Tony sarg nantucket
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World Encyclopaedia of Puppetry Arts
American puppeteer. Tony Sarg was the son of a German diplomat posted to Guatemala and Great Britain. His mother was English. In 1887, the Sarg family returned to Germany. Tony Sarg went to school in Darmstadt, and later entered a military academy. In 1905, Tony Sarg went to England, where he worked as an illustrator in London. In 1909, he married an American, Bertha Eleanor McGowen. It was in Great Britain where Sarg’s fascination with marionettes began after seeing the famous company of Thomas Holden.
The Sargs moved to the United States in 1915, settling in New York City where he gave his first puppet performances in his studio in the Flatiron Building (the much photographed 1902 triangular/wedge-shaped skyscraper). In 1917, there were performances at the Neighborhood Playhouse. The Sarg production, The Rose and the Ring (1919), played on Broadway and was directed by Ellen Van Volkenburg (1882-1978), another innovator who contributed the word “puppeteer” to the English language.
Tony Sarg’s Rip Van Winkle (1921) was the first of
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Tony Sarg (1880 – 1942)
Born to a German father and English mother, Tony Sarg learned creative skills from both of his parents. He rebelled against his military training to seek his dream of becoming an illustrator. Then, to distinguish himself as an artist and to promote his career, he took up marionettes as a hobby and performed them for his friends.
Little information existed on puppetry early in the 20th century as puppeteers regarded their craft as secret material to be guarded by those in the business. Tony Sarg, however, spent many days watching a well known puppeteer in England, Thomas Holden, and figured out for himself the tricks of the trade. With this knowledge and fleeing from the anti-German attitudes in England at the outbreak of World War I, Tony Sarg immigrated to America with his family.
In New York City, Tony Sarg continued to distinguish himself from other artists with his puppetry hobby. He gained a reputation in all the social circles as a friend, practical joker and the life of any party. His indefatigable work ethic and countless ideas made him a b
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Tony Sarg (1880-1942) was a creative genius known popularly for his work as a puppeteer, illustrator, toymaker, window designer, and creator of the original Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. Sarg began coming to Nantucket with New York friends in the early 1920s, and purchased a home on North Liberty Street in 1922. He soon opened the Tony Sarg Shop at 38 Centre Street, which relocated in 1929 to the corner of Easy Street and Steamboat Wharf as Tony Sarg’s Curiosity Shop. Less well known for his fine art, Sarg was an active member of the Art Colony, a supporter of Florence Lang, and a close friend and occasional host of the “dean” of the Art Colony, Frank Swift Chase. For the 1927 Nantucket Follies at the Yacht Club, organized by Austin Strong, the Inquirer and Mirror wrote that Sarg “presented a puppet munching a cracker, and then drew a caricature of his assistant, Frank Swift Chase, in the form of a rotund cupid.” Sarg exhibited his works regularly at the Easy Street Gallery, including those on display here.
Sarg’s other Nantucket activities were nearly limitless: h
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