SOUPY SALES!

I LOVED Soupy Sales when I was a kid. Whom I kidding? I still do!I kouldn't wait to katch the krazy, souper, hipper-than-thou kid show komedy he kreated that made you feel like you were really in on a wild inside joke. I played this album (below) until the tracks wore thin, and stared at the cover until the image burned into my memory like a kustard kream pie in the brain.

Soupy did The Mouse. . .

. . . I did The Mouse! Didn't you love his handmade imagination?

He had two nutty henchmen:
CLYDE ADLER

FRANK NASTASI
Bless their comedic hearts.

A couple of years ago we were asked to do a tribute to Soupy at the New York Founding Tent of the Sons of the Desert (that's the international fraternal worshipful Laurel & Hardy Society. You heard me.) So we took this as an opportunity to write & perform the SOUPY SALES SHOW that we always wanted to see, but one that Soupy hadn't gotten around to doing yet. We built the whole cast, including the SOUPMAN himself. . .

And it was a BLAST!!

(below)

SOUPY and his beautiful bride TRUDY watched.

SOUPY & POOKIE & ME (oh my)
I became friendly with Soupy over the years (my television kids show, DJ KAT, originated from the same WNEW Metromedia Channel 5 studio as the NY incarnation of the Soupy Sales Show) and I cherish the times we have together.

There will never be another SOUPY SALES!

(soupy caricatures by craig)

CARROT TOP and Me

I love(d) the movie LILI.

Still think it's chilling when Leslie Caron

throws back the curtain to reveal the mortal behind the magic.

I made this Carrot Top puppet when I was about 14, and displayed him in my Jr. High School, where he was stolen from a glass case.

CARICATURE PUPPETS & MARIONETTES

Through the years we've been called upon to create sculptural likenesses of famous and infamous humans. Here is a sampling. . .

JOHN McENROE plays doubles with his double for USA Network Special Being John McEnroe (2000)

INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU likes what he finds ('74)

Who's working whom? RICHARD NIXON ('70)
The delightful -- and delighted - - NATHAN LANE (2004)

CRAIG'S CARTOONS 1

"HELLO MY CAPTAIN, HELLO"

This will be but the first of many posts about beloved children's television icon Captain Kevin, and his late, lamented network, The Mutual Media Broadcasting System "Your Kid's Other Home."

Frame grab from opening titlesThe 6-4-3 style of "Coach Kenny & Splinter."

More to come (I promise!)

GOIN' UP - - Part 2

Found some more rare "MAKING OF" images from our 1993 PBS special Goin' Up.
Jon Freeman as the magical elevator operator Mr. Lift

Mr. Lift & Skylar in the Enchanted Elevator

(with Olga lending Skylar a hand or two)

"THE PLAYGROUND" recording the score. . .

Me and Dann Linck scoring @ Flexitoon Central

The Animateerstm

Alan the Semok, Olga, Craig & Ken Miele (See MARKO PUPPET THEATRE post for Kenny in his earlier "yoot.")

RIDIN' THE RAILS TO RENO.

The music video we created for Northern California's Country Swing Band COUSIN CRICKET is an OFFICIAL SELECTION @ the World Festival of Puppet Arts in Prague.

The "Ridin' The Rails To Reno" video debuted live on a double bill

featuring Cousin Cricket opening for Asleep At The Wheel.

You can see the video HERE:

http://www.flexitoon.com/music/index.php3

(watch in high-rez)

RIDIN' THE RAILS TO RENO CREDITS: written by Ken Miele and Paul Kraushaar * Puppets and animation by Flexitoon Studios NYC * Designed and directed by Craig Marin * Puppetry by Olga Felgemacher * Hand Crafted Digital Imagery by Mike Campbell.

"Goin' Up"

In 1993 Flexitoon received the first ever National Endowment for Children's Educational Television grant. We partnered with Thirteen/WNET (NY) and produced the special Goin Up.

Mr. Lift & Skylar

Mr. Lift (and Dad) was played by Jonathan Freeman. Jon is a Tony-nominated actor currently featured on Broadway in The Little Mermaid. He was also the voice of Jafar in Disney's Aladdin, and he puppeteers Tito Swing on Shining Time Station.

Jonathan first met Olga Felgemacher in 1975 where she was leading lady at the Bil Baird Marionette Theatre. Jonathan was hired for PINOCCHIO (Olga played the title role) and they have been soul mates ever since. I feel the same. Jon joined Flexitoon in 1986.

Skylar & Katitude (Olga & Craig)

Goin Up was a very exciting project to work on. Not only did we create it, but Flexitoon produced it as well. Our executive producer from Thirteen/WNET was Kathleen Rae, and she could not have been smarter or more supportive. As producer we brought in Dann Linck. Like everybody in the FlexiTeam, it's vital to be well-versed in multiple areas, and Dann, along with terrific producer's cred and rolodex, also played an amazingly inventive bass!

The Bass Licks of Mr. Linck

I wrote the music and played electric twelve string guitar for Goin' Up, and puppeteer Alan Semok (r) brought the keyboards to life as if they were another puppet character at his fingertips (Alan is also TEX on Shining Time Station.)

(Semok & Marin)

We called our band THE PLAYGROUND.
Mr. Lift, Mr. Producer, Ms. Puppenspieler, Mr. Marin-ette

If you would like to hear some of the music and see a couple of scenes from Goin' Up, go here: http://www.flexitoon.com/video.php3