'You can't force a puppet to do something': Puppeteer of 30 years on ups and downs of his craft

Why I Do What I Do is an original AsiaOne series where we showcase people with uncommon professions and what it takes to get there.

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As a child, Frankie Yeo loved watching The Muppets on television every night while having dinner. 

This ordinary evening routine of his would eventually inspire him to become a puppeteer himself, going by the stage name Frankie Malachi. 

"We have to blame television," he jokes. 

Now that he's been in the business for more than 30 years, Frankie tells AsiaOne that he actually wanted to be a magician, but decided to turn to puppetry as it was an untapped market back in the 1980s. 

"There was no Google at that time [to search for information]. It was a lot of trial and error from what we saw on television, and from there I would reverse-engineer [the puppets] and experiment from there," explains the 60-year-old, who performs with his puppets at events. 

He also credits his inquisitive nature, which spurred him to take things apart and try to put them back together.

"From there, I started to learn about levers, springs and stuff. I guess that was my training ground," he mused.  

To date, Frankie has created more than 300 puppets and marionettes by hand. While several of them are displayed at his workshop in MacPherson, he shares that there are many others that have been put away in storage. 

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So, what does it take to create a puppet? According to Frankie, it's more than just getting crafty. 

"I first need to have a concept — an idea of what I want the puppet to do. For example, if I want to build a juggler, I will [first] design the controller and the strings based on that.

"But sometimes the puppet may not move the way you want it to move, so from there I'll redesign it and rework my ideas." 

He shares that one of the first puppets he created — a juggler — was initially meant to be a pianist. 

"You can't force a puppet to do something," he quips. 

"I have to then experiment and see what the puppet's potential is. Then from there I make adjustments to the strings or the controller to help [the puppet] achieve its 'calling'." 

This process of helping his creations find their 'calling' can sometimes be as quick as one week, or as long as a decade. 

One of these decade-long projects is a dog puppet which Frankie created to do magic tricks. 

"An audience member would select a card, which would be shuffled back into the deck. The deck is then flung into the air, and the dog would pick the selected card. 

"From making it, rehearsing with it and finally bringing it out [to perform] — that took me about 10 years to accomplish." 

Uncanny resemblances 

When asked where the inspiration for his projects comes from, Frankie replies without much hesitation: "Anywhere and everywhere." 

"Sometimes you look at a person, and you think 'Hey, he looks like a puppet', or sometimes I read a book, or watch television and an idea hits me. All I have to do is sit down and dream." 

Speaking of dreams, Frankie revealed that he once unwittingly created a puppet that resembled his biological father, whom he had never met, as he was adopted as a child. 

In fact, it was his brother who pointed it out when he went to watch one of Frankie's shows at a festival. 

"The puppet was made for a Peranakan festival, and when my brother came to the show, he saw the puppet and said, 'That looks exactly like our father!'" 

And it's not just his family members. Many a time, Frankie has the audience come up to him to tell him that his puppets resemble their friends as well. 

On overcoming difficulties 

Frankie may have his own workshop and a dedicated team helping him today, but his success wasn't achieved without overcoming adversity. 

Apart from having to learn everything from scratch, Frankie also had to carve out a name for himself as a performer. 

"Nobody knew who I was, and that's where I had to put in a lot of elbow grease. I had to believe in what I was doing, and go out to sell myself. And fortunately, people loved it. That's how we grew as a business." 

The onset of Covid-19 and the accompanying restrictions dealt a heavy blow to Frankie and his team, as they were no longer allowed to perform. 

During this time, the group chose to focus their energy on coming up with new shows and work on building new characters. 

His team's perseverance eventually paid off, as some collectors offered to buy some of his handmade 'babies' after reading an article about his financial struggles. 

Another woman also generously offered to loan Frankie $10,000 to tide him over.

"Initially I thought it was a scam, but she called again and was quite insistent on helping me. I was like, 'Wow, there are such kind people out there.'"

Future of puppetry in Singapore 

Even though he has thought about throwing in the towel several times, Frankie believes that it's his passion for his craft that keeps him going. 

He's also very positive that the local puppetry scene will continue to grow, citing examples of how puppets here aren't just used for entertainment. 

Frankie's puppets have played a role in saving endangered birds. "When the bird lays an egg, they will incubate it. After it hatches, a surrogate puppet will help to feed it."

"If the feeding is done by a human hand, the baby bird will be bonded to a human, and its chances of survival in the wild will be reduced." 

Apart from birds, puppets have also been used by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society to comfort baby squirrels who have fallen out of their nest. 

To share his craft with the next generation, Frankie introduces puppetry to students from Lasalle College of the Arts or the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts when they visit his workshop.

"There's also social media, and sometimes when we do shows, people will come up and ask if we do classes. There are many different areas where we can share more about puppetry." 

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claudiatan@asiaone.com

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