Figure maker

Alfred LeMare

A Manchester theatrical supplier who began in 1861 and ended up building for Fred Russell and Arthur Prince — which is to say, for the men who invented the modern act.

Figures 3
Photographs 37

LeMare went into business in 1861 making property for theaters and later specialized in magic and ventriloquial goods from his shop in Manchester, England. The site's maker directory credits him with supplying figures to both Fred Russell and Arthur Prince.

He worked in the nineteenth century and made figures in both papier-mâché and carved wood. The rarest items here are a pair of heads, Ally Sloper and Mrs. Sloper, made around 1890 after the comic-strip character and kept wrapped in blankets in an attic trunk for the better part of a century. A third figure, Wee George, was made just after the turn of the century for an English performer working as McQuisto — Fred B. Crouch in private life.

The mechanics

The LeMare figures here have a drop jaw, side-moving eyes and a fright wig; one carries a spitter. LeMare's head sticks and controls are distinctive enough that the collection identified an unattributed figure by them alone.

The figures

37 photographs across 3 cataloged objects. Each object is one entry in the register — where a character name covers two physical figures, they stay two entries, because the character outlives the object more often than the record admits.