Noreen Young, a recognized Canadian puppet perhaps better known for creating the popular show for CBC children Under the umbrella treeHe has died.
Young, who was born in Ottawa and worked in puppets for more than 50 years, produced Under the umbrella tree From 1987 to 1993 and portrayed Gloria Gopher, one of the main characters of the program.
It was also the first artistic director of puppets! The International Puppet Festival in Almonte, Ontario, which began in 2005 and, except for a parenthesis between 2017 and 2022, is still being executed.
Young died after suffering a stroke at the end of last week, his family told CBC. She was 85 years old.
The puppet was an “act of love,” says Brother
Young was appointed member of the Order of Canada in 1995, and its biography describes it as a “puppet and puppeteer builder magistrate.”
His work had a lasting impact on a generation of children who grew up seeing Canadian children’s programming, said the puppets! President and Executive Director Jane Torrance
“I don’t think there is a child who was born in the 80s or 90s who … he saw CBC when he was a child who does not know Noreen’s work,” Torrance told CBC.
Young’s younger brother, Stephen Bathwaite, is also a puppeteer and played Jacob Bluejay’s character in Under the umbrella tree.
He said Young “was a wonderful sister” and said that her work was “an act of love, really for children and for the community.”
“Her character was her. Gloria Gopher was Noreen Young. It was a sweet and creative bulldozer problem solving,” he told CBC.
Born in 1939, Young grew in Old Ottawa South. Bathwaite said she was interested in puppets since she was 12 years old and would perform puppet shows in stores and coffee shops in the city, including the recognized Le Hibou Coffee House in Sussex Drive.
Bathwaite said Young went to the School of Art, but then found himself returning to the puppets.
“I think she thought: ‘Oh, the puppets are not great. I will draw, painting and sculpture.’ What she did,” he said. “And then, as soon as he graduated, he returned, in the puppets.”
Part of his first work was with another spot of puppets of CBC, Hello Diddle Daywhich was broadcast from 1968 to 1976. He also worked in Sesame Park, the Canadian version of Sesame Street.
“I think that once he started with the puppets and saw where they could take her and where they could take their artistic career, it became something I was going to do,” Torrance said.
Cartoons created from public figures
Young was also known for cartoon puppets that created public figures, from former governor General Adrienne Clarkson and CBC news presenter Peter Mansbridge to local personalities such as former Mayor of Ottawa Jim Watson.
The tributes to young people have been arriving from people in Almonte, who have put flowers for her near a bronze statue of Gloria Gopher in the city on the outskirts of Ottawa.
Other puppeteers have written condolences on social networks. Canadian puppeteer Ronnie Burkett said in a publication that he knew Young for almost 60 years and called her mentor.
“I wrote a letter of admirers when I was ten years old. The silly woman replied and was caught with me for life,” he wrote on Instagram.
“I am incredibly sad to cry, but very grateful for meeting Noreen Young.”
