Among Maestro Krae Saptawanit 's troupe of puppeteers was a married couple, Kui and Chuam Yangkhieosot. They were leading puppeteers, and Kui, the husband, took charge of the mascot - the supernumerary character ' Jek Heng', a comic and lovable Chinaman who does not feature in origunal version of any Thai drama and whose role was add humor through irrelevant and silly remarks and generally to engage the audience. One afternoon in 1922, while the troupe travelled by boat to give a performance at Temple of Pak Klong Takrai in Nontaburi province (immediately north Bangkok), Chuam gave birth to a baby boy. Krae 's wife, Plung, named the child Sut Sakorn after one of the character in the puppet play to be performed that afternoon. Sut Sakorn was sickly child. and it was believed that his name was inauspicious. To save that child , Kui and Chuam shortened the child 's name to Sakorn, and gave him to monk at the temple of jangwan Dit with the repuest that the monk save him.The monk re - named the child ' Lhiew' which means 'willow'. The boy soon recovered from his various illnesses and grew up to become a precociously talented khon dancer, and lakorn and likay performer. He want on tour with different khon, lakorn and likay troupes. In the likay theater, he played the part of jester. He was, However, not taught the art of puppetry until he was older because puppets are not toys and could be representations of mythological deities. Lhiew was , in fact, forbidden to touch the puppets. But childrn are children, and Lhiew no exception: he would sneak into the room where the puppets were kept to manipulated and play with them, and somtimes he was caught and punished. Needless to say, when he grew old enough to be taught the art of puppetry, he became an instant master of it and a star puppeteer in Maestro Krae Saptawanit 's troupe
The Secodn Would War and the Post-war Years The tranquil existence of this unsual performing at was interrupted by the Would War (1939- 45), but its nadir was not reached until the post-war years when first motion pictures, then television, were introduced to Thailand. Theatrical puppetry, along with other traditional forms of staged entertainment, came to be regarded as old fashioned. Its popularity waned, and the general public eventually forgot that his art form ever existed. Maestro Krae grew old and evenactually gave some thirty of his puppets to his son , Thong Yhoo , and to his daughter-in-law, Yhib. In despair and fearing that others might steal the rest from him, he threw them into the river. Later , when Yhib herself grew old , she gave the puppets to Lhiew - the youngest member of defunct Maestro Krae 's troupe - in the hope that he would repiar them. The puppets were, however, beyond repair, and as there was no public demand to see them, let alone to see performences, they all went into storage, His hope of praticing and preserving that art was destroyed by social changes and economic realities. Living in premature artist retirement and oblivion, he made a meager living by manufacturing khon masks, but there was little demand for them ,too. Several decades later, the remaining puppets were given to Muang Boran ( Ancient City Park), where they can still be seen today.
One day, when Lhiew was old , and nearly 40 years after he gave his last performance, he nostalgically made his first puppet. He made it exactly the way he used to make them when he was young. It was a puppet of and old hermit from the Ramakian.His children were fascinated. They had see the original puppets when they were young . before the puppets were given to Muang Boran . Now, they - all nine of them - were keen to learn to make them and to manipulate them. They were keen to learn from thier father, the last living person in the world who knew and had learnt from the founder of this arcane art. And so it was in his home that the art of theatrical puppetry was revived and perserved.
Sahorn as "National Artist"
In 1996, His Majesty the King recognized Sakorn as the custodian of this accane and dying art form, and bestowed upon him the honorific title of National Artist. This made it possible for theatrical puppetry to be revived and, in turn, for the Traditional Thai Puppet Theater yo be founded.
The Name "Joe Louis"
Lhiew 's name was eventually mispronounced as 'Lui' , and when the Amerrica boxer, Joe Louis, become Would Champion (1937 - 1949), Lhiew was nicknamed 'Joe Louis' by his friends and by those is the performing arts. His real name, however, was Sakorn.
Death of Grand Master Puppeteer Sakorn Yangkhieosot
Grand Master Puppeteer Sakorn Yangkhieosot passed away on 21 may 2007 having accomplished his life 's ambition : the preservation and revival of the exotic thai art of 'Small Theatrical Puppetry',His work is now faithfully continued by his devoted and extraordinarily talented sons and daughters who run The Tradtional Thai Puppet Theatre.
