That LimberJack for Mr. Wood must have come from us when we were still in Vermont! Right, Sourdough? Thank you for the story.

Based on an old and moderately crude model we saw in Bristol, Vermont, we made a "foot-tapper" version, too. The one that inspired us was made by an old-time fiddler who would activate the dancing man while fiddling for kids in the neighborhood. Sort of a scaffold arrangement with the stick extending over the board, suspending the puppet at the proper height. The board was placed over a fulcrum which allowed the foot to tap on one end, raising and lowering the other end to come into contact with the puppets feet. Is that at all clear? If not, go see My Side of the Mountain with Theo Bikel (I think that's the name of it, or something very like that). We gave one to Theo when he admired it at one of the early Fox Hollow festivals, as he was on his way to Canada to make that film. In the movie, you'll see him playing guitar and harmonica, while tapping his foot to dance the dressed up version of our LimberJack. Ah, fame and glory to the family!

Sandy