Of all the people who developed the art and inspired others, one of the most important is Tony Sarg.

Tony had one sister, Charlotte, who was called Lottie. She spent her later years in Chicago, and lived near Burr Tillstrom when he was young. (She helped him get interested in puppetry, and he became the famous puppeteer who brought Kukla,Fran and Ollie to television audiences everywhere.) Tony spent his first six year on a plantation, exposed to his artistic family: a father who was an artist, a grandfather who taught him woodcarving and a grandmother who painted.

His grandmother had a collection of dolls, animals, miniature houses and mechanical toys. He inherited all of these after her death. When Tony was six years old he designed his first invention, for which he is famous. He rigged up a couple pulleys and ran a line from his bedroom window to the sliding door of the chicken coop. He spread grain in the yard the evening before, and released the chickens by pulling the rope in the morning. His father was so happy that he designed this mechanism, that Tony never had to feed the chickens again. And I wonder if his poor sisters were stuck with this job.

In 1887 the family moved back to Germany and Tony attended school in Darmstadt.
At 14, he entered the German military academy, Lichterfelde. At 17 he became a commissioned lieutenant. He spent much of his time out of uniform visiting editors and publishers with his drawings. He met Bertha Eleanor McGowan, a tourist from the U.S. In 1905 he resigned his commission and went to England. His friendship with Bertha grew and they went to her home town of Cincinnati, Ohio, to marry on January 20th, 1909.

They moved to England and two years later they had a daughter, Mary.
The nine years that the family lived in England helped develop his career. He became intrigued with puppetry, and followed the Holden marionette troupe around various London music houses, bribing his way backstage, and posing as a stagehand, only to frustrated when a curtain was pulled around the stage to prevent everyone from seeing what was going on.
He also sat in the front row, and laid on the floor to see what the puppeteers were doing.

He was a great illustrator, and went into the commercial art business. One day he noticed a bus of mainly American tourists driving to the original "Old Curiosity Shop" of Charles Dickens. Tony was looking for a studio and rented the upstairs of the building, and sublet the bottom to an antique dealer. When the tourists started asking to see "Little Nell's Bedroom" Tony had an idea. He restored the room as Dickens had described it, and put up a sign "Little Nell's Bedroom. Admission Six Pence". The first year he took in two thousand dollars in American money.

Tony wanted to be a successful and independent artist. A shy man, Tony attended large meetings where he knew he would be called upon to speak, to develop his confidence. He learned his salesmanship abilities from the famous Allen Francis, and eventually made sketches for advertising agencies.

When meeting with artists and illustrators, he knew that to become well-known he would need some kind of a gimmick. He decided on performing a marionette show, as he had them in his toy collection. He was working as a theatrical artist and one of his assignments was to attend a performance by the famous puppeteer, Thomas Holden. Afterward, he experimented on his own and made some marionettes. He set up a stage and gave performances as the highlight of his evening parties, attended by artists and newspaper friends.

In 1914, the outbreak of the First World War caused Tony to send his wife and daughter to Cincinnati, and then soon followed.
He lived as a registered alien in America until 1920, when he became a naturalized citizen.

The family moved to New York in 1915, where Tony rented a studio in the Flatiron building at Madison Square Garden. He again focused in on artists, editors and publishers. He hosted a party in his studio and halfway through the evening surprised everyone with a marionette show. He was soon well-known among the editors and artists for his friendly, outgoing personality.
By 1917 his marionette hobby had turned into a profession, along with his illustrations and other art jobs.

#Individuals usually stayed with the show for a couple years, as the schedule was demanding. They often went out on their own afterwards.
Tony's company soon discovered that puppets became quite real to their puppeteers.
One day while Tony was standing on the back bridge of the stage something gave way and he fell to the floor with about a dozen marionettes. Lillian Owens had just finished the character Bulbo and heard the crash, and quickly rushed behind stage. She went right past Tony on the floor and ran to the puppets to save them and check them out.

In 1935 Tony Tony designed the mechanically animated window display for Macy's Department Store. Every year after he produced a new animated window which ran from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and cost $50,000 to install. His staff of experts built the displays at the 38th street workshop, but Tony was the mechanical genius, and designed them. Tony is credited with future animated window displays across the country.

Tony Sarg productions came to Minnesota several times.
In 1928, TCP charter member Bob Longfield saw the Sarg productions of "Treasure Island" and "The Pied Piper" at West High School in Minneapolis. Bob was inspired to build marionettes himself, and later became a professional puppeteer, performing across the U.S.
Virginia Houghtaling also saw the Sarg troupe.
In 1929 the Sarg troupe again performed at West High School with "The Adventures of Christopher Columbus." In 1935, the group performed "Faust"-The Wicked Magician" at the St. Paul Auditorium.

The Sarg Company performed most of the famous stories, such as Rip Van Winkle,The Bremen Band, The Stolen Princess, Ali Baba,The Rose and the Ring, Don Quixote, Uncle Wiggly's Adventures, Robin Hood, Sinbad the Sailor, and Alice in Wonderland, to really name just a few.
Alice in Wonderland opened in 1930 and closed in 1932. It became one his most popular productions. Alice was played in the opening scene by a real actress, and then, in Wonderland, replaced by a marionette identical to the actress in appearance. This was the first time Tony used a real person in a show and it was so successful, that he continued to use real people on occasion.

In 1928 Tony designed a series of helium filled, rubberized silk animal balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Bil Baird supervised the construction, and called them "giant, upside down marionettes" as the strings were below them. One rubber dragon, the biggest, was 125 feet long and took 50 handlers to operate him. This balloon later floated over Long Island, while aviator Clarence Chamberlain was flying. The balloons had to be carefully moved under the NYC elevated train structure. One set paraded, and the second set was released and allowed to fly away when the parade reached Macy's store. Some of the balloons were found a hundred miles away. A reward was offered for their return in any condition. Kids shot the balloons with their air rifles, and the balloons were returned full of holes. In the minds of the public this gained Tony most of his fame in New York. Rubber balloons remain a tradition of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Millionaire Barber Bill commissioned Tony to design a chain of children's barber shops, which were very successful.
Tony illustrated cards for the National Biscuit Shredded Wheat Company (now Nabisco). He designed a line of fabrics used for children's clothes. Some had Mother Goose characters, circus animals and even marionettes. He designed Alice in Wonderland fabrics which Macy's carried in sun suits, robes and pajamas. For Parent Magazine he designed decals which were used as nursery decorations.
He was a popular speaker at many functions. He demonstrated how to operate marionettes, do drawings, and caricatures of people in the audience. Virginia Houghtaling saw him on one of his speaking tours.

For a while, Tony's daughter, whom he adored, toured with him. She had her own little troupe of puppets that she made with help from her dad.
Tony suggested children could make marionettes from ordinary rag dolls. Arms and legs were loosened; the chest of the body emptied for movement. Seven strings were used: two at the knees, two at the wrist, two at the ears and one at the middle of the back.

Tony's endeavors made him rich and famous. At his peak, he earned $80,000 a year (in today's money, something like $1.7 million.)
In 1933 his biggest show was put on at the Chicago World's Fair, and seen by more than 3 million people. He worked with Bil Baird and Rufus and Margo Rose. In 1933 they left his company and went out on their own.

Between 1925 and 1933 he became known as America's Puppet Master.
In 1936 he attended the first national convention (which would turn into the Puppeteers of America) and was one of the speakers. He sat at the head table with Paul McPharlin, Marjorie Batchelder and others.
In 1937, the brand new P of A had a membership of 200, and bestowed the title of "Master Puppeteer" on 53 of the members. Tony was among them, along with Rufus and Margo Rose.

The late thirties were times of change for Tony. His production methods continued in the same manner as before, but new artists came on the scene. His plays appeared to decline in quality, and in 1939 he produced his last play and the following year the company closed. His career as a puppeteer had ended.

He filed bankruptcy in 1939 listing $36, 259 in debts. In humor, though, he listed his assets as: four suits, a couple overcoats, an evening suit, several pairs of socks, and several shirts, ties and collars, worth about $200. Also a few reference books, an easel, and a chair of no value.

In 1940, on his 60th birthday, he was presented with a portfolio containing greetings from many puppeteers, some of whom had worked for him. His eyes filled with tears as he read the letters.

The qualities which earned him early success in America had stayed with him throughout his career. With all his talents he was making a strong financial comeback by 1942. On February 17, 1942, at the age of 62, Tony underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. He died three weeks later of complications.
He's buried in Cincinnati Ohio, the family home of his wife.
All mourned his death in disbelief, but remembered the wonderful career of such a talented man.