Historic Nantucket, October 1984, Vol. 32 No. 2

TONY SARG MAGIC: How it Touched Our Family by Hester Blatt Shapiro HOW MANY TV VIEWERS who adore the Muppets, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, and Bil Baird's huge puppet family are aware that all of them are the grandchildren of Tony Sarg's marionettes? Indeed, it was the great Tony Sarg, more than anyone, who awakened the American public to the uniqueness of puppetry. During the 20's and 30's he travelled the length and breadth of America with his marionette company, produc­ ing all kinds of shows, from fairy tales to serious drama.

Familiar as I was with Tony Sarg's marionettes, I didn't learn until recently that one of his major inventions was the enormous heliumfilled Macy Parade balloons, and that he was a prolific illustrator of books and magazines. Nor did I know that my favorite island was also his.

In August, 1983, three generations of our family vacationed on Nan­ tucket (a "first" for our third generation). Everyone had a fabulous time. By coincidence, it was also, for me, pure nostalgia. And ex­ hilarating. Because I learned that 1984 had been proclaimed "Tony Sarg Year on Nantucket". On a casual visit to the island in 1920, Tony Sarg, enchanted by its silvery whimsy, had made it his family's sum­ mer home for many years thereafter. Some of his drawings and paint­ ings were on exhibit there at the time of our vacation.

Tony Sarg... that name evoked ancient memories; memories that were highly personal. I had not heard his name since, perhaps, the ear­ ly thirties, when the Blatt family presented weekly marionette shows at home. Our theatre, the first private marionette theatre in Boston, was in operation for about eight years. It probably would never have come into being were it not for the inspiration and guidance of Tony Sarg's books.

So . . . let m e tell you about it: Anyone who has been a part of the touchable, pretend world of marionettes is forever caught. That mini-world is real as well as makebelieve. This combination is the essence of its charm. Puppets afford possibilities of expression unlike any others: "your characters may say whatever you want them to, yet each puppet is his own person and bears the "responsibility" for what he says.