ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF ...

other puppet, is not slack and seems to be no more than half their length and width.
Closer examination reveals a smaller cut along the jawline. On stage, this object’s
mandibles would have been less obvious, when they were opening and closing during the
performance. Of all the marionettes, this seems least like the counterfeit black images of
minstrelsy. This would place it closest, aesthetically, with the Interlocutor. It could be a
separate conductor for the orchestra, but it was not unusual for the Interlocutor to serve as
both emcee and “maestro.” On the other hand, the costume of the figure just right of
center is almost exactly the same as the figure to the left of center. It does seem likely
that the Interlocutor’s costume would be distinct from its counterparts.
Both possibilities represent peculiar interpretations of blackface minstrelsy, one
which makes the Interlocutor marionette a logical extension of minstrelsy convention, the
other which creates a connection between authority figure and buffoon, in a fascinating
intersection of puppet and minstrel aesthetics. If the Interlocutor is the “orchestra
leader,” then this marionette is clearly meant to be distinguished from its more “blacked
up” partners, according to the conventions of the standard Christy minstrel show.
If, on the other hand, the Interlocutor in this case is the center puppet, then D’Arc
has decided to make him as much a clown as his endmen. Since Interlocutor represents
authority, and, according to many accounts, Tambo and Bones usually made him the
“butt” of a number of jokes, D’Arc is interpreting Interlocutor according to the essences
of both minstrelsy and the Punch tradition. 50 As Carl Wittke summarizes, it was a
commonplace of the standard minstrel show produced by Christy’s to ridicule:
50 For examples of the Tambo/Bones vs. Interlocutor convention, see Dailey Paskman’s “Working
Model” of the minstrel show in “Gentlemen, Be Seated!” A Parade of the American Minstrels, revised
edition (New York: Crown Publishers, 1976), 89-146.
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