Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 2289 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| THE YELLOW BALLOON | 1969 | 1969-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 9 mins 27 secs Credits: With Katie McEndoo, Ken Dunnington, Joan Lawson and 'Peedy'' With grateful thanks to Russell Platt, Ray Williams and their children Music composed and played by Clarry Clay Titles David Harrison Photography Frank Webb Story, Interior sets, Manipulation and Puppets Patrick Olsen Directed by May Webb Subject: ARTS / CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT / LEISURE |
| Summary This is a marionette film made by York puppeteer Patrick Olsen in collaboration with other York-based filmmakers. It tells the story of a clown, Peedy, a puppet who dreams of owning a balloon. |
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Description
This is a marionette film made by York puppeteer Patrick Olsen in collaboration with other York-based filmmakers. It tells the story of a clown, Peedy, a puppet who dreams of owning a balloon.
The title is a mock ‘Metro Goldwyn Mayer’ trade mark with a poodle in the middle instead of a lion.
The film opens with a red book standing up on a table, with the title ‘The Yellow Balloon’. A woman’s hand lays the book flat and opens it to show the credits. As she turns each page a different...
This is a marionette film made by York puppeteer Patrick Olsen in collaboration with other York-based filmmakers. It tells the story of a clown, Peedy, a puppet who dreams of owning a balloon.
The title is a mock ‘Metro Goldwyn Mayer’ trade mark with a poodle in the middle instead of a lion.
The film opens with a red book standing up on a table, with the title ‘The Yellow Balloon’. A woman’s hand lays the book flat and opens it to show the credits. As she turns each page a different credit is revealed. These are: ‘with Katie McEndoo, Ken Dunnington, Joan Lawson and ‘Peedy’’ ‘with grateful thanks to Russell Platt, Ray Williams and their children’ ‘music composed and played by Clarry Clay’ ‘Titles David Harrison’ Photography Frank Webb’ ‘Story, Interior sets, Manipulation and Puppets Patrick Olsen’ ‘Directed by May Webb’
Then one page reads, ‘Once upon a time, in the old city of York…’ This is followed by a photo of a roof top which cuts to a scene of the real rooftops in the city centre. In the middle of the roofs, one appears to be different with a skylight. The camera zooms in on that skylight to reveal a room. Within the room an old man, Peedy (a marionette), clown-like in appearance, climbs down from the window and sits on a chair. He looks across at a red and gold chest. He gets up and walks over to pick up the chest from on top of the piano, places it on the table and opens it. Inside is a single silver coin. He takes this out whilst a bird chirps from within a cage.
Peedy then begins walking down the stairs before sliding down the rest of the way on the banister. He leaves the house and walks along the lane. Further away a group of children play beside a park gate. Seated next to the park gate is a woman, in a hat and a shawl, selling balloons. A boy buys a red balloon and walks away. As he approaches, Peedy trips and falls over, and as he does so the coin falls down a drain. The woman, seeing this, beckons Peedy over. She gives Peedy a red balloon, and he walks off carrying the balloon. A boy, spotting Peedy from the corner of the lane, pulls out a catapult that is tucked into his trousers, takes aim and bursts Peedy’s balloon before running off. Peedy, looking forlorn, slumps onto the kerb and cries into his handkerchief.
In the meantime, the woman selling balloons gives a yellow balloon and a coin to a small girl who skips off with them. On spotting Peedy sitting on the kerb, the girl sits next to him and gives Peedy her balloon. She then walks off as they wave goodbye to each other. Peedy returns to his room and ties the balloon to a chair. But as he goes to play on the piano, the balloon becomes undone and floats off through the window.
The final page of the opening book reads, ‘The End’, and the book is closed.
Context
This film is one of the two marionette films made by Patrick Olsen, a keen amateur film maker from York. Patrick got involved in marionettes as a youngster of 15, when he first left school. At first he bought the puppets of Bob Pelham, before making his own from blocks of old wood, usually pine, with the help of books he bought on puppetry. From the age of 20 Olsen painted and made sets for the Rowntree Youth Theatre, from its start in 1946 (now Rowntree Musical Theatre). Each year a...
This film is one of the two marionette films made by Patrick Olsen, a keen amateur film maker from York. Patrick got involved in marionettes as a youngster of 15, when he first left school. At first he bought the puppets of Bob Pelham, before making his own from blocks of old wood, usually pine, with the help of books he bought on puppetry. From the age of 20 Olsen painted and made sets for the Rowntree Youth Theatre, from its start in 1946 (now Rowntree Musical Theatre). Each year a musical was performed, as well as variety shows. He started doing puppet shows for the Rowntree Youth Theatre, the Women’s Institute and as a ‘specialty act’ for magician’s shows as they toured around places like Leeds and Bradford.
Patrick Olsen went into the RAF at 18 and then later worked as a sign writer, a shop window display designer and finally as an architect modeller with York Planning Office. During this time he spent much of his spare time with his puppet shows and in making and painting stage scenery as a hobby. Patrick was putting on puppet shows with his wife and Joan Lawson – who plays the balloon seller in the film – until about 1998. Patrick wanted to have puppets large enough to be used on stage, and so he needed to go beyond the 12” puppets of Pelham to make puppets at least 2 feet high so that they could be seen on stage. Although during the 1950s and 60s puppets were very popular on TV, these usually involved action stories aimed at children, such as ‘Space Patrol’ and ‘Fireball XL5’. Patrick was making characters that performed quite complicated acts which only adults could fully appreciate. One such was Liberace, which moved its hands on the keyboard as it should in time with the music. Another was a marionette stripper which presented the challenge of getting the puppet to take off its garments (at least as far as underwear!). The character of Peedy, introduced in this film, came out of Patrick’s wanting to have a character that could convey pathos. Patrick felt that a clown was perfect for this. The other marionette film Patrick made, Underwater Fantasy, was made using a stage design the following year in 1970. Olsen was less pleased with this because of the technical constraints of an amateur production. As well as these marionette films, Patrick made many films during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, documenting the history and cultural life of York, especially in the theatre. He also made a comedy, It’s a Mad Mad World (also on YFA Online), starring David Bradley who went on to become a highly regarded actor on screen and, more especially, on the stage. These were usually made using super 8mm film, although sometimes, as in Yellow Balloon, 16 mm. Patrick Olsen also designed, modelled and painted the sets for the York Mystery Play in 1969, which were a major advance on previous productions. Although he only took photographs of this – held with the National Centre for Early Music – Patrick did film the 1973 production of the Mystery Plays, which is now held at the YFA. The story of the film came out of one his stage performances which had Peedy falling off a scooter, buying a balloon, sitting on a park bench and then bursting the balloon on a railing. Peedy was Patrick Olsen’s most popular character. Patrick got his friends Frank and May Webb from the camera shop on Bootham in York to help in shooting the film. As an amateur with no resources, making the film was difficult: finding a sunny day, having to stop when people walked by behind the Minster down Chapter House Street and Ogleforth, where the film was shot. Patrick was keen to have a marionette show filmed outside, but without the equipment that professionals would have, it was difficult to operate the puppet whilst getting out of view of the camera. The concept of pathos is certainly an apt one in describing this film. The word is usually meant to evoke sadness, sympathy, pity, or tenderness, and these are just what we feel for Peedy. Pathos is also contrasted in ancient Greek rhetoric with ethos – emotion as against character – but in this film we get a sense of both. References The Puppetry Home Page The British Puppet and Home Model Theatre Guild |
