The Wolf

Five episodes of I Kosekroken were produced, 20 minutes each in length. In the first programme, Fingerleker (“Finger games”), the presenters used their hands and fingers to perform. In another episode, Dukketeater på loftet ("Puppet theatre in the attic"), they took away the puppetry stage and used clothes, chests and other objects in the attic as a backdrop.

Bjørg and Arne Mykle were primary school teachers. They had learned puppetry and puppet making from Arne’s father Agnar and his wife Jane Mykle (Arne’s stepmother). The younger Mykle generation would later take over their parents’ puppets and productions from Agnar and Jane Mykle.

SOURCES:
Helgesen, Anne: Descriptions for the TV puppet exhibition "Alle tiders barndomshelter" ("Childhood heroes through the generations"), Slottsfjellsmuseet/Figurfestspillene, 19–28 January 2024.

Helgesen, Anne: Animasjonen – Figurteatrets velsignelse og forbannelse. Norsk figurteaterhistorie ("Animation – a blessing and a curse for puppetry: A history of Norwegian puppetry"), PhD dissertation in Theatre Studies, Oslo University 2003, p.139

Ownership: Mykle’s descendants / on loan from Asker Museum

Transmitted to Sceneweb: 06.02.2024.

The glove puppets produced by Jane Mykle were generally made using the same method. The technique is described in detail in the book Dukketeater! (“Puppetry”; Gyldendal, 1954) that she wrote with her husband Agnar Mykle.

The Wolf has a large mouth with a long, red tongue. The puppet’s main mode of expression is by its mouth and it is therefore an early "muppet"-type figure, though that concept did not exist in the 1960s. 

The ears are large, as are the snout and eyes, with their heavy eyelids. The wolf’s front paws are sewn on to the front of the body and hang straight down. As with some of the other puppets in the series, the body is formed as a bag or sleeve that hides the performer’s arm. The outer body appears to be made of a type of velour, while the inner sleeve would usually be made of a soft cotton material. The Wolf is mostly beige in colour, and also has a tail made of pieces of material.

The above description is based on photos, and on previous knowledge of the Mykles’ glove puppet tradition.  

The hand position for the performer is different for The Wolf than for the other glove puppets. The performer has to use her/his thumb to move the lower jaw and the other digits for the upper jaw. An inner sleeve is made to accommodate this hand position, and the rest of the puppet is formed around this. Foam rubber is often used to make the basic shape of the puppet as it is easy to form and light in weight. The performer has to combine movements of the hand and wrist to create the greatest range of motion and expression. 

There are several photographs of The Wolf, but it is especially interesting to see it in disguise as The Grandmother. 

The above description is based on photos, and on previous knowledge of the Mykles’ glove puppet tradition.   

Agnar and Jane Mykle stayed in Paris in 1947/48, studying puppetry with the well-known artist Marcel Temporal. He revived the popular French puppetry tradition, also known as the Guignol tradition, which featured standard characters and vividly temperamental acting, mainly with glove puppets.

The younger Mykle generation, Bjørg and Arne Mykle, started to perform in Oslo’s Frogner Park, at the summer flower exhibitions called “Form og Flora” in the 1960s, and at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum) on Bygdøy. Their productions Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel alternated with each other.