Hershey Park
In 1977, I was asked by Dreamstuff Corporation
to design and animate a number of life-size puppets for exhibit at Hershey
Amusement Park.
These large
puppets were designed to interact with the audience waiting in line to see the
attractions. Housed in their very own kiosk, each puppet was mounted onto the
puppeteer's chair and operated from below. There was a fortune-teller and her
cat, the coal-miner and his dog, and a little old-fashioned candy maker.
Dreamstuff was
the brainchild of Pady Blackwood and Sean O'Malley, who produced a number of
puppet industrials and theme park revues during the 70's. Hershey Park was one
of them.
Along with these
queue-line puppets, I also produced more than a dozen hand, rod and sting
puppets for the Country Music Jamboree. This song and dance revue used animal
caricature in a variety setting.
The Hershey Park
experience was a chance for me to spread my artistic wings. And, several
innovations occurred while designing these puppets. I developed a flexible paint
I could apply right to the foam surface and I successfully animated eyes in a
foam head. This proved to be a major turning point in my career.
It's funny what
happens when you are young, full of energy and in the right environment. The
possibilities are endless. J
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