Turnabout

"Puppets were easier to manipulate than people," recalls Forman Brown who, along with his cousin Harry Burnett, and Forman's companion Roddy Brandon, operated a little theatre called the Turnabout in Hollywood, frequented by luminaries from all walks of life, including Einstein, Garbo, and Chaplin. Writer/director Dan Bessie's film about his Uncle Harry, Forman Brown, and Roddy Brandon is a loving tribute, which traces the early years of the trio's development (they came to be known as the Yale Puppeteers), the smashing success of the Turnabout, and the rediscovery of a classic gay novel that Forman wrote under the pseudonym of Richard Meeker called Better Angel. Bessie interviews Brown and Burnett--and the film really comes alive when songwriter Brown plays one of his clever ditties, or Uncle Harry performs a vaudevillian number about being in a true dead-end job as the rear of a horse--and uses archival photos and film clips (unfortunately, the Turnabout performances were never filmed) to recreate the atmosphere of puppeteering. There's also a real gem of a performance of Turnabout regular Elsa Lanchester (best known as Frankenstein's main squeeze) singing the poignant "Catalog Woman," a song about mail-order brides. a fun slice of life portrait, Turnabout is recommended for larger collections. (R. Pitman)