From a NY Times Profile: October 29, 1995
Marvin Brown, 46 (no relation to Darren), operates the puppet John Jay. He joined the troupe in 1980 as a stage manager. Over the years, Brad has come to rely on Marvin, not only to build the sets and supervise the lights but also to keep the peace. “Marvin is my in-between,” Brad said.
While Brad keeps a close eye on the Crows during performances, he gives Marvin the most room to do his own thing with John Jay, even if that means charging into the crowd and milking every comedic moment. After 15 years of watching Marvin work, Brad has come to trust his instincts. “He seems like he can read audiences,” Brad said.
With long eyelashes peeking over his lady-killing shades, and agile movements that look uncannily human, John Jay never fails to be a crowd favorite. Marvin knows that his crow stops the show, but suggests that he has little to do with it. John Jay, Marvin says, simply has natural magnetism. “He is the cool person in the group — the soul singer, the one that women scream and die over,” Marvin said. “That’s why he wears sunglasses. If he was a puppet that could sweat, he’d be all wet.”
TAKING A CROW TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL
But John Jay hasn’t always radiated so much sexuality. The puppeteer who operated the crow before Marvin had a more straightforward approach. Marvin took John Jay to a whole new level. It is he who makes the crow flail his arms and furiously whip his black swatch of a goatee back and forth in the upturned faces of adoring fans. And it is because of Marvin that John Jay requires the most frequent repairs.
“He has a more physical style, more dynamic,” Brad said. “I have a tendency to deal with gestures. I tend to articulate more with my fingers and my wrists. Marvin has basically a ramrod approach.”
Two decades ago, Marvin wouldn’t even admit he had anything to do with puppetry. He was working as a stage manager at legitimate theaters and was planning to become a director. He only agreed to fill in when one of the Crowtations got sick. But he has been playing John Jay ever since.
“For a long time I used to deny being a puppeteer.” said Marvin, a compact man with a scraggly salt-and-pepper beard who lives in an apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, without a telephone, and saves his half-smoked cigarettes. “It wasn’t something that I wanted to do; it was something that I could do. And, in the beginning, I said, ‘Well, I’ll be working with these puppets for a little while, and after that I’ll move on.’ But it’s like being on stage: once you hear that first applause, you hunger for it.”
| Credit Type | Production | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Actor | Waltz of the Stork Boogie | 1984-85 Season |