Rudolph

I've had the privilege of visiting the Center for Puppetry Arts several times. It's a terrific place to learn about the history of puppetry. They have workshops, outreach programs, and they put on wonderful shows. One of the particularly cool things about the center is the museum. There you can see several Muppets, Dark Crystal puppets, Madame, and lots of other puppets that have historical significance.

The newest addition to their collection is Rudolph and Santa from the 1964 Rankin/Bass production of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". The current owner/discoverer of said puppets, Kevin Kreiss, contacted the center a few months ago to see what they could do about the puppets' deteriorated state. Kevin brought them by and they assessed the situation...The puppets were in bad shape, having been used as Christmas decorations/playthings for the last 30-odd years in the home of a former Rankin/Bass employee. Santa's legs were both broken, as was Rudolph's neck(!). Rudolph's nose bulb was torn out and the cavity had been stuffed with red candle wax. All of the lead armature wires inside the puppets were corroding and half of Santa's mustache was missing. There was a lot of cleanup and restoration to be done.

Luckily, a top member of their puppet crew, Robin Walsh, has a lot of experience with puppet restoration, having worked for several years at the Center for Puppetry Arts. While there she worked with everything from antique Indonesian shadow puppets to Italian rod marionettes, so she set up a plan and spearheaded the operation. The whole process took several weeks, and great care was taken to preserve the integrity of the puppets. They made new pieces only to replace missing parts, leaving everything in it's original form as much as possible. Careful cleansing of the fur and clothing got out years worth of cigarette smoke, candy stains and dust.

Now the puppets are in mint condition and are on display for all to see.