Gerald Charles Trentham Morice (1907-1986)Gerald Morice
on the

UNIMA UNIMA (''Union Internationale de la Marionnette'' - ''International Puppetry Association'') was founded in Prague in 1929 (the then Czechoslovak magazine Loutkář was UNIMA's first official journal in years 1929–1930). In 1981, the French pup ...

website was a journalist, theatre critic and collector of

toy theatre Toy theater, also called paper theater and model theater (also spelt theatre, see spelling differences), is a form of miniature theater dating back to the early 19th century in Europe. Toy theaters were often printed on paperboard sheets and sold ...

s and printed ephemera. He was the founder of the British branch of

, the international puppet organisation and a founder member of the British Model Theatre Guild. From an aristocratic family with a connection with the Butlin family, Morice was born in Kensington in London in 1907. As a young man Morice collected

s and the printed play and pantomime sheets that went with them. He was a co-founder of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, was its first Secretary and Press Officer, and was the Editor of its ''Wartime Bulletin’s'' and ''The Puppet Master'' from 1950 - 1952. As a journalist he wrote weekly newspaper articles about the puppet theatre scene, British and European, in the ''Worlds Fair'' and in ‘The Stage’, under the name Charles Trentham, his middle names.Gerald Morice Obituary - 'The World Through Wooden Eyes' website
/ref> During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Morice was the BBC Correspondent in Vienna. He was also one of leading authorities on the productions of the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...

, and in particular the operettas. At the end of the War Morice and

George Speaight George Victor Speaight FRSA (; 6 September 1914 – 22 December 2005) was a theatre historian, author and performer and the leading authority on 19th-century toy theatre. Early years One of his brothers was the Shakespearean actor Robert Spea ...

were contacted by a family who had found a collection of

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...

s in a barn. Speaight and Morice examined these and found them to be rare Victorian puppets thought to have been lost or destroyed years before. The two restored the puppets and performed with them as the Old Time Marionettes and the Tiller Clowes Puppets.George Speaight Obituary
- ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' - 30 December 2005 A well-known collector and speaker on Valentine Day cards, greetings cards and paper ephemera, he frequently gave talks on radio and television on the subject. Morice sent regular parcels of such material to the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at Oxford, now incorporated in the Bodleian Library. In 1969 he was made a Member of Honor of

. His theatre and puppet collection is in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. Gerald Morice died in 1986 aged 79.

References

External links

British UNIMAThe British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morice, Gerald Puppetry 1907 births 1986 deaths