Marionette
Edward Hellawell
Category
Toys
Date
circa 1937 - circa 1952
Materials
Wood, 'Plastic-Wood', cotton, artificial hair, wool fabric and velvet
Measurements
635 mm (height)
Place of origin
Walsall
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 661609
Summary
One of the puppets made by Edward G. Hellawell for his puppet theatre known as ‘The Lilliput Theatre Company' or 'The Lilliput Marionette Theatre' This marionette of the character 'Bob Cratchit' is from a play entitled 'A Christmas Carol' based on the novella by Charles Dickens. This play was possibly the first to be created and performed by the theatre in the late 1940s. He has a moulded 'Plastic-Wood' face with painted features and black artificial hair. He has a sharp pointed nose and a small hole in the middle of his mouth. He has a wooden body, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. The hands are of moulded material on a wire frame. The feet are wearing black leather slippers. He is wearing a dirty white shirt with a stand up collar, a white spotted red cravat and a green waistcoat. He has dark blue crinkle crepe trousers that are moth-eaten. Over these he is wearing a brown velvet tail coat with ridged silk reverse. The coat is cut away at the front and has a slit up the back to the waist. He has a detachable cream, blue and beige checked scarf. History of the company The company was created by Edward G. Hellawell (born 1914-1983) and Bernard C. Lewis (died 1982). As a student at the Royal College of Art in the mid 1930s Edward made sketches for a puppet theatre and between circa 1937 and circa 1947 he created five plays, each with its own cast of hand-crafted marionettes (over 100 puppets). The Museum hold over 90 of these marionettes. The heads were either made from molding 'Plastic-Wood' (a commercial product now discontinued) on a frame or carved from solid wood - finished with paint and varnish. Limbs were made from solid wood with hands made using 'Plastic-Wood' molded onto a wire frame. The 'controls' were made from wood and had fixed leg bars which allowed a puppeteer to operate two puppets at once. Edward's wife Margery was the costumier and dressed the marionettes using scraps of fabric she had gathered together; fabric being scarce during the war. The cast for each play were created in the basement of Edward and Margery's Walsall home. Four of the plays were for younger children (A Christmas Carol, The Lost Princess, The Little Mermaid and Hansel & Gretel) and one was for college students (Faust). The plays were performed to school children across the county - mainly around the Midlands but there is photographic evidence that the theatre performed at Granard Primary School, Putney Park, London in 1963. The theatre also toured seaside resorts such as Blackpool and Herne Bay and did a three week tour in Northern Ireland in the late 1950s and also went as far a field as Norway in 1963. Almost from the start he worked with his friend Bernard C. Lewis (died in 1982). It is thought that they met in prison, serving time as conscientious objectors during the War. When Edward was appointed Head of the Art School in Nuneaton in 1952 he stepped down from performing, handing over Artistic Directorship to Bernard, who continued to tour the theatre around the country until his death in 1982.The theatre (set and staging etc...) then went to auction, but the puppets were donated to the Museum.
Provenance
Donated by Mr Edward G. Hellawell in 1982. Maker and Artistic Director (1937 - 1952) - Edward G. Hellawell (born 1914 - 1983) Costumier - Margery Hellawell (Edward's wife) Artistic Director (circa 1952 - circa 1982) Bernard C. Lewis
Makers and roles
Edward Hellawell, maker Margery Hellawell, costumier