Mollie Falkenstein

Mollie Falkenstein was a puppeteer and dancer who was known for her work with finger puppets. Since her childhood, she travelled from England to Canada to the US, where she remained. Prior to becoming a puppeteer, Mollie was a professional dancer, performing in both the musical film and live show versions of Rio Rita. Falkenstein soon got involved with puppets thanks to her daughter Jan, who made puppets and a show to accompany them. She also performed a one-woman show involving finger puppet ballerinas which became known as the dancing ballet later on. The way the ballet puppets worked was by the molded legs attached to her fingers and strings controlling the heads and arms. Mollie Falkenstein sure knew how to make those finger puppets move so gracefully in a technique that became known as "ballerette." Later she founded a puppetry guild in 1961 and attended several UNIMA organizations as the years went by prior to becoming vice president of the US one from 1976-1980. This earned her numerous awards and honors by the Puppeteers of America and UNIMA-USA from 1978-1983 respectively. I wonder if Mollie ever got to meet Jim Henson during some of those UNIMA-USA appearances. Sadly, Falkenstein's life ended as she died in 1992, the same year Richard Hunt died. Following her death, an exhibit at the John Wayne Airport was set up in honor of her and entitled "Puppets for Mollie." It's very sweet of an airport to honor a UNIMA puppeteer with marionettes, shadow figures, and hand-rod puppets, that's a sign showing that the world really enjoyed her shows and such. Mollie Falkenstein, you were magnificent performing with finger puppets, and you were such a fine ballet dancer. I'm sure the world still remembers you today by looking on the UNIMA website. No other puppeteer could work with finger puppets as well as you, at least not to my knowledge. Until then, farewell to you Mollie. You've certainly done a wonderful way to bow out Falkenstein!