NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — One name from Nashville history took many stages over the years. Tom Tichenor's notoriety didn't come from country music. It was a different art form. A city is now celebrating his contributions in a new way.
It was last spring that I visited Nashville Public Library to catch a show they'd put together involving marionette puppet goats.
"For me, the puppet is essentially a substitute for the human actor," said performer Evelyn O'Neal.
"We are playing with dolls," smiled another performer who goes by Library Pete. "We're using our imagination, and we're telling a story."
The two are marionette puppeteers at Nashville Public Library. Right outside the library's Childrens Theatre, you see pictures of someone.
"Tom Tichenor!" O'Neal and Library Pete said in unison.
Tichenor's story starts in 1938 while he was a student at Hume Fogg High.
"He would walk from high school and put on puppet shows for free at the library," Library Pete explained.
After serving in World War II, Tichenor returned to the art of puppetry. He was creating productions at the library, he started making TV shows, and he wrote books about his craft. Then in the 1960s, Tichenor worked on the hit Broadway show Carnival! Even with all this success, he kept coming back to Nashville, putting on shows at what was then the Ben West Library.
That's how it went the rest of Tichenor's life. He died in 1992, several years before the current Nashville Public Library main building opened. His influence is still felt there.
Library Pete and O'Neal are now part of the library's puppet troupe tradition started by Tichenor. It's called Wishing Chair Productions.
"He's the first thing you learn if you don't already know about him," O'Neal said about joining the troupe. "You learn about him real quick."
The show I caught in the spring starred three marionette goats, all Tichenor creations.
On the way into the theater, you can see some of Tichenor's other creations on display. In an especially fitting tribute, there is a marionette of Tichenor. His story is special, and a whole lot more people are about to know it.
A crowd gathered outside the downtown library on Tuesday afternoon.
Wishing Chair program manager Bret G. Wilson addressed the crowd.
"On behalf of the Nashville Public Library, the Nashville Public Library Foundation, we will unveil the Thomas Hager Tichenor historical marker!"
A cloth dropped to display the marker.
"This is for Nashville," Wilson said. "[This reaches] those who had the privilege of seeing him in action, and also the next generation of puppeteers, because puppetry lives here at the Nashville Public Library and will continue to do so."
"Love it!" O'Neal said, standing next to Library Pete and looking at the marker. "Really precious. It makes me feel really good."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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