The Itsy Bitsy Tiger and Other Ridiculous Stories and Songs

You're invited!

On Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 10 a.m., I'm giving a benefit performance for the Lawrence Schools Foundation. I'll tell my most requested stories about the inimitable brave baby in The ghost with the one black eye, along with some other ridiculous songs and schtick from the baby puppet and Trixie.

It's a kind of "greatest hits" show for kids under age 10, and will be held at the Union Pacific Depot in Lawrence at 10 a.m. All of the proceeds at the door will go to the LSF (suggested $2 for kids and $5 for grownups). This performance will be filmed, in hopes of getting a good DVD. I hope not too many trains go by to interrupt us.

Feel free to spread the word.

Baby stories

I wanted an excuse to post this picture. I was pruning the yew this afternoon when I realized this nest was there. I stopped immediately. I hope mother and babies aren't too traumatized.

In fact, I want to talk about baby stories. By that, I don't mean stories for babies. I mean the four stories I tell about the inimitable brave baby in The ghost with the one black eye. I've performed them for audiences of all ages, from preschoolers to highschoolers to college kids to nonagenarians. These are the most-requested stories I tell.

One theory I have is that these stories, in which the baby is the bravest character of all, give the listeners--especially children--a feeling of vicarious power. There's also a great release of laughter at the end of the stories. I've learned to channel the explosion of energy after The ghost, by inviting the kids to repeat the three important lines together, with me. If I don't do that, they spend the next five minutes telling bits of the story to each other, ignoring me completely. Sometimes I retell that very physical story in French or Bulgarian to let kids know that telling a story is more than just saying the words, and that they could learn a foreign language, too. It's fun to see them join in the telling in another language.

I've heard from teachers that kids retell The ghost to each other for the next week, on the playground, in the lunchroom, at home.

I didn't write these campfire tales. They're from children's folklore, similar to handclapping games and counting out rhymes. I first heard The ghost from my friend Mike Rundle, who heard it from somebody else, and on back to the first kid who made it up. Of course, I've tweaked it and shaped it to fit my own personality.

Puppet gallery

The other day, I discovered that a good friend thought I only had three or four puppets. Oh, my! Here's a picture of most of my collection:

I was trying to get them all, but they just wouldn't fit. In all, I think there might be about 75, not including the multiple Trixies and Babies (backups, for when these most-used puppets wear out). Here's a picture of them:

Trixie's little sister Roxie is sitting on the Baby's lap. Roxie is 103 years old; Trixie is 111.

I'm going to do a series of puppet groupings over the next few posts. Stay tuned!

Puppet longevity

(Who's that infiltrator?!)

I hate to bring up a taboo subject, but here it is: puppets don't live forever.

I've had Trixie since 1994, when I found her at the Raven Bookstore, wearing a black pointy hat She's not one of THOSE, as we live in a place where some adults are afraid of witches. I cut her hat off and she took up her 111-year old personality. Trixie has been my main host puppet since then.

After a few years, her mouth began to get thin. I put in a patch. Then her fingers started to wear. Folkmanis still made the puppet, so I ordered another. I put the old Trixie in the puppet closet--how could I toss her out? Then the new one wore out so I ordered another. And another. The closet is a bit crowded now. A friend replaced the hands on one of them. I also did a bit of facial surgery, cutting a stitch that gave her a mean-looking brow. Amazing how smoothing that out made her look much more benign.

This year, I discovered that Folkmanis has discontinued this puppet. Yikes! Time for ebay! I lost a couple of auctions, then won one. The latest Trixie is quite wonderful, with even bigger hands than the other three. One more is being shipped to me to keep in reserve.

Baby's mouth is sturdier than Trixie's, but still, the first Baby got quite dirty from all those tiny hands reaching for her. I spritz them both with alcohol every now and then to try to keep the germs down. That does nothing for the gradue. I'm going to get a third one soon.

Last week I had my picture taken for the upcoming issue of Lawrence Magazine. I suggested I use a puppet, then went to the office for the newer, cleaner baby. Lately my sweetie and I have been watching episodes of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. There's a race of robots called cylons who can replicate themselves. As soon as I put the new baby on my hand, she said, "I'm a cywon!" Sheesh. Still, it would be easier and cheaper if these puppets could replicate themselves like the cylons. It might resolve some of those end-of-life puppet issues.