Marionette
Edward Hellawell
Category
Toys
Date
circa 1937 - circa 1952
Materials
Wood, cotton and wool
Measurements
645 mm (height)
Place of origin
Walsall
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 661616
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 'Ebenezer Scrooge' 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. Het has a wooden and metal control attached. Its strings are made from strong cotton thread and are quite tangled. He has a wooden head with carved and painted facial features. He is jointed at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, knees and ankles, with metal joints. One of his feet has broken off just below the ankle joint. His head is attached to his body by means of thick white cord threaded through two small metal loops in his head and one large one at the base of his neck. His body is made from wood with modelling material hands, which are cracked. His face is painted in pink skin colour with a red nose and jowls and grey 'stubble'. His hair is grey mohair glued on, mostly covered by a nightcap made from brown striped artificial fabric (which has many holes) with a blue woollen pompom. He is wearing a grey woollen dressing gown tied at the waist with a thick grey cord, with a piece of embroidered red velvet inset at the neck, over a nightshirt made from cotton finely striped in black and red. 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. Total number of items is 2.
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