Yahoo Finance ‘I was Jabba the Hutt, but CGI killed my movie career’
Toby Philpott, 76, is a puppeteer who found fame in the 1980s as the man behind Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi, as well as animatronics on the film The Dark Crystal.
He worked with fellow puppeteers Jim Henson and Frank Oz, known for their work on The Muppets, and later took “a steady job” at his local library, aged 51. Today he lives in mid-Wales with his civil partner, artist Julie Shackson.
How did your childhood influence your attitude to money?
I grew up in post-war north London during rationing. My mum switched from acting and singing to being a voice teacher for a more stable income as we were always pretty poor. My dad led a bohemian life as a puppeteer in the 1930s, was a farmer in the Blitz then a puppeteer again with little interest in money. Fortunately we lived in a house owned by my grandfather who had been a headmaster.
My dad wrote Dictionary of Puppetry in 1969, and people I’ve met in the puppet world, like Jim Henson, knew about him. My parents separated when I was young. My mother made me aware of the value and difficulty of money and asked me to keep track of my bits and pieces. She remarried and went to Malta, leaving me with an aunt for two years and my sister with another aunt. So my early teens were a bit rough.
What was your first job?
I dropped out of school at 18 because I didn’t want to do A levels. I stumbled about for a few months then volunteered as a labourer on archaeological digs. Within a few months I started receiving a wage as a site assistant.
How did you survive as a street performer?
For decades I was insecurely self-employed, hitchhiking around at 23; it was in Mexico that my juggling hobby became a job. A guy came up to me in a small town as people were watching me practice and said: “Where’s the hat?” And he took his hat round the crowd and came back with it full of money; and took his 10pc cut.
Then I realised juggling could pay for my food and lodging. My girlfriend and I went to the next market-place and I did juggling and magic and learnt to walk on my hands. I started doing shows where people were poor, and if they couldn’t give money, they’d buy me a drink or meal or put me up.
After that hand to mouth existence for six months, I came back to earn a living the same way, as a comedy juggler. In the 1970s I did schools, festivals, fairs, and children's parties. For medieval-themed banquets I got £30 a night; so for four nights I could get £120 [say £700 today] a week for just a few minutes work.
The person hiring me was taking far more than an agent’s fee, so eventually I walked away and found three sources of income: my solo shows, teaching evening classes in juggling, clowning and acrobatics. Then I joined the actors' union Equity and got TV work, like Play School.
Do you use cash, debit cards or credit cards?
I finally got a bank account at 33 because my friends got bored with cashing cheques for me. At the bank I said I had “an erratic income as a solo juggler” and the person at the counter said: “Can you wait? The manager wants to interview you.”
I thought they’re going to say you have no steady income so you can’t have one. The manager said: “You do juggling? I belong to the Magic Circle and if I was brave enough I’d make my living as a magician.”
Does money make you happy?
I had fun with money I earned on films because it acts like a magic wand. One Friday I took a taxi to Heathrow after work, spent the weekend in Copenhagen at a juggling convention and was back at work on Monday.
Have you been ripped off?
I was offered a sci-fi convention in Japan, all expenses paid. On the last day they paid an actor off then said they’d run out of cash, so we flew home penniless.
Have you learned lessons about money?
Not to lend money to friends. I needed it at the end of the year to pay my tax and they failed to pay it back. If I have surplus I’ll happily give it to friends and family and they can give it back if and when they can; they usually do.
What was your biggest payday?
In 1982-83 I earned £27,000 [£74,000 today] for a combination of The Dark Crystal and Return of the Jedi (on which I was the left arm, head, tongue and part of the body of Jabba the Hutt). Jim Henson made sure everyone got paid well: £350 a week plus overtime. After the films I got £1,000 each as a buy-out [total £5,500 today].
Have you been in serious trouble with money?
I’ve been skint and even homeless at times. In 1982-83 I didn’t set aside enough to pay a £7,000 tax bill because I thought I was going to get another film job. I considered bankruptcy or running away, but decided to confront the tax people. When they realised I had no assets, they more or less wrote it off, even though I said I’d pay it back if and when I got more highly paid work.
Have you done lucrative TV adverts?
I was offered a John Smith ad – the work juggling for 10 seconds with a somersaulting dog – but I was working on a film at the time so passed it to another juggler. Frustratingly in the end it ran for years and won awards.
Did CGI threaten your puppeteering livelihood?
The last film I did was Who Framed Roger Rabbit which was hand-drawn animation in the classic Disney style. Puppeteers I knew stayed employed: they did Spitting Image or filming in LA and devising animatronics or Pixar computer animation. But I was a physical acrobat of Jim Henson’s generation and the next well-paid job didn’t turn up. So I started setting up a circus training space in London, where today you can get a degree in circus skills.
Have you gambled?
No, my hobby was magic as a kid. I studied playing cards and dice; randomness and improbable outcomes; the methods of cheating, confidence tricks and how casinos make money – it put me right off. When I worked on the fairground, if the one-armed bandits paid out too much, my boss pasted an orange over one of the cherries.
Did library work provide financial security?
Yes. In the 1990s I was touring with the Nofit State Circus and one winter I was so broke I applied for a temporary computer assistant job. The council library gave me an interview and I thought my CV was so weird they would not hire me.
But the guy said: “Do you play football? We’ve got a five-a-side team,” and I got the job. The internet was about to explode and with another guy I was a troubleshooter for the whole system, running 125 computers and helping staff in branch libraries. Later word got out and the Daily Mail wrote: “Jabba the Hutt is a librarian.”
For Toby Philpott’s film-related signed pictures visit tobyphilpott.uk
