Fun Facts About The Velveteen Rabbit
The story was originally published in 1921 as a four page story in Harper’s Bazaar. This version of the story featured illustrations by Williams’ twelve year old daughter, Pamela Bianco.
The children’s book as we know it today was published in 1922, and was illustrated by William Nicholson.
Over 10 video/film/tv adaptations have been made of The Velveteen Rabbit.
Meryl Streep received a Grammy nomination in 1986 for an audio recording of the story, which was recorded with pianist George Winston.
The story has been adapted many times over for stage, and can be done as a stage play, a musical, and has even been done as a dance performance.
Over one million copies of the book have been sold in the US alone.
Williams preferred the term “imaginative literature” over “children’s literature” as she considered her work fit for audiences of all ages. Of older audiences reading her work, she has said “If you do not respond to its magic, you have either traveled many leagues from its enchanted land, or will never qualify to enter it,”
The story was first published because Harper’s Bazaar commissioned Bianco to write a story for her daughter, Pamela (who was considered a child prodigy) to illustrate.
Want to learn more? Here’s a great Vulture article about the story behind the story of The Velveteen Rabbit - https://www.vulture.com/2022/11/velveteen-rabbit-margery-williams-bianco-book.html
What is a crankie?
A crankie theatre is a box built with two spools inside. The spools have handles that can be ‘cranked’ to bring movement to an illustrated scroll that is wound onto the spools.
While crankies have been around for hundreds of years, they weren’t called that until Peter Schuman of Bread and Puppet Theatre coined the term. This is no doubt due to the fact that the crankie is a box of two spools which must be ‘cranked’ in order to move the illustrated scroll inside.
Crankies are valuable storytelling devices that bring delight to audiences around the world. Crankies are often used in tandem with shadow puppetry to help tell a story.
What is Shadow Puppetry?
Shadow puppetry began 1,000's of years ago in China and India, but is a form that is found in many more cultures including Greece, Turkey, and more recently (starting in the 1800’s) western Europe.
Last year, ISU Theatre was honored to host Ayhan Hulagu of US Kyragoz Theatre Company, who presented two Karagoz shows (Turkish shadow puppetry) and gave workshops on the art form, which is recognized by UNESCO as representative of the cultural heritage of humanity in Turkey.
In 1926 German shadow puppeteer Lotte Reiniger made the first full length animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmet using hand-cut silhouette figures that were moved on an animation table.
Traditional shadow puppets are flat and made of leather. Smaller areas within each figure are cut away to create fine detail such as faces, tools, clothing, etc. Puppeteers move and control the figures using long rods behind a translucent screen (usually made from paper or cloth). A lamp on the puppeteer's side of the stage provides the light that allows the audience on the other side of the screen to see the moving shadows.
There are many contemporary puppeteers who have built on this practice using modern technologies, which means there is no limit to where their imaginations may take them.
Additional Puppetry Links:
Puppeteers of America: www.puppeteers.org
UNIMA-USA: www.unima-usa.org
Northwest Puppet Center: nwpuppet.org
Introduction to Shadow Puppetry Video
