page_title: Marionette
section_title: Television film
hierarchical_section_title: Marionette / History / Television film
caption_attribution_description: English: Howdy Doody being displayed at Detroit Institute of Arts Puppet Display Case. The case is illuminated by programmable LED lighting system. There are about 1300 Color LEDs are being used for creating different effects
context_page_description: A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose.
context_section_description: With the rise in popularity of television and film, marionettes found a rise in popularity especially in children's programming. The story of Pinocchio and its Disney adaptation (Pinocchio), which was released in 1940, is a story about a marionette. In 1947, Howdy Doody introduced marionettes to children's television, with Howdy Doody (the main character) being a marionette, as well as some other characters.
  In the 1950s, Bil Baird and Cora Eisenberg presented a great number of marionette shows for television, and were also responsible for the Lonely Goatherd sequence from the classic film The Sound of Music. Bil Baird also wrote a classic book on his work. In Australia, a program called Mr. Squiggle, using a marionette central character of the same name, ran for just over 40 years (1959–1999). Another program for children using puppetry was the Magic Circle Club featuring puppets Cassius Cuckoo and Leonardo de Funbird.
  From the 1940s onwards, the BBC in the United Kingdom, produced a wide series of marionette programmes for children and then created The BBC Television Puppet Theatre  based in Lime Grove Studios from 1955–1964, Usually under the title Watch With Mother The various programmes included Whirligig, The Woodentops, Bill and Ben, Muffin The Mule, Rubovia a series created by Gordon Murray and Andy Pandy. Later in the 1960s, Gerry Anderson with his wife, Sylvia Anderson and colleagues made a number of hit series, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds, which pioneered a technique combining marionettes and electronics. This allowed for radio control moving of the mouth of a marionettes. The technique was patented and called "supermarionation". The programs have been shown all around the world and are now widely distributed on DVD. Anderson also made two films, Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6. During the 1970s in the UK TV series using marionettes include The Adventures of Rupert Bear, Mumfie and Cloppa Castle. Some marionettes appear in Pipkins namely Octavia Ostrich.
  More recently marionettes are starting to re emerge on the TV screen, Coca-Cola have used marionettes to create a series of adverts based in an office and music videos use them regularly as metaphors.
  Marionettes are featured in the 1999 film, Being John Malkovich.  John Cusack played a manipulator who referred to himself as a puppeteer.
  The BBC children's show Playbus (later Playdays) used many puppets during their commission, notably a singing and dancing marionette called Lizzie Dreams, sometimes paired up with another marionette called Nick.
  Team America: World Police is a 2004 movie made by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker which uses a crude, naive, childlike style of supermarionation as in Thunderbirds. Matt Stone and Trey Parker dubbed their version "Supercrappymation" due to the fact they intentionally left the strings visible among other reasons.
  Also appearing in 2004 was the full-length, award-winning marionette fantasy film Strings, directed by Dane Anders Rønnow Klarlund.
  A marionette was also used in the Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code".
caption: Howdy Doody, famous US television marionette.
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