Hearld-Citizens- Cookeville, TN

Entertainment Cover Feature

Sunday November 30th, 2001

He pulls the strings and they come to life!

Phillip Huber's marionettes are amazing. Huber recently moved to the Cookeville area and is delighted at the prospect of possibly sharing his creations with his new community.

There's Shirley, Nel Carter's twin. Shirley can shimmer and shake her abundantly-endowed body parts, roll her eyes in mock disbelief, even smile, her upper lip curving separately from the rest of her face. She has 21 moving parts and just about as many strings attached to them. Shirley has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and she's not too proud to tell you about it.

Then there's Nicole, a miniature mirror image of Natalie Cole, a svelte, sophisticated star complete with elbow-length gloves, evening gown and fur wrap. Nicole interacts with Huber, using his ankle for a brief sit-down, his presence as her partner on the stage. Nicole's glamorous image is featured in Huber's "Suspended Animation" show, a 90-minute concert which has won rave reviews across the world.

And Taffy. Once you meet Taffy, you'll never forget her. A show-stealing little dog, Taffy has 22 strings connected to her fluffy little body, but they somehow "disappear" when Taffy jumps and sits and tilts her head -- ears cocked -- just like any real puppy. Taffy has appeared with Tommy Tune in "Busker's Alley" as well as with actress Sandy Duncan in her Christmas show in Chicago; the reviews raved about Taffy and her master.

These are just three of the dozens of marionettes Huber has shown around the world.

And now they (along with Huber, of course) live right here in Cookeville.

"I wanted to find a place where I could get away from all the hustle and bustle," Huber said recently. His house is nestled on a hill, its living room opening in a big picture window to a view of Tennessee's quiet countryside. "I had driven through Tennessee several times years ago and remembered the rolling hills and the beauty of the countryside. I had some specific criteria for where I wanted to go, and Cookeville met all the requirements: near enough to a major airport, it's the right size and it has a wonderful community. I looked at the arts, and they are supported by the community. The house is in the country, with some acreage and a huge workshop. And it's close to my church. Most important, it just seemed like a nice community."

Huber travels most of the time, to Europe and on cruise ships, where his show is in constant demand. "Home" is a place where he can relax, reconnect and work on his creations.

His workshop is divided into three elements: the area where the wood is crafted into body parts -- legs and arms and mid-sections, heads and noses and ears; there is a design room, where the marionettes are dreamed into being -- everything must be drawn out to scale and each moving part planned with precision. There, too, Huber paints the personalities and designs the wardrobes for his miniature actors. They average about 27 inches high, although some may be as large as 36 inches or as small as 15 inches.

"The bigger they are, the more awkward they can become," Huber says.

And, finally, there is the rehearsal room, where Huber sets up his portable stage and practices the various "acts" in front of a wall of mirrors.

Huber has 16 marionettes that are principal characters in his shows. These well-traveled "actors" have been to Japan, Switzerland, France, Monaco, and other exotic locales. Despite the fact that the audiences frequently are not fluent in the English language, Huber says there is no problem with them understanding since the show is a cabaret, a variety show that is visually oriented.

"The introduction is translated into five different languages," Huber said. "But the show itself is all done in English. But it's a visual act, so people don't seem to have a problem with understanding what is happening. And it's sophisticated, definitely a show for adults."

But adults become children when they watch the marionettes move as gracefully as any real-life dancer. The term "suspension of disbelief " comes to mind as you find yourself responding to these lifelike creations.

Huber uses audio and video tapes in the performances and times every movement, practicing in his studio in front of a wall of mirrors. Occasionally, he performs with a live orchestra, as in the show in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he performed with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestraand Jim Nabors in "A Christmas with Nabors & Friends," this past week.

"It's more difficult with live music," he says, "because the orchestra can slow down or speed up or pause during the performance, and I have to be sure and move with them. It requires rehearsal time with the orchestra."

Huber has been a puppeteer all of his life and has had the good fortune to be able to work in his chosen profession since he was a teenager.

"I was introduced to the world of the puppet when I was about three years old," he says. "My mother gave me a hand puppet, and I was fascinated with it. I was kind of shy as a child, and this (puppet) opened up a whole world for me. I just loved it more as I grew older."

At the age of five, his mother gave him his first marionette, a Howdy Doody lookalike that was purchased with S&H Green Stamps. While learning to manipulate the strings was very difficult at first, by the time Huber was 12 years old, he was putting on performances in his "basement theater."

At the age of 15, he gave his first professional performance, and, he says, "I never looked back."

By that time he was designing his own marionettes and had developed a touring show. And while he attended college "to please my parents," he majored in theatre and education. His prior experience earned him the respect of his fellow students and his teachers, and he instructed other education majors on the use of puppets in the classroom, undertook a major production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" with six apprentice puppeteers, and built giant puppets for a production of "The Tempest."

His hard work in school and out paid off immediately. Within days of graduation, he got a call from Tony Urbano & Company in California, and he spent the next eight years mastering his profession. He stepped out and formed his own company in 1980, partnering with David Alexander, who is Huber's business manager, choreographer and director. Trained in many forms of dance, Alexander uses music to accent and develop a style, look and attitude for each marionette.

In the two decades since their collaboration, the Huber Marionettes have performed with Jim Henson's Muppets as well as The Lido in Paris, Folie Russe in Monaco, and Polygon in Switzerland, and on numerous television shows.

But his biggest "claim to fame" yet has been his work on the feature film, "Being John Malkovich," which was nominated for three Academy Awards last year.

"I had no idea the film would do so well," Huber said. "I thought it might go to art houses or even to video. But it got great notices, and the puppets got a lot of wonderful mentions. Suddenly, a whole new generation is seeing puppets in a different light."

Huber's involvement in the film almost didn't happen. The producer, Vince Landay, called Huber in 1998 and said he had heard of Huber's work and wanted a tour of his workshop.

"He toured the workshop, visited with me for awhile, and basically offered me the job," Huber said. "But the movie schedule conflicted with my performance schedule. He wanted eight or nine puppets built and the actors trained to handle them. I told him I had no time to do it."

Landay hired another company to make the puppets, but was unhappy with the result.

"Six months later they called me again," Huber said. "They wanted me to come and work with them. This time, they gave me three months to modify the marionettes they'd built. Then they rented a studio and we did nothing but shoot the puppet scenes."

The project went so well that Cusack had an entirely new scene written for the marionettes. The delay had caused the film to miss the Cannes Film festival that year, but it won the grand prize in France.

The reviews applauded Huber's ability to create such realistic puppetry.

"Phillip Huber manipulates strung painted wood with such conviction that not only will you find yourself emotionally affected, but left questioning whether or not there was some digital enhancement going on," said one. "But these are no scaly wombats from Jurassic Park, these are the real-deal Huber Marionettes, dancing and singing and loving in the tangible world, with but one man pulling the strings." "The movie's probably done more for my career than anything," Huber said. "And it's great to see the resurgence in the popularity of marionettes."

The last time marionettes enjoyed great popularity was in the 20s and 30s. Puppeteering is not a profession that garners a lot of respect in the United States, he said, and is usually relegated to children's entertainment.

"David and I have worked very hard to be shown in true theatre art form," he said. "That means that my venue is mostly cruise ships, where the audience is 99 percent adults."

The show is counted as the number one act on cruise ships.

"It's because of the uniqueness," Huber said. "They just don't get tired of it. It's a sister art to magic."

And it appears to be somewhat magical as they come to life under Huber's expert fingers.

With as many as 22 strings attached to each puppet, it is an art that demands a tremendous amount of discipline. Each moving part requires a specific action on the part of the puppet master that must be rehearsed until it requires little to no thought. Huber spends as much as 300 hours creating one character, and several hundred more hours -- perhaps even years -- developing its personality.

But the reward is in the enjoyment both master and audience get from the result of his work.

While Huber's marionettes are not for children, adults become more like children when they watch them perform.

"There's a basic innocence that takes over when adults watch the show," he said. "There's a suspension of disbelief that happens... they can accept my reality, which is fantasy."

* Huber has not only won an Emmy, but the Puppeteers of America President's Award for Excellence in Puppetry. His Web site is www.HuberMarionettes.com. Reviews of his participation in "Being John Malkovich" can be seen on the movie's Web site, www.beingjohnmalkovich.com

Published November 30, 2001 12:46 PM CST