Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin (1903–1997) was an American

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

and authority on the

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

theater. Her two best known puppetry productions were

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

' '' The Birds'' (1933) and Maeterlinck's '' The Death of Tintagiles'' (1937). She was the author of many books on puppetry, including ''The Puppet Theatre Handbook.'' She was the second honorary president of the Puppeteers of America. Her marriage to the puppeteer Paul McPharlin was in 1948, a few months before his death.

Marjorie Marjorie is a female given name derived from Margaret (name), Margaret, which means pearl. It can also be spelled as Margery (name), Margery, Marjory or Margaery. Marjorie is a medieval variant of Margery, influenced by the name of the herb marjor ...

was also the creator of the hand-rod puppet which was a style Jim Henson took up for ''

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

''. Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin was in attendance and spoke at the first-ever Puppeteers of America Festival in 1935, in Detroit, Michigan.

References

*Batchelder, Marjorie. ''A Marionette Production of The Birds by Aristophanes''. Masters thesis, The Ohio State University, 1934. *Batchelder, Marjorie. ''The Puppet Theatre Handbook''. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1947. *Batchelder, Marjorie. ''Rod Puppets and the Human Theatre''. Graduate School Monographs. Contributions in Fine Arts, No. 3. Columbus: The Ohio State University, 1947 *Howard, Ryan. ''Paul McPharlin and the Puppet Theater''. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. *McPharlin, Paul. ''The Puppet Theatre in America: A History, with A List of Puppeteers 1524-1948''. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1949. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcpharlin, Marjorie Batchelder American puppeteers 1903 births 1997 deaths Female puppeteers