The original Colonel & Miss Jeannie. Here, they are resting on their black stands. Their arms were fixed in position with coat-hanger wire, covered with pipe insulation foam. Yes, we also think he looks a lot like the Fried Chicken magnate (who, since we're a little copyright-shy right now, shall remain nameless). They were worked by a single actor, who held one in each hand and they talked to one another.

Well, first we needed a set for them to perform on. Seen in the background are two outdoor end tables that Marty's Brother Steve had built a long time ago. They would be perfect for the rocking chairs to sit on. IF WE COULD ONLY FIND TWO MATCHING rocking chairs. Yeah, right. Marty searched all over Portland and the internet, willing to pay almost any (even exorbitant) price for them. All to no avail.

So, Marty agreed to build the two rocking chairs that would fit the two main characters. Now, one secret that we've never told the world is that Marty really HATES working with wood.

PVC and Iron Pipe, Plaster and Neoprene are far more in his comfort zone.

In the past 95 pages, we've never seen Marty and Wood in the same picture, unless it was a chair in which he was sitting.

So, it was quite a concession for him to agree to build not ONE, but TWO matching rocking chairs.

.

So here is the end result. Pretty snazzy, huh?

Now we need to do a little work on the puppets themselves.

Here we can see the lower half of the puppets' bodies being assembled and fitted.

The Colonel has also had his blue plastic hat covered in white fabric.

We also hinged the arms so that they worked with rods from their backside.

If you click on this picture, you can to see it in a larger
suitable-for-framing version.

It was decided that each of the characters would have a pet.
Here's Miss Jeannie's River Snake, Skippy.

While we were searching Goodwill stores for the rocking chairs, Steve found the snake, the shopping cart, the hat, and the sneakers. He added newly painted eyes, and we added a head rod for animation.

We dirtied up the shopping cart and added the (well known mega-store) logo.

The pets can talk to each other, but the human puppets can't hear or understand them.

Steve had this alligator in a box of stuffed animals, and he thought it would be perfect as the Colonel's pet. Only it was too small to be believable. Well, we found another matching one at the Goodwill store.

If you click on this picture, you can to see a larger
suitable-for-framing version.

If you click on this picture, you can to see it in a larger
suitable-for-framing version.

Here's the assembled cast in their set.

The lights are low-voltage outdoor lights from Lowes,
The fishing pole is a piece of bamboo cut to size,
the flowers are plastic, the river is fabric,
and the whole thing collapses to fit in the trunk of a car.

So, that's the tale of the construction of Magnolia Moonshine.
"But wait a minute", I can hear you asking,
"What's the show about?"

Quite frankly, I don't know.

I guess I'll have to wait until they get back
and see what has happened to it on their trip.

Goodness knows, with three weeks together in the motor home, they'll have come up with something, now don'tcha think?