Taxi Dog
In the chapter about puppeteer Jim Kroupa's work, the Taxi Dog's multiple movements are described and illustrated, one by one, spread by spread.
The original mouth and tongue movement was redone, because the client wanted the tongue to swing back and forth, right-left, in addition to protruding from the mouth.
The version illustrated here is the original design, a slightly simpler one than the one shown in the book.
The tongue simply emerges from the open mouth.. Kroupa often designs alternative mechanisms, depending on the wishes of the client, and the needs of the performance.
In the drawing above, the tongue is mounted on a slanted plastic rod, which pivots within a slot in a flat piece, corresponding to the floor of the puppet's mouth. The thumb hooks on to a spring-loaded slider which can travel along the slot. The puppeteer's fingers are inserted into rubber tubes glued to a flat piece in the roof of the mouth. When the puppeteer wants to push out the tongue, he squeezes his thumb and fingers together and pulls back on the slider with his thumb. The pivoting plastic rod pushes the tongue forward, out of the mouth.