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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF ...

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event led to a full season <strong>of</strong> productions based on traditional African American folklore.<br />

De Courtin’ Couple demonstrates the efforts <strong>of</strong> a white puppeteer to engage the spirit <strong>of</strong><br />

black culture in puppetry.<br />

Dallas designed hand puppets based on the animals featured in the African<br />

American folktales. A photograph in Puppet Plays (1931) shows Sis Goose and Brer<br />

Rabbit as the plush hand puppet bodies <strong>of</strong> a child’s stuffed animals. Dallas described Sis<br />

Goose, Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, and Brer Dog in the words <strong>of</strong> Joel Chandler Harris, even<br />

going so far as to quote Harris’s Uncle Remus Stories. Dallas deepened the metaphoric<br />

reference <strong>of</strong> the characters by making their “live” representations <strong>of</strong> animals, rather than<br />

blackface objects.<br />

Simultaneously, Dallas makes the connection between black culture and the<br />

action <strong>of</strong> Couple evident from the first scene. Sis Goose sings the traditional African<br />

American spiritual “Oh, I Went Down into the Valley to Pray” as she washes clothes.<br />

The dialect is proven to be a direct adaptation from Harris: “Law, ef Ah ain’t done forgit<br />

eber las’ one er dem dirty dish towels!” 255 From the start, the audience is encouraged to<br />

anticipate connections between African American culture and the events <strong>of</strong> the puppet<br />

show.<br />

Thus, when Brer Fox corners Sis Goose at the laundry line, the audience has been<br />

prepared to consider the attempted “seduction” in the context <strong>of</strong> African American<br />

history. What would otherwise be a story <strong>of</strong> a fox currying the favor <strong>of</strong> a goose, by<br />

kissing her hand and complimenting her home, in order to eat her later, becomes a<br />

255<br />

Weaver Dallas, “De Courtin’ Couple,” Puppet Plays, ed. Paul McPharlin (Detroit: Paul<br />

McPharlin, 1931), 5.<br />

204

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