Calliope’s Closet
Inspired Beginnings
In 1992 Dan was looking for work and came across a warehouse that had been empty and was now a flurry of activity. He decided to go in and see if they were hiring. The gentleman in charge, John Hopkins, explained that they were building a haunted house and though they could not pay any workers he was welcome to come and help when he had time. Not one to be idle, when he wasn’t looking for work, he was at the haunted house. It turned out, the haunted house was to benefit a local charity, A Wish With Wings, which by coincidence was owned by my boss’s wife, what were the odds. Naturally, when I realized who it was for, I was down there helping in spare time too.
Keeping in mind that I am the biggest chicken alive, and will not go through a haunted house in broad daylight with all the lights on, my helping was limited. Haunt Fest 92 was unique in that it had a trick or treat village for the ones too young to go through the main haunted house. The trick or treat village was a maze of pathways with bright colored doors behind which were fairytale folks handing out candy and toys. At the end of the trick or treat village was a short puppet show of about eight minutes. The show consisted of four hand carved marionettes, a mummy, a Frankenstein, a wolf and Michael Jackson. I distributed candy from one of the doors, and Dan worked as a ghoul in the big house.
One night the puppeteer did not show. John grabbed Dan, put a marionette in his hands and said have fun. He ended up working the puppets a lot after that. The haunted house closed in Nov. Dan was still out of work, so when John heard of an opening came up for a puppeteer, he remembered Dan and called him to tell him of the opportunity.
John Hardman, who has operated the Christmas show for North Park Mall for years and years, was putting on the same show at the mall in Victoria, Texas and needed puppeteers. Room and board was paid and compensation for working the shows. Dan jumped on it. The little critters get under your skin and once you touch them you are hooked. When the show was over and Dan came home, he found a job. A little later, when John Hopkins decided to build a puppet theater in Arlington, he again remembered
Dan and invited him to come and help. It was of course, volunteer, but an excellent opportunity to learn about theater and of course marionettes.
Dan worked marionettes and helped build sets, I hung on Pady’s sleeve wanting to learn how to make those magnificent creatures. I answered phones and helped in the office where John had a book. Using that book, I built my first marionette, a cloth raggedy Ann looking little girl that I called Rebound
A little history is needed here. John Hopkins became involved with marionettes, when he saw a show at Six Flags Over Texas performed by Pady Blackwood, the puppeteer who operated Howdy Doody when the show was revived in the 70’s. According to Allene, John’s mother, John sat right there and watched every show that day. Along with his other talents, (the voices of several puppets in the shows we did) Pady made Sister Marionette, the puppet in NUN SENSE, a Broadway play.
Pady was a partner in the theater that John opened in Arlington, he made and costumed the marionettes. John, Shane Johnson, a published Christian novelist and artist, Barry Smith, who now works in fiberglass at 6 Flags, and Stewart (don’t know his last name) and Dan built the sets, Shane painted them. The theater was the first of its kind in Texas. The puppets were operated from a platform 6ft above the stage, the scenery flew in and out with pulleys and tracks the same as it would in live theater. The shows were an hour long, and thoroughly enjoyed by adult and child alike.
John Hardman, did a show at 6 Flags over Texas for years, Argyle, the snake. Later he would do a similar show at North Park Mall called Scrooge, and Buford the Buzzard at the State Fair of Texas. John has handled all the Christmas Activities at the North Park Mall for years as well as the puppet show at the State Fair.
At one point, Pady was swamped with work and I helped him make the habits for a few Nunsense puppets. As a way of thanking me, Pady made me a beautiful clown marionette, Calliope, our namesake.
We stayed with Le Theatre De Marionette for a few years, and when they expanded to include a Theater in Dallas at North Park Mall, we were included in the building and getting ready. Shortly there after there was a split at Le Theatre and Dan and I chose to pull away from the theater at that time.
In 1994 Dano got involved with the Grand Prairie Arts Counsel with a part in their summer play Oklahoma. At the cast party when the play was over, Dano pulled Calliope out and danced to one song on the Jukebox, Calliope then disappeared back into the trunk of the car and went home where he remained hanging on a wall in his bag for two years.
The City of Grand Prairie decided to host its first Arts Festival 2 years later, the young lady in charge of entertainment, I can’t for the life of me remember her name right now, will have to add it later, wanted a puppet show and asked if anyone knew any puppeteers. They had called Le Theatre and were told they were not able to perform because with running to theaters there were not enough puppeteers. They had pretty much given up when someone remembered a guy with a puppet at the cast party of Oklahoma. After pouring over pictures and matching names to faces, they decided to give Dan a call. We were un-listed at the time, but Dan’s brother Don was. When Don received the call he directed them to Dano.
They asked Dan if we could put on a half hour show for the first Arts Festival of Grand Prairie. Never mind that we have 1 marionette I made, Calliope and a sock puppet to our name and I have never operated a marionette, Dan says sure. Dan built a quick stage of black cloth and pvc pipe and called both John’s and Pady to see if we could borrow some puppets. I got busy on the business end getting doing business as and tax number for our new company. Neither of us has any idea for a story line so we decide to use John Hopkin’s format for his Halloween show, a series of short clips of popular music from the 60’s and 70’s and the puppets interacting.
Our friends had come through beyond our belief with puppets, John Hardman lent us Louie, an Axtel puppet, made of Latex utilizing one hand for his mouth and the other to operate his hand. He rapidly became my alter-ego. Between John Hardman and John Hopkins we had enough puppets to pull of a half hour show. We had the wizard of Oz characters, hand carved marionettes made by the late legendary Sky High Chief for our very first show. These were sold to a museum just 2 years ago. We had no idea we were blessed to operate the best of the best.
Where John’s show using strictly marionettes, flowed so smoothly with only him doing the puppeteering, our show on the other hand combined marionettes and hand puppets did not flow as smoothly. As a matter of fact it wasn’t flowing at all. At 10 o’clock the night before the performance, we call on Dan’s brother Don to help. He came, the next day, only we and our friends knew that we had no clue what we were doing. That was God’s hand. In April of 1997 I changed jobs coming to work for Decision Analyst, Inc. Being a new employee, I was inducted into the social committee immediately and for the company picnic volunteered Calliope’s Closet to do a puppet show. By then we had rebuilt the stage in wood and it worked a little easier. Our artist sister, Debbie painted the curtain so it is pretty and not so stark.
Here we are a decade later, still doing the shows we have come to love. It is still a family affair. Brother Don is still a crucial part of the show and has added his son Don Jr. to our puppeteers. Sue Elich a very close friend, has joined us and acts as our stage manager. She keeps me from hurting anyone on show day and makes things run smoothly behind the curtain. Since our humble beginnings we have performed at Art Festivals, Birthdays, anniversaries, VFW picnics and several other events. We are so very grateful to everyone who has made this possible, and to all those who keeps us going. We have had so much help in our endeavors.