Phyllis Knight-Jones (1933-2009) a hand made marionette pupp...

Hammer

£70

Phyllis Knight-Jones (1933-2009) a hand made marionette puppet pianist and grand piano, carved and painted wooden character head, black tail coat, yellow waist coat, tartan trousers, yellow socks, black shoes, 77cm high, with black painted wooden grand piano and stool, 62.5cm x 72cm NB Marionettes (1949-1961) The childhood hobby of making puppets inspired her mother to write to professional puppeteers and, at 16, Phyllis gained an audition with Jan Bussell of Muffin the Mule fame. This was successful and a year's contract was offered for a touring puppet show sponsored by Women's Own magazine. Phyllis left school and that October she, her mother and a driver set off in a van with Woman's Own Puppet Theatre emblazoned on the sides. They put on shows at factory works' canteens, youth clubs, Women's Institutes, hospitals and schools throughout England and Scotland, On their return, Phyllis busied herself making more puppets and started work in Margate doing summer and Christmas shows with Christine Glanville (who later operated Rupert the Bear). She then performed on her own under the name The Masque Marionettes. Performances included abridged versions of Shaw and Wilde plays, and 'Variety Acts', with a striptease puppet, an audience favourite. An agent, Al Heath, spotted her in 1952 and for the next four years Phyllis Fisher and her Puppets appeared all over the country, and even on television. Some newspaper notices in the mid 1950s referred to the act as 'Phyllis Fischer' - presumably believing the act more exotic with a foreign name! In 1953, at 20 years of age, she boarded the T.S.S. Jal-Jawahar and travelled alone to India and Pakistan for 5 months with her puppet act Puppetually Yours, then touring with the European Armed Forces Professional Entertainment Branch. The two-month 1954 tour was entitled Here Come the Girls and they entertained the troops in Germany. The following year, Something for the Boys took them to Tunis, Tripoli, Tobruk, Fayid, Aqaba, Rabat, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Cairo. She not only performed her puppet act, but also took part in the chorus line when needed. Phyllis continued to entertain with her puppets, and was part of the winning St Helier team in BBC television's Top Town Variety Competition in 1959. This brought much travel to and from England as the team worked their way through the competition and finals. In January 1962 a letter arrived from AP Films and she began working on Gerry Anderson's 'Supermarionation' television shows, Supercar, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. It was an exciting time in her marionette career. Phyllis retired from her marionette work, but briefly returned to puppet-related work in 1968 when she filmed a short exhibition showpiece, The Rehearsal, for television