ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF ...

Critics and fellow puppeteers praised Sarg’s exceptional marionette designs and
the dramatic quality of his plays. Paul McPharlin, referencing Sarg’s synthesis of
carefully detailed production and sound dramatic material, called him “an ideal for
American puppetry.” 170 Sarg certainly lived up to this reputation, mounting such
ambitious productions as The Mikado, The Rose and the Ring, and The Adventures of
Christopher Columbus. He may have expanded the dramatic possibilities of the puppetry
field by demonstrating, at least more profoundly than other puppeteers before him, that
epic plays were suited to the puppet stage. At the same time, his choices reveal an
interest in exotic stories. This interest naturally led him to blackface puppetry.
Sarg’s first production was A Night in Delhi, a simplistic portrait of Hindu Indian
culture featuring two Indian snake charmer puppets and a serpent puppet. He presented
this humble example of exoticism at the Old Curiosity Shop, where he created a small
puppet stage for the occasion. The piece would figure prominently in his early career.
When World War I broke out, Sarg was ostracized from English society for his
German heritage. In 1915, he emigrated to the United States. He converted rooms on the
top floor of New York City’s Flatiron Building into a studio. Sarg then made his first
impact on the theatrical field when he reproduced A Night in Delhi there, along with a
few of his other short plays. Producer Winthrop Ames visited Sarg’s studio. He was so
impressed with Sarg’s work that he invited the puppeteer to take over an engagement
170
Qtd in: John Bell, Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History (Detroit: The Detroit
Institute of the Arts, 2000), 60.
130