Blog 3: Ol' Crutch-face

My favorite puppet in chapter 4 has to be the one dubbed "Crutch-face" on the top of page 101. It is from American puppet legend Bil Baird, who created it for his 1960's show "Science Fiction". The incredibly simple construction of the puppet is what drew me in. It's interesting how so little can go into making a puppet that has such great character to it. The puppet is a grey-ish kidney bean shape with a little down-turned stitch for his mouth and two cylinder pegs for eyes jutting out the side which are supported by crutches, which serve as his legs. Crutch-face is a marionette puppet and walks around by rotating each of his crutch-legs full circle. Unfortunately I was unable to find a single video, website, or even image of anything from the "Science Fiction" show, let alone Crutch-face himself. However, I can only imagine how interesting it would be to watch the puppet in motion. Crutch-face is an example of how a puppet can make a great character: a simple yet intriguing design, with a little bit of weird. I would love to find some more information on the other puppets from "Science Fiction", namely ol' Crutch-face. Perhaps I'll just keep endlessly perusing the internet...