Ventriloquists Dummies, Bad Dolls on The Twilight Zone

Ventriloquist's Dummies, Bad Dolls on
The Twilight Zone

Part Three

This is the third and final part of a series. Talks about the episodes:

• Living Doll
• Stopover in a Quiet Town
• Caesar and Me
• 1947, 1949 Puppets on TV milestones

~* Living Doll *~
November 1, 1963 : Season Five 

Annabelle (Mary LaRoche) gets her daughter, Christie (Tracy Stratford) a doll called Talky Tina. The doll repeats "My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much!" Her stepdad, Erich (Telly Savalas) doesn't like the fact that Annabelle spent the money on a doll. 

On this famous episode of The Twilight Zone, Talky Tina and the stepfather don't see eye to eye. The doll has special powers. She is indestructible and the man is not. Tina quickly becomes irritated because Erich does not treat anyone in the house, including the doll well at all. Do you have a fear of evil dolls?


Voice-over artist June Foray was the voice of Talky Tina.

Talky Tina, referred to by some fans as Talking Tina, has some unflattering words for the stepdad such as "My name is Talky Tina and I don't think I like you." Only he hears her say these things.

The episode's original score is by Bernard Herrmann. Have you ever heard Cliff Richard and The Drifters' version of the song, Living Doll from 1959? 

4th Dimension iPhone 4 Case




Talky Tina Doll Replica : Gift Idea Photo Opp Talky Tina Action Figure : Comic Con Exclusive, Oooo what she said. Display your creepy dolls for an event, Halloween, Day of the Dead or everyday.

The Twilight Zone Talky Tina Doll Replica - EE Exclusive This authentically reproduced black-and-white Talky Tina Doll Replica from The Twilight Zone is a lifelike piece that stands 18" tall and features rotocast Vinyl head, arms, and legs; a soft fabric body and fabric clothing; rooted hair; eyelids that open and close and a talking mechanism. 

This is an individually-numbered, limited edition of just 1,000 pieces,  If you always wanted your own Talkie Tina doll or you want to give one as a gift to the fan in your circle of friends, here's a chance to get a licensed item that will be appreciated and admired.

~* Stopover in a Quiet Town *~
April 24, 1964

Bob and Millie Frazier (Barry Nelson, Nancy Malone) wake up in a strange house, in a deserted strange town. They vaguely recall leaving a party the night before. Who was driving?? Oh yeah, remember that on the way home, a large shadow appeared over the car. That was unusual.

Strangeness multiplies inside and outside the house as appliances are only props, food is fake, the phone doesn't work. Animals and even trees outside are fake. No one is around but they hear a girl's laughter. Are they dead? What's going on??

"The moral of what you've just seen is clear: if you drink, don't drive. And if your wife has had a couple, she shouldn't drive, either. You might both just wake up with a whale of a headache, in a deserted village, in the Twilight Zone." ... Stopover in a Quiet Town






~* Caesar and Me *~ 

April 10, 1964 : Season Five 

Jonathan West (Jackie Cooper) is unsuccessful as a ventriloquist. Little Caesar or just Caesar, his dummy suggests he commit robberies to supplement his income. The dummy has nothing to do with the famous film starring Edward G. Robinson, nor does he have anything to do with the famous pizza chain.


The niece of West's landlady knows the story and will expose him. Will Jonathan go to jail? What's to become of the ventriloquist doll, Caesar? How about the annoying niece? Will she get her due?
 



Young Candice Bergen joins her father, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen on stage on Hollywood Palace December 1964 

1947, 1949 Puppets on TV

October 13 1947: The puppet show series Junior Jamboree, later known as Kukla, Fran and Ollie, premieres on WBKB in Chicago, Illinois

December 27: Puppet Television Theater (later called Howdy Doody), a children's television program, makes its debut (NBC) (1947-1960).

January 25, 1949 : First Emmy Awards
The first person to win an Emmy Award was ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale (& her puppet Judy). Shirley is star of the children's show Judy Splinters. The awards are given solely to Los Angeles programs.

May 19, 1975
Ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale appeared on Tom Snyder's late-night program, Tomorrow, live from Hollywood. The other guest was comedy writer Paul Keyes.

In The Big Broadcast of 1937, a group of performing showgirls at a nightclub sit down, pull out top-hatted ventriloquist's dummies and sing along with them.

Actor Don Knotts was a ventriloquist early in his career

Ventriloquist Shirts to Customize 

Double Throat Ad T Shirts by clarachandler
Create your own custom tshirts at Zazzle Lots of fun for a dime
Creepy Shirt by mhaukom1
See other Dummy T-Shirts at zazzle
Your Image or Text Here T-shirts by CelebrationZazzle Your own artwork, business logo, image, text, maybe a drawing made by your child :: Size, quantity and style of your choice
Design unique customizable clothing online at Zazzle.
BE HAPPY Clothing by ErniesShop
Master of Puppets T Shirt
Charlie McCarthy T-shirts 
Create your own shirt online at zazzle.com
Ezmerelda Postage Stamp 


See the assortment of Mobile Phone Cases for iPhone, Samsung Galaxy & Blackberry


 

Jessica Tandy Claude Rains Hitchcock Ventriloquist Stories

Two Film Stars, Two Ventriloquists
with unconventional dummies
on Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Do you think Lydia Brenner (Mitch's mother in The Birds) and Alex Sebastian (a Nazi spy in Notorious) would be scared of some ventriloquists' dummies?

Fear is only one of the emotions dancing around the heads of the characters played by Jessica Tandy and Claude Rains in a couple of my favorite episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. 

Tandy played Lydia in The Birds and Rains was Alex Sebastian in Notorious.

This article will be riddled with spoilers since everything I'm talking about was aired or screened well over 50 years ago. If you don't want to be spoiled, please enjoy the movies and/or shows now. ...I'm happy to wait.
 

Claude Rains in Notorious
from Wikipedia Commons

 Do you remember the end of the film, Notorious?


    Devlin (Cary Grant): No room Sebastian.
    Alex: But you must take me. They're watching me.
    Devlin: That's your headache.
    [They drive off to the hospital]
    Nazi: There is no telephone in her room to call the hospital.
    Eric Mathis (Ivan Triesault): Alex, will you come in, please? I wish to talk to you.

These stars of Alfred Hitchcock films each appeared in more than one of the director's television shows, but I'm focusing on just two.

I read somewhere that an acceptable and modern form of ventriloquism is karaoke. What do you think of that?

And So Died Riabouchinska     Claude Rains February 12, 1956

Rains is ventriloquist John Fabian with a very lifelike female dummy. He is questioned about a murder that occurred at a vaudeville theater.

Then Fabian is questioned about a woman's disappearance years ago. Rains' performance is amazing and you'll be glad that you saw it. The video is below.

Turns out that the young woman from years ago looked remarkably like Riabouchinska, Fabian's dummy.

Detective Krovich can see that Fabian has something to hide, that he is fragile emotionally. Even though it's unorthodox, maybe Riabouchinska is the one to ask for the truth.

Also in the cast is a young Charles Bronson as the police detective who keeps on with the very unusual case until he solves it. 

With these shows, first you just have to watch to find out what happens. And then you have to watch again to get the nuances, find out more and to enjoy the performances. Those shows, movies or television that warrant rewatching are the very best.



The Claude Rains Hitchcock version may be unavailable for now on video. There was an Alan Bates version done for the Ray Bradbury Theater.


Claire Carleton is Fabian's wife, Alice. 

Virginia Gregg is the voice of the dummy, Riabouchinska. Though uncredited,  Gregg was one of the actors who provided the voice of Mrs. Bates in the original Psycho in 1960. Apparently Virginia Gregg was the voice of Mrs. Bates in the sequels of Psycho. She appeared as Emily in the famous Twilight Zone episode, The Masks, directed by Ida Lupino. 

Lupino, who had previously starred in The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine, is the only woman to have directed an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Jeanette Nolan and Paul Jasmin also provided voices for the mother in Psycho.

Since it's Oscar season, I'll add award information. Claude Rains was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor four times: for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Casablanca (1942), Mr. Skeffington (1944) and Notorious (1946).

Suspense Radio Drama - November 13, 1947 aired the Ray Bradbury story,  Riabouchinska. Listening to it is another experience.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents is available on DVD or to stream episode by episode. These are in Seasons One and Three if you'd like to own them and show them to friends. Some of Hitchcock's films are available to stream but not all yet.

Automatonophobia is the fear of ventriloquist's dummies. This can include the fear of wax figures, humanoid robots, mannequins, audio animatronics, life-like dolls or other figures designed to represent humans. Agalmatophilia is sort of the opposite, may be love of human-like figures. Think of the 2007 film, Lars and the Real Girl. I've got a post in the works on films with both of these features. There are some links below.

 
The Glass Eye   Jessica Tandy October 6, 1957

Jessica Tandy 8x10
Original Hollywood Prints

A young William Shatner tells the story in flashback. Jessica Tandy's character is his aunt, Julia Lester who's since died. He finds a glass eye and explains the story of how his sister came to have it. 

Shatner's character, Jim Whitely is cleaning out her home and speaking to his wife Rosemary Harris as Dorothy Whitely.

Patricia Hitchcock appears as a saleslady. Tom Conway is Max Collodi. Conway is the brother of actor George Sanders. The video is below.

Julia is an unmarried woman who lives a lonely, sad life. One day she sees the show of famous ventriloquist name Max Collodi. 

She's immediately enchanted and becomes something of an Edwardian ventriloquist's groupie. She quits her job, using her savings to follow him around. She keeps a scrapbook and writes him letters to say how much she admires him. 

Eventually, he writes her back and finally agrees to meet her in his hotel room. He instructs her to stay at a distance and for only a brief time. She approaches and tries to touch him but finds that the man she admired who she thought was the handsome Max Collodi is actually the dummy. The man who she thought was the dummy was actually controlling a larger sized doll. 
 

Jessica Tandy, Paul Playdon
Image from Wikipedia Commons

To Julia's horror, the Max Collodi figure keels over like a store mannequin as she tries to save him. A touch to his cheek and his head pops off in her hands. Which one is really Max? The smaller man is on a table stamping his feet and telling her to leave at once which she does. 

He removes the 'ventriloquist dummy' mask he usually wears in their act. Billy Barty plays the character in the mask, the one we thought was the dummy manipulated by the larger Max Collodi. 



In 1989 Jessica Tandy became the oldest actress to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress at age 80 for her role in Driving Miss Daisy. She was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991 for Fried Green Tomatoes. She was married to actor Hume Cronyn for 52 years and their daughter Tandy Cronyn is also an actress.

At age 80, George Burns became the oldest acting and Best Supporting Actor awardee for The Sunshine Boys, a record which stood until Jessica Tandy won Best Actress in 1989. For males, Burns was succeeded by Christopher Plummer, who won Best Supporting Actor in 2012 for Beginners at the age of 82.
-- some info from Wikipedia

Carnival! Playbill Program April 13, 1961 Opening Night (Anna Maria Alberghetti)

 Speaking of puppets The Funeral March of a Marionette is the familiar theme song that Alfred Hitchcock used for his television shows. He said he heard it in the 1927 film, Sunrise a Song of Two Humans. Watch public broadcasting and old film channels such as TCM. You'll be able to catch this great film periodically on television and you may be able to get it at your local library.

Have you seen War Horse, the 2011 Steven Spielberg film set before and during World War I. The film features Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis and Niels Arestrup? It's an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's 1982 children's novel of the same name. The Broadway play features a life-sized horse puppets. 

If you attend the King Kong musical stage play, in Australia for instance, you'll also see a massive six-metre animatronic silverback King Kong puppet. Much like the plays The Lion King and Avenue Q, they are incorporating more and more amazing puppetry props and entire characters into theater productions for adults and families.

At the Second Tony Awards in March 1948, Jessica Tandy won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play her performance as Blanche Dubois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. 

She shared the award with two other actresses, two other plays, Katharine Cornell (who won for the female lead in Antony and Cleopatra) and Judith Anderson (for her portrayal of Medea). 

Judith Anderson went on to film work including Laura, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Salome and of course, she played Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's film, Rebecca.
 

Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire
Broadway 1947

"Rosemary Harris and Jessica Tandy appeared together on television in 1957 in a classic episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called The Glass Eye.... William Shatner plays Tandy's nephew and Harris his wife. This may be the only time the two Blanches - one former and one yet to come -- appeared together."
-- When Blanche Met Brando: The Scandalous Story of A Streetcar Named Desire by Sam Staggs

If you're looking for more coincidence, Billy Barty who was in The Glass Eye and Claire Carleton from And So Died Riabouchinska appeared in a 1958 episode of Shirley Temple's Storybook: Season 1, Episode 7, Rip Van Winkle. There were several famous storybook tales in this set. A variety of actors appeared and Shirley Temple narrated them.

In 1958 Robert Stevens, the director of The Glass Eye and another favorite Alfred Hitchcock Presents that features Jessica Tandy, Toby (as well as others) won an Emmy for Best Direction 'Half Hour or Less' for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

January 25, 1949 the first Emmy Awards were held at the Hollywood Athletic Club. They were just to honor shows produced and aired locally in the Los Angeles area. The person who won the very first Emmy Award was ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale & her puppet Judy. Not only a woman but a female puppet as well. Her award was for Most Outstanding Television Personality.

Ventriloquist Paul Winchell is on the panel of What's My Line July 22, 1956
Mystery guest Chicago ventriloquist figure maker Frank Marshall. 
He is the creator of Jerry Mahoney, Edgar Bergen's Charlie McCarthy and Jimmy Nelson's Danny O'Day.




Links to Pages of Interest:

Twilight Zone Dolls, Ventriloquist Dummies, Mystic Seers and Mannequins

Scary Doll iPhone, iPad and Tablet Cases

Memorable Dolls and Puppets of Science Fiction and Fantasy Film & TV

 
**About links: Please note that links will open in separate windows for your convenience. You can close them and go back to this blog article in its original window.  
Major updates to this page will be noted with a revision date.   

Travels of Orson Welles Academy Award

Orson Welles 8x10 Original Prints
Directing

Hide and Go Oscar
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began handing out their Oscars in 1928. In 1942 Welles won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane, an award shared with co-writer, Herman J. Mankiewicz. 

• This page offers a timeline of the journey of Welles' Oscar, the most that we know
• Also there are a couple of videos including a Citizen Kane documentary that is very good

In 1950, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences passed a rule prohibiting Academy Award winners or their heirs from selling a statue without first offering it back to the Academy for a price of $1.

"Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00. This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest."
-- excerpted from the Academy Rules and Regulations

There are a lot of pre-1950 Oscars out there that have been sold and this includes Orson Welles' 1942 Academy Award.

The value of one of these awards has direct correlation to the film and personality connected with it. When you're talking about Orson Welles and Citizen Kane you're talking about legend.

The journey of Mr. Welles' Oscar, the statuette itself, has been interesting. The award weighs 7 pounds, 5 ounces and comes to a total height of 12" tall. Welles won the award when he was 25 years old.

In 1971, he received a second Honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement.

At some point the actor/director said he'd lost the Citizen Kane Oscar.  This is what his family believed. "...For years it had gone missing and the Academy issued a replacement to Beatrice Welles, Orson's youngest daughter and sole heir." -- Nate D. Sanders Auctions

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles Oscar Movie Poster Display

In 1994 cinematographer, Gary Graver, tried to sell it. He claimed that Welles had given him the award as a gift. 

He talks about the experience in his book, Making Movies with Orson Welles.

"Completely out of the blue, Orson handed me the Oscar.
 
'Here,' he said. 'Keep this Gary. You take it. I want you to have it.'
I was of course absolutely stunned. This was the Oscar for Citizen Kane, the greatest film ever made! I told him I couldn't possibly take it but Orson wouldn't hear of it.

'No, no,' he said. 'I want you to have it.'

"And that was that. What a gift! Can you imagine? And I ultimately owned that statuette for about twenty years. Then in 1994 one of Orson's daughters learned that the Oscar was in my possession, so she filed a suit in California Supreme Court. 

"...The assertion her lawyers made was that the Oscar was not actually a gift but something Orson had handed me for safekeeping."

It was also said that the Oscar may have been give as a form of payment. It was displayed at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.


 
Orson Welles was interviewed about Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst and more.

His daughter Beatrice sued and won custody of the statuette.  Then the Academy sued her when she tried to auction it in 2003. 

After a legal battle, she won the right to dispense of the Oscar and sold it to a nonprofit that tried unsuccessfully to sell it auction. She sold it to a California nonprofit called the Dax Foundation, who in turn tried unsuccessfully to auction it in 2007.

Sotheby’s also was unsuccessful when it tried to auction the award in 2007 but failed to as it failed to meet the reserve price.

Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth magic show entertaining the Troops

Peter Stackpole; Buy photo poster

Finally in December 2011 the Oscar Orson Welles won for the screenplay of Citizen Kane sold at auction for $861,542 to an undisclosed bidder, Nate D. Sanders Auctions reported.

Here is the description the Oscar had before it sold:

James Cameron
Holds Two Academy Awards
Oscars Titanic Original
35Mm Transparency

"Two engraved plaques are placed on opposite sides of the Belgian marble pedestal. One reads, 'Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences / First Award / 1941.' The other reads, 'Academy First Award To Orson Welles / For Writing / Original Screenplay of Citizen Kane.'

"The figure and film reel, composed of gold-plated britannium measuring 10.5" tall, top the pedestal, bringing the total height to 12". The pedestal's diameter measures 5.25". The award weighs 7 pounds, 5 ounces.

"Some tarnishing to statue, primarily to the leg area of the figure. The green felt backing under the pedestal is worn away around the edge. Overall in very good condition."
 
David Copperfield, who was outbid in the auction, said he admires Welles not only for his cinematic successes, but because he, too, was a magician. Welles hosted Copperfield's first television special.

Copperfield told the auction house that he wanted the Oscar because "Orson Welles was not only a magician of the cinema but also a performing magician himself." The magician also has history with Welles, The filmmaker hosted Copperfield's first TV special, and Copperfield already owns many props from Citizen Kane. (Hollywood Reporter)

Earlier in 2011, an Oscar won by by Nathan Levinson for best sound recording for the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy was sold in Texas for $89,625. 

Le Voyage Dans La Lune Wrist Watches by moviebuffs
Shop for more Wristwatches at Zazzle

11th Annual Academy Awards, 1938
Spencer Tracy Boys Town with Bette Davies Jezebel
Buy photo poster print

The auction house said only a handful of Academy Awards have sold for nearly a million dollars. Michael Jackson famously paid $1.54 million in 1999 for the best picture Oscar awarded to David O. Selznick for Gone With The Wind.

Other awards can be found on auction regularly. Katharine Hepburn's Kennedy Center Honors ribbons and the BAFTA she earned for her performance in On Golden Pond were recently won at auction.

Among the awards available in a February 2014 auction at Nate B. Sanders Auctions is a Presidential Medal of Freedom With Distinction Awarded to Robert McNamara.






There are some fine documentaries about Citizen Kane.

There is some confusion about other nationally known industry awards such as the Emmy given by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. We've seen them block some sales of Emmys; Estelle Getty's Emmy Award was being sold on eBay in 2009. The sale of the Emmy was halted. But some Emmy sales have proceeded. 

Rita Hayworth has her hair dyed and cut 8x10" Photo

Related Pages of Interest:

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) See what all the fuss is about -- or enjoy it all over again. You can stream it onto your TV, computer, tablet, etc.

Orson Welles and the Oscars for Citizen Kane, Not so Terrific

Buying, Selling, Auctioning off Academy Awards  The Oscar Herman J. Mankiewicz won for co-writing Citizen Kane with Welles was auctioned off in 2012.

Collecting, Auctioning Entertainment Memorabilia

Nate B Sanders Auction House Orson Welles Oscar Consignment

Some information, not cited above from CNN, Reuters, CBS News, New York Daily News

Shari Lewis Lamb Chop, Las Vegas and Outer Space

Shari Lewis Lamb Chop, Las Vegas and Outer Space

Shari Lewis first had a TV show in the early 1950s. She won first prize on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. The early days of television were rich with puppeteers' creating children's programming.

Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Howdy Doody became famous, and even commercials like Nestle's Quik capitalized on the love of puppets. Ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson, with his puppets Danny 'O Day and his dog, Farfel sang the praises of Nestle's Quik.

 With Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse in the Land Of No Manners

Ms. Lewis is one of a select group of puppeteers or ventriloquists who have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Others include Jim Henson, Edgar Bergen, Paul Winchell, Fred Rogers and Fran Allison are other puppeteers or ventriloquists who have stars. The Muppets also have a star. 

They were guests on Sesame Street more than once. Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop hung out with the Muppets on occasion. Lamb Chop was said to be a good friend of Kermit the Frog's. We never heard Miss Piggy say anything about Kermit's being friends with Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy and Charlie Horse. She isn't the jealous type.

Shari Lewis, Paul Winchell and friends

Shari Lewis books. videos and gifts include the sweet Little Golden Book Party in ShariLand. You can read along with your children. Did you have a Lamb Chop fuzzy lamb puppet when you were growing up? It would be fun to use the Lamb Chop-shaped cake pan to make a cake with your kids. 

She was a multi-dimensional performer. She appeared on different television shows over the years. Did you see her with Fran Drescher on The Nanny?




In 1968, Shari Lewis and then-husband, Jeremy Tarcher, co-wrote the episode The Lights of Zetar for the original series of Star Trek. It was broadcast in January of 1969. "Strange incorporeal aliens threaten the Memory Alpha station and the Enterprise." 

"We Come In Peace," Kirk tells the Zentarians. "We wish you no harm."

January 21, 1967 Hollywood Palace. Donald O'Connor and Shari Lewis reprise some of their Las Vegas act. You never knew who or what you would see on this show!

"Although she is an indelible children's entertainer, Ms. Lewis delighted nightclub crowds in Las Vegas often with Donald O'Connor an in southern California.

"Her act typically included distinct segments such as puppets named Zsa Zsa and Phyllis comparing  measurements and the unending search for men; Ms. Lewis dancing and LambChop in adult mode, tipsy and searching for a martini.

"Ms. Lewis relished the change from the television studio where she played to unseen children to the nightclub stage where she could interact with a live adult audience. 'It's like roulette on stage every night.'"
-- excerpt from August 1998 Toledo Blade






Longer version

Jimmy Nelson appears for Nestle's Quik with Danny 'O Day and Farfel
  N-E-S-T-L-E-S,
Nestlé's makes the very best...
Chocolate

Related Pages of Interest

Celebrity family members who have Hollywood Walk of Fame stars next to or near one another

The Dolls, Wooden Dummies, Mannequins & Mystic Seers of The Twilight Zone : Puppet Costumes

Jessica Tandy and Claude Rains on Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Famous Dogs, Character Costumes : Muppets, Godzilla

Pipe Cleaner Art: Look at those Chenille Stems, Contemporary meets vintage

The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art in California regularly offers diverse and interesting art at their gallery. One of the current shows is Ted Fullwood: Energy Machines. This is an exhibition of the artist's sculptural fiber works created from basket woven chenille stems - also known as pipe cleaners.

Please note: Some of the items listed may be sold out, shows ended and shops may be out of business. When updated, a link will be placed here. :)

In the spirit of celebrating artists, particularly those working in what might be seen as less conventional materials, I went on Etsy looking at what other pipe cleaner art is out there. Hold onto your chenille horses. Please note: Some of the Etsy art and vintage pieces may have already sold out.

Would your home sparkle with your unique personality with the addition of AMPUTHEATRE: Hazmat Gaming Figure from ChenilleMacabre?

Alex Pipe Cleaner Vase Try some pipe cleaner art yourself, a project with your kids! Learn to create a vase and flowers to place inside, too.

Alex Toys Giant Pipe Cleaner Party Craft Kit 120 assorted pipe cleaners - fluffy, poufy and striped Curl, twirl and twist Lots of project ideas included. For that birthday party activity, rainy day play date or video you planned to make for YouTube?

Fuzzington also offers a variety of pipe cleaner pieces such as the Star Wars mini-Yoda. Someone will love this. Fuzzy Yoda comes with a handmade removable fuzzy light saber and a cute little pendant charm.

Pipecleanerpeople offer Jesus vs Satan pipecleaner guys set Jesus beating up on Satan.

Walk on over to see Whimsyflip's Panting pooch. "The difference is this dog has a muzzle which you can open and close! It's ideal for holding small notes, place names at dinner parties, or reminders."

Beckykazana has a unique Bride and Maids Wedding Shower Mobile. She creates original chenille pipe cleaner figures, known as the Pipettes. A while back, I did a short post about her shop.

Ever considered Wish Sister dolls with teddy bears? Visit Wishwithme to view these sweet pipe cleaner dolls.

A vintage glitter baby fairy angel cherub is available in RomanceCatsAndWhimsy's shop.

Three little love pixies by Gigiandmehandmade are made from vintage Valentine's day cards and new and vintage pipe cleaners and embellishments.

Abundantcuriosities has a swell 1950s Hallmark vintage birthday card featuring a rabbit with pipe cleaner ears

The large bendable tree armature with stand at Naturesadornments also caught my eye. Use a little tree like this for display or crafting. From the description, "Give a girl a Tree Armature and she makes one tree. Teach a girl to make a Tree Armature and she makes many trees."

California artist Lauren Ryan creates amazingly life-like sculptures with chenille stems

Want more pipe cleaners to wear and show off? VintageHaven had a Pipe Cleaner Hat, made out of what appears to be one never ending pipe cleaner. There is a 1 1/2" grosgrain ribbon. The label reads "Lucila Mendez, exclusive New York." Consider a look such as this for your next vintage or 60s party. If it's a pink Awareness Event, this will get you noticed and photographed, too.

How about a pretty cream vintage hairpiece made of looped pipe cleaners?? it has a floral silk design with ruffled edges in the center secured with pins with pearls on the tip. Dakotasvintage has this sweet item.

Okay, maybe now you're anxious to start trying your hand at some chenille stem creations of your own. Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects by Salley Mavor may help get you started. "Learn to create your own tiny figures and accessories by hand, using wool felt, chenille stems, simple embellishments, and Salley's new step-by-step guide." The book can be found at Lizziboo's Shop.

Chenille Kraft Pipe Cleaner Art contains over 350 projects. Time2consign can get you this vintage softcover book. (below)

Finally, I found an item that doesn't necessarily fit into this category, but here it is anyway. It is a Hand Carved Bone Violin "Very unique hand-carved bone pipe cleaner in the shape of a fiddle or violin. The piece measures 2-1/2" long and has wonderful detailing on both the front and back. Four tools fold out from the violin to assist in cleaning a pipe." Visit KathysSewingRoom to see this piece.

(Who wants to be the one with the dirty pipe?) 

From the gallery's site: "View these great pics of The Feb 5th Opening Reception. Gallery visitors had loads of fun making art with pipe cleaners in our Lounge. Come by the gallery during Ted's show and make your own pipe cleaner art!"

So as you sit there bending and unbending those paperclips or coffee stirrers, consider the wonderful world of pipe cleaners. Who knows what you might create?

Photo: Big Inch Pipeline under construction,Man cleaning pipe,inside,1942,PA,welders

Fullwood sculpture image from the artist's Flickr site, link above 

Please note that this week's Tuesday Flashback Feature has been postponed
Images, info and text used by permission

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