indeed. I have seldom heard of anyone in the magic industry being held in higher regard than Jay. In a world where secrecy and selfishness reign supreme, he was always one to give freely, and make anyone he encountered feel welcome. I shall have to break a wand for him.
  15. Jinx

    How were the large monsters performed?

    I have puppeteered a character similar to Sweetums which could be configured a couple of ways. The mouth was "Sprung" to remain in a naturally closed position. My hand was in the lower jaw only, there was no control for the upper. It was almost a slapping action to activate the mouth. The...
  16. Jinx

    Dave Privett- www.PlaySoup.com

    Wow, this sounds about as exciting as anything I've ever read here! but it does beg the question, "what if you can't draw? But do keep us posted if you hear anything about him releasing any videos/books.
  17. Jinx

    Attaching Arm rods to Puppet Arms

    I really like the method the Grey Seal Puppets' "The Foam Book" describes. (http://www.greysealpuppets.com/) Fundamentally it is an axle made from a doll joint and a wire arm rod bent into a hook that locks into it. The doll joint is embedded nto the palm area of the puppet's hand. It is very...
  18. Jinx

    Puppet Pattern and Materials

    Well Buck, as usual you're dead on right. The smart entrepreneur won't charge more than the market will bear or frog. (Sorry, it's my favorite Muppet Movie joke! "Bear left! Right frog!") I have seen people who overcharge for junk, so it is by no means a "given", but it doesn't take a lot of...
  19. Jinx

    Puppet Pattern and Materials

    In a free-market economy, an entrepreneur is entitled to charge what he sees fit for his product. And as with different grades of foam, so too there are different grades of patterns. $50 for a good pattern is in no way out of line. $50 for a lousy pattern will put the pattern maker out of...
  20. Jinx

    Portable monitor

    Bravo! What an excellent idea! It seems to me that it was short-sightedness on the part of the production crew to not realize that a puppeteer needs a monitor, but your elegant solution fixes everything without making anyone look like "the bad guy".
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