Elephant Man

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Off to Larndan today with famille to see the Sultan's Elephant. Quite the
most amazing spectacle we have witnessed, and we've seen a few. Seeing the
pictures is one thing but up close and personal the puppetry really is
superb and the scale massive. The effort and energy the puppeters have to
put into making the legs walk is phenomenal - runnning and then jumping on
the ropes to lift the legs for each step. A-mazing!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4981728.stm

I'd have loved to have seen it. I saw a similar spectacle in Lisbon in Expo
'98. There was a street procession of the most amazing contraptions powered
by a mixture of human, electric motors and petrol engines. It was truly a
jaw dropping event rivalled by the working models from Leonardo da Vinci's
Leicester Codex and some wrapped buildings by the same artists who wrapped
the Reichstag.

It's the intergration of humans into such huge devices that I think is
inspiring.

Tony Raven said:

Off to Larndan today with famille to see the Sultan's Elephant. Quite
the most amazing spectacle we have witnessed, and we've seen a few.
Seeing the pictures is one thing but up close and personal the puppetry
really is superb and the scale massive.

Agreed. I nipped down to have a butcher's today, and it really was
impressive. More giant robot animals on the streets, i say!

Quoted message said:

The effort and energy the puppeters have to put into making the legs
walk is phenomenal - runnning and then jumping on the ropes to lift the
legs for each step.

Really? It looked to me like it was all power-worked. It does take a lot
of work to drive, though - i counted eight crew, who i think were a
captain on top, presumably coordinating everything, three trunksmen at the
front, controlling the various motions of the trunk, a leg driver on a
seat hanging off the side next to each leg, and a tail-end charlie,
working the tail. The tail bloke was doing it with a sheaf of ropes;
everyone else had levers. The guys at the front had particularly massive
arrays of them, reminding me of a pipe organ; the trunk swung from side to
side and flexed independently at each joint, opened and closed its
nostrils, made trumpeting sounds, and sprayed water, so there must have
been quite a bit to control. Oh, and there was a transvestite with a
telescope and a troupe of dancing girls on top.

So, was there a team of leg-lifting rope-pullers i missed? Surely there's
a fansite somewhere on the internet where all the juicy technical details
are laid bare ...

tom

--
Mathematics is the door and the key to the sciences. -- Roger Bacon

Tom Anderson said:

So, was there a team of leg-lifting rope-pullers i missed? Surely there's
a fansite somewhere on the internet where all the juicy technical details
are laid bare ...

I think Tony is talking about the little girl. There didn't seem to be any
mechanical aids there - just a troupe of puppeteers with ropes.
Then again, I qualify 'little' as I saw here scooter and it was twelve
feet tall!

I went yesterday, to see the elephant in Trafalgar Square,
and today to see the little girl depart in her time-travelling space
rocket. The elephant was very sad.
Strangely though, he fuelled the rocket through his trunk.

Tom Anderson said:

On Sun, 7 May 2006, Tony Raven wrote:

Really? It looked to me like it was all power-worked. It does take a lot
of work to drive, though - i counted eight crew, who i think were a
captain on top, presumably coordinating everything, three trunksmen at the
front, controlling the various motions of the trunk, a leg driver on a
seat hanging off the side next to each leg, and a tail-end charlie,
working the tail. The tail bloke was doing it with a sheaf of ropes;
everyone else had levers. The guys at the front had particularly massive
arrays of them, reminding me of a pipe organ; the trunk swung from side to
side and flexed independently at each joint, opened and closed its
nostrils, made trumpeting sounds, and sprayed water, so there must have
been quite a bit to control. Oh, and there was a transvestite with a
telescope and a troupe of dancing girls on top.

So, was there a team of leg-lifting rope-pullers i missed? Surely there's
a fansite somewhere on the internet where all the juicy technical details
are laid bare ...

tom

I think there's some confusion between the elephant and the girl.

Saw the show today (fantastic!) and the elephant looked mechanical,
whereas the girls legs were controlled by a group of very energetic
puppeteers, working in rotation.

I've uploaded a brief video clip here :
http://www.zen67719.zen.co.uk/GirlWalking.mpg

Cheers,
Steve.

Tom Anderson said:

So, was there a team of leg-lifting rope-pullers i missed? Surely
there's a fansite somewhere on the internet where all the juicy
technical details are laid bare ...

The leg pullers were on the 30ft high girl, not the elephant which, as
you say, was all hydraulically powered.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

Tony Raven said:

Off to Larndan today with famille to see the Sultan's Elephant. Quite
the most amazing spectacle we have witnessed, and we've seen a few.

Agreed. I went along on Friday on my way back to Victoria and got there
just as the elephant was setting off on its "sightseeing" trip. It was
breathtaking - literally, as in I went dizzy and nearly fell over! If I
hadn't been spending all weekend on my bike I would have made the trip
to see it again. It's definitely the kind of spectacle that would be
worth travelling for.

d.