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The editors of Puppetry International hope you enjoy reading Greg Pellone’s full account of the life and work of Joe Parsonage. MEET JOE PARSONAGE About one year ago, I read an obituary for Mr. Robert Gregg written by Fred Putz in the Winter/Spring 2016/17 Puppeteers of America Puppetry Journal.1 For some reason unknown to me at the time, I had an overwhelming compulsion to try to find out more about Robert. I was eventually put in touch with his widow Christine, who coincidentally lives nearby, and she agreed to meet and tell me more about her husband. Sadly I never had a chance to meet Robert personally, but wish I had. Like me, he was a lifelong puppetry enthusiast. Our paths did cross by strange circumstance in August 2015 when he and Christine visited a large exhibition of our world puppet collection which was sponsored by The Florida CraftArt Gallery in downtown St. Petersburg (see the Fall 2015 POA Puppetry Journal2). While they were there, Robert had asked to meet me, but for some reason I was never informed and unfortunately we never met. Also like me, Robert was a Punch and Judy fan, and an old set of Punch and Judy puppets that he had purchased some years ago from “Uncle Ted” Raub, a television personality in Pennsylvania, were among his favorites. Those puppets are now a permanent part of the Pellone/Barrett Puppet Collection with much gratitude to both Robert and his wife and to Mr. David Wilde, notable British Punch and Judy collector and historian who positively identified them as Joe Parsonage’s work.3 All puppets in the collection are photographed, archived and cataloged with pertinent information. Little did I know at the time that documenting Joe Parsonage’s Punch and Judy puppets would become a bit of a challenge. Historians agree that puppet shows have been performed for millennia and Punch and Judy are two names synonymous with a venerable hand puppet show that has been performed primarily in Great Britain by itinerant showmen in the streets, at fairs or festivals and at seaside locations for well over 350 years. Now considered an English tradition, the show includes a dynamic cast of various peculiar characters with Mr. Punch as the ever present antagonist. According to George Speaight and other writers, the exact origin of the Punch and Judy show in England is unclear but there is early Punch and Judy performers at May Fayre Festival, St. Paul's Church, Covent documentation found in Samuel Pepys’ Diary Garden, London 2015. (photo by author) describing a puppet show he observed in Covent Garden, London in 1662.4 This event is now celebrated every year on the anniversary at the Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival in St. Paul’s Church garden. Early performers by necessity had to create their own puppets and some wonderful examples of these still exist today.5 As time went on, the puppets and shows became more sophisticated and in the late 19th and 20th centuries astute businesspeople began selling ready-made Punch and Judy puppets to aspiring performers. Puppet makers found a gainful niche and some performers found it more convenient and were able to afford these ready-made Punch and Judy puppets. However, many performers who were not as prosperous continued to make their own puppets, often a source of pride and joy. One such purveyor of Punch and Judy puppets in Great Britain was K.E. (Edwin) Hooper of The Supreme Magic Company from 1953 until his death in 1992. Edwin and his business partner, Ian Adair, found a profitable market for puppets and quite soon after, demand for the puppets exceeded their supply. According to some accounts their early inventory may have included puppets made by Wal Kent. Many of Kent’s puppets still exist and are prized by Punch and Judy collectors and enthusiasts. Edwin asked Joe Parsonage to begin making a line of Punch and Judy puppets for Supreme. Using Edwin’s personal set of Punch figures, Parsonage copied the general style of Kent’s puppets with some subtle and often obvious differences, but Edwin still marketed them as “Wal Kent-like” puppets.6 When Parsonage passed away, Tony Green began making puppets for Edwin, again in the style of Wal Kent. It was only after Bryan Clarke eventually began producing puppets for Supreme that the physiognomy of Mr. Punch evolved into a distinct character more removed from the Wal Kent “style”. Wal Kent Punch Joe Parsonage Punch (collection of author) Bryan Clarke Punch (collection of author) Robert Leach mentions the Supreme Magic Company and some former puppet makers including Fred Tickner and Wal Kent in his book, The Punch and Judy Show – History, Tradition and Meaning, but fails to include any reference to Joe Parsonage.7 Other than the occasional mention of his name and basic knowledge of his figures, there is scant information about Joe Parsonage in any of the Punch and Judy literature. The Supreme Magic Company had been selling Parsonage ventriloquist dummies since the late 1950s8 but later Parsonage also began supplying the Punch and Judy characters. He made Punch and Judy hand puppets for Supreme from about 1968, give or take several years, until his death in 1974.9 He was followed by Tony Green 1974 to 1980 and then Bryan Clarke from 1980 until about 1994.10 Shortly thereafter The Supreme Magic Company of 64 High Street finally closed its doors forever. There is some information about Wal Kent (he’s listed in the Punch and Judy Fellowship “Hall of Fame”11) a book about Punch and Judy by Tony Green12 and Bryan Clarke, who is still making puppets today, can be found all over Google©, but Joe Parsonage who falls somewhere in between was a bit of a mystery. Those familiar with Punch and Judy tradition recall Joe Parsonage’s name and his work; his puppets are prized by collectors and occasionally fetch substantial prices at auctions. However, there is very little biographical information available about this interesting yet elusive puppet maker. Michael Dixon, curator of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild explains, “This was often the case for [puppet] makers; if they didn’t perform they remained relatively anonymous. It is the same of marionette makers and vent dummy makers too. These days we know everything about everyone, but years ago the makers were the ones behind the scenes and remain relatively undiscovered.”13 Many of the Punch Professors I contacted in Great Britain knew of Joe Parsonage, but none of them knew anything about his life in detail. Even the Punch and Judy Fellowship, an organization which preserves, promotes and protects the traditions of Britain's much loved national puppet show was unable to provide any information about Joe Parsonage.14 Multiple inquires to people knowledgeable about Punch and Judy, online searches and even a request to the Mayor of Redruth, Cornwall where Joe lived most of his adult life, yielded little or no information. I had to ask myself, how is it that the life of a puppet maker whose work is still fairly recognized and who made notable contributions to the material history of Punch and Judy puppetry is only vaguely remembered and not better documented? During my research in early October, I was kindly referred to John Styles by Glyn Edwards, both Punch and Judy Professors of considerable distinction and fame in the United Kingdom. John’s courteous reply to me included some information he had learned about where Joe Parsonage was thought to live and work.15 About one week later, I decided to try to contact Ian Adair, Edwin Hooper’s former business partner from The Supreme Magic Company, hoping he might be able to provide some supplemental information about Joe Parsonage since they sold his ventriloquist figures and hand puppets for many years. Here is his curious reply, “Thanks for your message. Strange...you are the second person who has asked me for information regarding Joe Parsonage. My friend, magician John Styles asked me about him a couple of days ago…He [Parsonage] never wanted any publicity, so there's no photos of him...He worked from a small workshop at the back of his garden…He would send his completed puppets and vent dolls from his Parsonage vent figures in case in lower left corner and his dog puppet, FIDO on top of case home town, to Supreme. After his passing on right. (Supreme Magic Catalog No. 4, Part One, 1969 – Photo by Ian Adair) Supreme had to find a new maker of such items, and we did. That's all I can tell you about Joe Parsonage.”16 Fortunately, in further correspondence with Ian Adair, he remembered other tidbits of information about Parsonage and his compelling book, Dealing With Magic, The Rise and Fall of The Supreme Magic Company,17 does provide a brief but interesting behind the scenes glimpse of Parsonage’s business relationship with Supreme as a puppet maker. Finally, I was finding some substantive information instead of vague and recast accounts about Joe Parsonage. As I mentioned at the beginning of this inquiry, the reason for my chance encounter with Robert and Christine Gregg was not clear at the time, but was now beginning to make sense. Robert’s wife Christine is a very experienced genealogist and with her help and the useful clues provided by some of the people I contacted through my research we began a more in-depth quest for information about Joe Parsonage. Based on information from various sources, including details graciously provided by Parsonage’s living relatives, we now know more about the life and work of Joe Parsonage and here for the first time in Punch and Judy history is a more complete record of his life.
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