STANDING OVATIONS

Ruth Hill Poppenburg,  Puppeteer

Ruth Hill Poppenburg, was a well known   Chicago- puppeteer,  she had a nightclub act and performed on television as well as for many years on the USO circuit for troops all over the U.S. Her act was billed as "Ruth Hill and her Stars on Strings."

I WAS MESMERIZED WITH RUTH HILL , SHE WAS A TRAVELING ACT FOR MY DAD. SHE WORE BEAUTIFUL DESIGNER GOWNS AND HER MARINETTE PUPPETS DANCED AND SANG AT HER HANDS LIKE THEY WERE ALIVE. SHE TRAVELLED WITH A LARGE BLACK PUPPET STAGED FRAME .

Miss RUTH HILL, a major puppeteer from the greater Chicagoland area in the 1950's-1960's. . This is ready to use in a show right now! RUTH HILL was well known in the Chicago area, playing club and hotel showroom dates throught the city and midwest. She appeared many times on WGN TV's "BOZO CIRCUS," in addition to countless other shows. Her act was a popular featured offered by the Howard Shcultz Agency of Chicago.

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Jay Marshall, a fellow performer and friend, said, "She was quite attractive and wore a black velvet evening gown to help disguise the strings she used."

She sewed the costumes for her puppets, which her late father, Ernest Hill, helped design and string. Many of them were caricatures of such 1930s and 1940s movie stars as Sonja Henie, Ginger Rogers and Carmen Miranda.

Her puppet show was part of Bozo's Circus on Channel 9 many times.

Mrs. Poppenburg, a native of Chicago, picked up her interest in puppets while a student at Senn High School and had a small theater in the basement of her family home. She used it not only for her own performances but also to host visiting puppeteers, who put on shows for neighborhood children.

She was an active member of the Chicagoland Puppetry Guild, The Actors and Entertainers Club and The American Guild of Variety Artists.

Ruths father was a world reknown puppeteer. 

I remember her Hello Dolly rendistion with both  and Carol Channing marrinetes. Her "performers" were  3-4- feet tall when she travelled with us kids and my parents.

Ruth Hill Poppenburg, was a well known   Chicago- puppeteer,  she had a nightclub act and performed on television as well as for many years on the USO circuit for troops all over the U.S. Her act was billed as "Ruth Hill and her Stars on Strings."