Chapter 16

1974 - 77

From six wheels to three times three or, "Does it fluggen?"

Son, Chris, stood dripping in the kitchen while Kath removed his drenched motorcycling gear (an old civil defence greatcoat).  He had just returned home from college.

"This is the third time this week. You'll have to get a car."

"I haven't got a four wheel licence and I can't afford a car."

A few days later he said, "I've got the answer. I'm getting a Reliant three-wheeler.  I can swap my bike for an old one and as it has no reverse gear I can ride one on the motor-bike licence.

NOTE Actually, the old Reliant Regals had gear boxes with reverse gear but also had a plate to block reverse so that they complied with the motor-bike licence.  Most drivers of these machines were quite capable of illegally removing the blockage!

So began the saga of the Reliant years. 

Kath had started work at the CAB - Citizen's Advice Bureau - , in Wolverhampton and wanted a car of her own so when Chris upgraded to a later model Reliant Kath took over Chris's old one.

The old Austin A60 was on its last legs having failed its MOT with terminal rust.  They both looked at me. I, also, decided to get a Robin.  As the vans were cheaper I was able to get a new one - our first new car.  After a couple of years I able to put rear windows in the van sides (without having to pay the extra tax) so had a very neat little run-around.  So, for a while we had nine wheels between the three of us lined up at the side of the house.

For quite a few years after that Kath and I were able to part exchange the Robins for new ones every two years, taking it in turns to have the new one!  We ended up with the latest version, the Rialto.                                                                We had been planning a holiday in Germany before I was ill and had already written to a few puppeteers as this helped to decide the route on a camping trip.  Although I was not completely fit we decided a complete break for a couple of weeks would help.

I had not long had the Robin and did not yet have the trailer but it was loaded up with our camping gear, food and clothing not leaving much room for puppets so we just took a mini-show and a few Punch and Judy jig dolls as gifts.  The show consisted of the two Irish jig dolls, Giff the Morris dancer and the Punch and Judy gloves as well as the smallest possible glove booth and a tape recorder. 

Dover to Boulogne, a couple of one night camps, across France, Belgium and Germany to Rudeschein.  On asking a motor-cycle policeman the way to the the Kamping Platz, he decided to escort us there (He had been on an exchange visit to a British police force.) and so we arrived at the site in our little 3-wheeler with a police escort. 

We rang the Schnorrs (Gunter and Ulli) and were invited to breakfast the following day.  Then, having seen our few puppets, we were invited to a sort of garden party/fete.  The little sketch with Punch and Judy I translated into German with the aid of a dictionary:

Punch:  Gibt sie mir ein kuss.(Give us a kiss!)

Judy : Nein!  Das Morris tanzer ist wunderbar.(I like the Morris dancer)

P: Ich kann das Morris Tanz tanzen.(I can do Morris dancing)

Punch does his stick dance and whacks Judy.

J: Oh! Mr. Punch, Wo ist wunderbar.   Gibt sie meer ein Kuss. 

Ulli wanted to change it into 'proper' German but Gunter made us leave it as the 'English' version was funnier.

There was a band and dancers and having been well fed, we were asked to perform. The masterpiece of translation was pinned behind the screen when we did our 10 minute spot which was quite well received.  On the way back in the Schnorr's car we were most embarrassed when they handed us the Deutschmark equivalent of £12:50 from the fete organisers, about what we were charging at home for a proper half-hour show at a folk club. 

They also took us to an Indonesian Puppet Museum where they kept hundreds of beautiful shadow puppets of all types. 

Travelling across Germany was great fun.  We had a list of camp sites but did not bother to book ahead and we always found somewhere to sleep.  Finding that there were plenty of Spar shops helped with the shopping and we also found some lovely picnic spots.

Next we visited the Maggersuppes at Steinau.  They had a big puppet theatre, part of the medieval fortified town.  Karl and Katterina were quite elderly and he had fought in the first world war and had lost a son in the second.  They were helped in the running of ther theatre by son, Erle and his wife Lilo.  Steinau was the town where the Grimm brothers had worked as lawyers and had written their fairy stories.  The Maggersuppers used these stories exclusively in their marionette theatre.  We watched two shows from the front and another backstage where they used a double stage

 on a trolley.  This meant that whilst one was within the proscenium space, the other could be set up for the next scene giving rapid scene changes.

Erle also took us into Frankfurt to leave some puppets for an exhibition.  They were left with Heinz Wolff who was to oversee the exhibition.  Erle had already warned us that Heinz 'numbered his nails and screws'.  It was not that extreme but he was the tidiest worker I have ever met.  His carpeted workshop and vacuum cleaner was surrounded by rows of neat boxes and shelves with numbered and sized items. His various shows were all colour   coded with items such as amplifiers and lighting duplicated so as not to get forgotten in preparing for a performance.  Karl Maggersuppe gave us a couple of books in return for the Punch jig dolls that we had been leaving with the German puppeteers and also a few books to take down to Rolf Trexler.

On down the Romantische Strasse to Rothenburg ab der Tauber the beautiful medieval walled town on the hill.  Rolf Trexler's theatre was custom built in the local style.  We booked seats at the box office and filled in a slip with name and address.  These we discovered later were used to choose various people from the mixed-nationality audience.

We had also written on the slip -"We have books for you from Karl Maggersuppe". During the performance, of large rod puppets, it was suddenly announced that it was Herr Beresford's birthday (it was not) and the puppets and audience sang "Happy Birthday".  Other 'names' were chosen for some particular welcome or joke. 

Our final meeting was with Alois Raab who had a puppet theatre in an old cinema at Kaufbeuren, to the west of Munich.  We actually met him at a small town nearby where he was performing with glove puppets in front of a large street organ and assisted by an American girl. 

When we met him again at his theatre/home later, he showed us his collection: three large street organs, a number of hand held organs which he made for sale, a complete Gamelan orchestra, many books which he had written and bound himself and a collection of at least twenty toy theatres.  We did not see a show in his theatre but at one end was a theatre organ which he would play, then go to the other end to perform his show.  Although we had picked up a little German, it was too little and he had no English so we learned only a tenth of what he wanted to convey.  His wife had died the year before and he seemed such a lonely man.

We visited a beerfest whilst at Kempten but they only served litres and there was nowhere left to sit!

One thing we learned from our German trip was that puppetry was taken far more seriously than in Britain.  Most towns (as we found later also in Belgium) had at least one puppet theatre.

Driving the little Reliant in Germany was fun.  Occupants of other cars would point and we could almost hear them saying," Gott in Himmel!,  Was ist Das?".  Whilst held up at a level crossing, a lad on a bicycle gave us the once over and asked, "Das auto schwimmen?" (with actions)  Me, "Nein."  He, "Fluggen" (with flapping actions)? Me, "Nein".  One camp-site near Frankfurt was, apparently, popular with workers from the many car factories in the area.  On emerging from the tent in the morning, we found the Robin surrounded by a knowledgeable crowd who examined the car, its interior and underside with all the expertise of forensic scientists.

Note:  Unlike other cars with rust sensitive, pressed tin chasses, the Reliants had a solid tubular and angle steel chassis with a fibreglass body that lasted for years.

As far as puppetry was concerned, the trip was very rewarding; more so than today, perhaps.  Thirty odd years ago puppetry was still seen here as children's entertainment; probably still is to the general public.  Anything advertised as adult was either sexually crude or incomprehensible, lottery funded, arts theatre stuff.  Now with the influence of the Hensons, the Creature Shop, Julie Taymor and the Lion King, War Horse, Dark Materials,  Avenue Q, etc. half the shows in London seem to include puppetry in one form or another.  Britain (and America) can now hold up its head to Europe which seems to be resting on past glories; the quality and interest is still there but I feel we win on innovation.     

We continued to Munich, Oberamergau, into Austria and Garmisch before heading home along the Rhine Valley from Koblenz, past interesting towns and castles, waved to the Lorelei and passing passenger and freight boats.  Although we did not learn much of the language, we somehow felt at home with it and were not afraid to go into shops for our various purchases. The secret is, I think, never learn a complete sentence as per the phrase book; they will probably think that you speak the language and you will get back an incomprehensible flood of local lingo.  Far better to learn a dozen basic and courtesy words; "yes, no, please, thank you, excuse me, how much?, where is? Have you?".  Those and a few nouns go a long way.  And speak quietly,  hesitantly and with a little humility (Do not shout at them in pidgin English!),- after all, you are the idiot who cannot speak as a local, three-year old can, and do not treat the locals as foreigners!  It worked for us.

After the Germany trip I was concerned that the Robin could not carry as much puppet gear as the old A60 so I made a trailer with a couple of 'Indespension' units and a frame welded by the local blacksmith.  It had drop down corner legs and a solid top that worked well as a stage.

Shortly before we left for Germany, with uncertainty for the future a constant worry, as I mentioned in the last chapter, Kath saw the advert in the paper.  Two separate jobs; two days a week woodwork and a further two days as librarian.  The trouble was, it was at Tettenhall College, a posh Independent School, near Wolverhampton.  As a good Socialist lad it was not really within my 'principles' remit and I was not keen but Kath persisted. The woodwork was no problem but I thought, why not try for the library job as well; after all at Cosford I had looked after the considerable library of technical manuals in the RAF and kept the amendments up to date and I could soon bone up on the Dewey-decimal system.  I applied and was given an appointment with John Dale, the Head of the College.  A few others had applied and the interviews were not until after our return from Germany at the start of the new term.  I did not hold out much hope but went for my appointment a few days before the start of the new term.  Did I get the job?   Hang on a bit, I had better tell you about Fiddler's Folly first.

Learnt:  Puppetry is (was) taken more seriously on the continent than in Britain.

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