ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512280013
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA P. SMITH STAFF WRITER
An elderly man goes out to cut down a Christmas tree, taking with him a hand saw and a chain saw. But when he starts cutting, the hand saw doesn't work too well.
He pulls out the powerful chain saw, fires it up and starts cutting. Smoke billows out.
"Timmmberrr!!'' he yells, as the tree starts to crack.
He looks up; to his horror, the tree is coming down straight toward him. He doesn't move. He's paralyzed with fear. His fate is sealed.
The audience bursts into laughter. Jack Foreaker steps from behind the curtain and thanks his audience.
This was Foreaker's one-man puppet show. The elderly man was a puppet; the tree only 2 feet tall.
There are no messages in Foreaker's skit.
"I don't like messages. My shows have themes," said Foreaker of North East, Md., after a recent performance at Grace United Methodist Church. "The theme is to just have fun."
But not all of Foreaker's skits are fun. He was in Roanoke to perform as a favor to a friend, who doesn't want to be identified. Foreaker, a certified counselor for recovering alcoholics, gave free performances at Mountainview Elementary School and Grace United before performing for a group of Eastern Star leaders.
He received his first puppet 41 years ago. He was 4 when the neighborhood postman gave him a big bird with a purple string coming from the top of its head. The puppet sang "Purple People Eater."
He used a laundry basket with the back cut out as his first stage.
"My mother wasn't too thrilled with that," he said.
When Foreaker was 11, he began making his own puppets. "I had grown out of the hand puppets," he remembered.
Now he has 85 handmade puppets.
His puppetry includes working in the movie "The Muppets Take Manhattan" in 1983 with Muppets creator Jim Henson.
Foreaker met Henson in 1969 while in New York working with Bill Barrett's Marionettes.
It was easier meeting Henson than he had expected.
Foreaker got out the New York phone book, called up Henson's company and asked to speak to him. A few seconds later, Henson was on the line.
The relationship did not end with that phone call. Foreaker would videotape every performance he did and send it to Henson to evaluate. Foreaker would also send articles that were written about him to Henson, and the office in New York would post them on a big bulletin board for those following his progress.
Besides working in movies, Foreaker has worked in local television in Maryland and on Public Broadcasting Service shows. He has worked with Roy Clark, Charlie Daniels, the Beach Boys, Gallagher and The Amazing Kreskin.
Foreaker also sings at two churches and has released three albums.
Himself a recovering alcoholic, Foreaker also uses his puppets in his counseling.
"I look back on some of the things I did; I used to drink and then get behind the wheel," he said. "It was crazy. I'm glad I stopped."
Along with alcohol, Foreaker gave up smoking.
"First my addiction was alcohol, then it was cigarettes, then it became books. If I were reading a Stephen King novel, I'd have to have every novel King had ever written," he said. "Then, I'd have all these stacks of books, and they'd all have to be hardback, and I'd know I wouldn't read them all. Now, my addiction is bags of candy."
Foreaker, however, had to eat fruit at his Roanoke performances. Oranges, tangerines and apples were in the bag of treats members of Grace United and employees of Kroger prepared as gifts for kids who attended the puppet show.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Children (right) react to a showby CNBperformed by puppeteer Jack Foreaker a Grace United Methodist
Church. 2. Foreaker (below) has been a puppet fan since he was a
youngster and has worked on TV and in movies.