Kevin and I were in Portland over the weekend attending a wedding dinner for my Uncle Mark and his wife Lily (and Mazel McTov to them!) which meant I got to visit the Portland Puppet Museum. Even roped my sister Anna in too! We spent almost two hours in the single-room museum in wonderful delight as founder Steve Overton regaled us with stories, building techniques and demonstrations. I never imagined Steve would be on site to show us around and boy are we lucky that he was. The museum is an unimaginable treasure trove, but I think Steve himself is the real gem of the collection. From their joints to their controls, their facial expressions to their elaborate costumes, Steve’s puppets are stunning. And his ability to create so much in such a small space is a miracle. But above all I was struck by his boundless generosity. He was willing to share so much knowledge while also celebrating the prowess of other puppeteers. Steve brought out marionettes by Phillip Huber and Mary Nagler and we all ooh’d an ahh’d, even as his own brilliant creations looked on from their strings. This generosity is a striking phenomenon to me in my (admittedly recent) dive into puppetry. I’m not sure if it’s because there are so few practitioners anymore, but I’ve experienced this communitarian attitude in other instances – like at the Bob Baker, where video recording is encouraged (a boon that allowed me to figure out how to string my puppets to blink on an airplane control), and with Joseph and Wilma Cashore, who graciously entered into a correspondence with me and even gifted me Joseph's DVD. Similarly, Steve was an open, joyous book. He didn’t mind me taking photos or videos, asking weirdo questions or for him to repeat a name or piece of information – he just wanted to talk puppets. To share what he knows and what he’s done. And the stories are delicious. Just ask him how he ended up John Ritter’s body double in Skin Deep. I could have stayed at least another two hours, but we had that wedding dinner to make. As we were leaving, Steve said “If you watch my Wizard of Oz, be SURE to have something to DRINK!” For Pride month some years ago, he created a stage show to accompany Meco’s half-hour Wizard of Oz sonic disco odyssey. The next morning I tracked it down on his YouTube channel. He was right – a drink or three would have been entirely appropriate, but I’m glad I was sober. He really pulled out all the stops! Steve: thank you for a fabulous, funny, unforgettable day at the museum. Next time I’m in Portland I know stop #1.
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