JIM DAVIDSON

Designed and built a larger than life size but very life like robotic fox to star with Jim Davidson in his Christmas pantomime in Oxford England.

Snooty the fox was great fun to build, even though it took many man hours to reproduce the facial hair plus the two hours of scripting to interact with the actor on stage but it was the perfect opportunity for me to realize a childhood dream.

When I was a boy my parents would take my sister and I to the Christmas pantomime and my favorite was Peter Pan but my sister loved Cinderella and Snow White. If you are not familiar with what a pantomime is, they originated in Italy as a satire by Goldoni and the whole idea was transported to the UK. In pantomime tradition the leading Man is played by a woman and the ugly sisters would be played by men, so you can see it is very light entertainment.

It had been my dream to be on the Oxford stage as a child and that is exactly what happened, at the end of the show each night the star Jim Davidson would call me on stage to take a bow for Snooty. This is just one of the reasons I chose this robot as one of my favorites projects.