Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin (1903–1997) was an American
puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...
and authority on the
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
theater. Her two best known puppetry productions were
Aristophanes' ''
The Birds'' (1933) and
Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize i ...
's ''
The Death of Tintagiles
''The Death of Tintagiles'' (french: La Mort de Tintagiles) is an 1894 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. It was Maeterlinck's last play for marionettes.
Maeterlinck dedicated the play to Aurélien Lugné-Poe, a theatre director who ...
'' (1937). She was the author of many books on puppetry, including ''The Puppet Theatre Handbook.'' She was the second honorary president of the Puppeteers of America. Her marriage to the puppeteer
Paul McPharlin Paul McPharlin (1903-1948) was a puppeteer who created some twenty productions in Detroit between 1928 and 1937. He is remembered as a skillful performer and inventive puppet maker. He is a founding member of the Puppeteers of America. In 1929, McPh ...
was in 1948, a few months before his death.
Marjorie
Marjorie is a female given name derived from Margaret, which means pearl. It can also be spelled as Margery or Marjory. Marjorie is a medieval variant of Margery, influenced by the name of the herb marjoram. It came into English from the Old Fre ...
was also the creator of the hand-rod puppet which was a style Jim Henson took up for ''
The Muppets''.
Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin was in attendance and spoke at the first-ever Puppeteers of America Festival in 1935, in Detroit, Michigan.
References
*Batchelder, Marjorie. ''A Marionette Production of The Birds by Aristophanes''. Masters thesis, The Ohio State University, 1934.
*Batchelder, Marjorie. ''The Puppet Theatre Handbook''. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1947.
*Batchelder, Marjorie. ''Rod Puppets and the Human Theatre''. Graduate School Monographs. Contributions in Fine Arts, No. 3. Columbus: The Ohio State University, 1947
*Howard, Ryan. ''Paul McPharlin and the Puppet Theater''. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006.
*McPharlin, Paul. ''The Puppet Theatre in America: A History, with A List of Puppeteers 1524-1948''. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1949.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcpharlin, Marjorie Batchelder
American puppeteers
1903 births
1997 deaths
Female puppeteers