Meet the Six-Foot-Tall George Harrison Marionette
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Scripted Writer
There exist a series of music videos of a life-sized, hand-made marionette of George Harrison. He sings songs like "Pisces Fish" and "Someplace Else" while strumming the guitar, banjo and ukulele. As a teen, I constructed a puppet of a blue cat wearing sunglasses and taped it singing "Land Down Under" by Men At Work, so when I laid eyes on this lovingly obsessive tribute to the Dark Horse himself, I immediately felt a kinship with whomever was responsible for its creation. While I was not able to get in touch with the puppeteer, I did some digging and found that her name is Jenn, she has over 35 years of experience as a puppet builder and performer, and it took her six months to complete the George Harrison Marionette. Jenn has also written about her project extensively on the Muppet and Steve Hoffman Music forums: Originally, 'George' was going to be much smaller…more the size of a traditional marionette (2 to 3 feet tall). Because of the complicated animations I had to build for the unique eyes, eyelids, and mouth, the size of 'George's' head ended up being life size. The puppet is is fully clothed in a store-bought two-piece suit, though Jenn notes she had some trouble finding non-leather, vegetarian-friendly men's dress shoes. You Harrison fans will notice that the electric guitar used isn't accurate, which is due to the fact that this was such a low-budget production. At $80, the tiny Dark Horse Records lapel pin on 'George's' jacket was the single most expensive item used in the project. A lot of love and nitpicky detailing went into this project to give 'George' a realistic appearance both in looks and movement. His hands are completely pose-able thanks to an eternal 'skeleton' of stiff wires in his fingers. This enables him to mimic any playing position. His hands are also rich in detail, with knuckles, veins, and palm lines sculpted into them. The LP record cover of 'Living in the Material World' was used to insure his hands were correct to size. I was adamant about having him be portrayed as himself, as a solo artist, instead of the far more common representation one sees of 'Beatle George.' The puppet is modeled off of late '80s/early '90s Harrison, a period when he was absent of facial hair and prone to wearing blazers. This era was chosen so 'George' would have the option to sing selections from the Traveling Wilburys catalog. I admire Jenn's devotion and peaceful attitude. She acknowledges that a 6-foot tall puppet—or puppets in general—may not be everybody's cup of tea, but if it does happen to be your mug of Earl Grey, then this is just the tip of the iceberg: 'George' is wonderful company…a bit quiet though, and seems perpetually content. He is definitely a 'presence' in the room, which some might find disturbing (in a spooky sense) while others may find it charming. The few people who have been able to see him in person have noted this.
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