A Brief Look Back On The Meredith Bixby Marionette Story, Part II: Saline Once Hosted Museum, Held Puppet Festivals

Bits and pieces of the once grand “Meredith Marionettes Touring Company” can still be found here and there about Saline. Overtly and covertly, tucked away in areas of the Saline Library and just outside City Council Chambers. [1,2]

Locating these important artifacts can sometimes feel like a treasure hunt. Ask someone who’s committed the latest sites to memory, somehow in on the secret. Our version of Ann Arbor fairy doors. [3]

Yesterday, Saline Journal reviewed some highlights of the Meredith Bixby legacy as it related to string puppets, his own contributions, and area ties. For those unfamiliar with the history, that article closed with a bit of a cliffhanger. [4]

Wouldn’t it be incredible if that life’s work had been largely preserved? If those archived materials could then be brought together, strategically organized to create an unparalled attraction for casual interests, serious scholarship, and even a backdrop for future performances?

In fact, Mr Bixby himself preserved a vast part of what he had created — and had entrusted it to the City of Saline before his death in 2002. Moreover, he was personally involved in the development and 1998 opening of modest museum of sorts, with the understanding that it would make his work available to the public, in context, through permanent exhibition. [5,6,7,8]

Two years after exhibit debut, Saline hosted an inaugural puppetry festival in connection with it. Twelve months later, it was held again, attracting around 1000 visitors. The Saline Reporter continued to cover it as a highly anticipated annual event through 2005. [9,10]

Today, the Puppeteers of America — and organization that would have been very familiar to Meredith Bixby — consolidated “National Day of Puppetry” into a single “World Day of Puppetry” to be held each March 21. On March 10 of this year, the Detroit Puppeteers Guild held its own celebration of this event at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). [11,12,13,14]

It is a big deal.

Former Saline Area Chamber of Commerce Director Cindy Janecke seems to have anticipated this in 1996: “The marionettes are part of Saline’s culture and could draw people to the community. We need to make Saline the home of the marionettes.” [15]

However, as the DIA initiative has shown (perhaps the past efforts of Saline itself as well), puppetry festivals are not the stuff to quietly co-locate with business offices. The passage of time has revealed a bigger potential. And, as asserted yesterday in Saline Journal, the Meredith Bixby marionette story has only become more important as a life experience where a majority of the key stories vital to a complete understanding of string puppets, history through practice, were to be found in one man, one lifetime.

Mayor Brian Marl gets this. And Erik Grossman has the history, knowledge, and interest to curate the Bixby Marionettes Trust.

But where is the interpretor, serving here in a vital function along the lines of what Melanie Parker did with “Star Wars and the Power of Costume” at the DIA? In more personal terms: Who will do for this what Cheryl Hoeft does on behalf of Weber-Blaess or as Agnes Dikeman has championed at the Rentschler Farm Museum? [16,17,18]

A mere ten years after it opened, the Bixby museum closed — in 2008. Was it just another casualty of budget cutting in the arts during an economic downturn? Or had it come about before its time? Did the city “abandon its commitment to Bixby”? Perhaps the vision wasn’t big enough. Whatever its next steps may appear to be, Mayor Marl clearly believes that Saline and the Bixby Marionettes Trust are long overdue for something better than things as they currently exist.

If and when that becomes the case, Saline will have upped its ante with premier hotel where all comers can comfortably stay when they’re here to experience the Meredith Bixby legacy.

References

1. Saline District Library (home page).
2. “Contact Us” Saline.
3. “A Guide to Ann Arbor’s Magical Fairy Doors” Aimee Eldon (August 1, 2017) Ann Arbor Family.
4. “The Meredith Bixby Marionette Story, Part I: This Is A Story That Can’t Properly Be Packed Away In A Single Box” Dell Deaton (September 19, 2018) Saline Journal.
5. “Exhibit showcases Bixby’s work” (September 19, 2002) The Saline Reporter.
6. “Bixby Marionettes Trust” Saline.
7. “Saline puppeteer’s legacy will in in perpetuity” Renee Lapham Collins (September 19, 2002) The Saline Reporter.
8. “Bixby Marionettes to be showcased at Oct 18 open house” Sheila Pursglove (October 7, 1998) The Saline Reporter.
9. “Puppetry festival set Oct 14” Renee Lapham Collins (September 28, 2000) The Saline Reporter.
10. “Puppetry Arts Festival on tap” (August 25, 2005) The Saline Reporter.
11. Puppeteers of America (home page).
12. “World Day of Puppetry” Puppeteers of America.
13. The Detroit Puppeteers Guild (home page).
14. “Annual Day of Puppetry: Performance – Peter and the Wolf” (March 10, 2018) Detroit Institute of the Arts.
15. “Famed puppeteer’s legacy focus of city efforts” Amalie C Nash (November 20, 1996) The Saline Reporter.
16. “The Secret To All Successful Museum Exhibits: Connect Your Subject Matter With The Public You Want To Attract” Dell Deaton (September 6, 2018) Saline Journal.
17. “Treat Yourself To An Opportunity Where You’ll Unplug From The Grid And Connect With Your Community” Janet Deaton (July 30, 2018) Saline Journal.
18. “Fifteen Months Ago, The Rentschler Farmhouse Bell Went Silent With A Deafening Bang; Today It Properly Rings Again” Dell Deaton (June 29, 2018) Saline Journal.
19. “Letters: City has abondoned its commitment to Bixby” Michael and Norah Bixby (August 28, 2008) The Saline Reporter.
20. “Lucy Ann Lance Updates Her Radio Audience on Saline Hotel Progress” Dell Deaton (January 25, 2018) Saline Journal.