The holiday puppet show, Pip: The Mouse Before Christmas, returns to The Liberty Bell Museum and runs November 28, 2014 through January 3, 2015.
The Liberty Bell Museum is located in Zions Reformed Church on 620 W. Hamilton Street, Allentown, PA.
For the first time, the church will be hosting two theatrical productions at the same time, with 'Tidings: A Fractured Christmas Fable', a Crowded Kitchen Players show, upstairs in the sanctuary December 5 through December 20.
Opening ceremonies and first performances of 'Pip: The Mouse Before Christmas 'are Friday, November 28 at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30. Refreshments will be served.
Audiences can also join Pip the Mouse for breakfast on Saturday, December 6 at 8:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall at Zion's 'Liberty Bell' Church. Pip will greet guests during breakfast.
Afterwards, Pip: The Mouse Before Christmas will be performed in the museum.
The breakfast menu will include scrambled eggs, hot cakes, home fries, sausage links, wheat or white toast, juice, coffee, and tea.
Each seating will be for 35 people; plan to be at the museum one and a half hours.
Reservations are required. Reserve your seating at 8:00, 8:45, 9:30, or 10:15 a.m. as soon as possible.
The cost for the breakfast, which includes admission to the museum and a performance of Pip: The Mouse Before Christmas, is $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children.
Please call 610-435-4232 for reservations. Their website is http://libertybellmuseum.org/pip-the-mouse
Buy a regular priced ticket for "Tidings' at https://ckplayers.com/site/buy-tickets and for just one dollar more get a half-price adult ticket to 'Pip'.
A Last Performance Party and Closing Ceremony will be held Saturday, January 3, 2015. Audiences can talk with the puppeteers, take pictures, reminisce about Pip and enjoy refreshments.
Performances of Pip are at 12:30 and 1:30.
A Closing Ceremony precedes the final performance at 2:30 p.m.
Pip: The Mouse Before Christmas, was created by Dr. George R. Creegan, and made its world premiere at Hesss Department Store in Allentown on Saturday, October 27, 1962. The puppet show stage was placed in the front window on Hamilton Street and delighted thousands of people of all ages.
In the 1970s, Pip was moved to Hesss fifth floor Community Room and a Winter Wonderland was added, complete with mechanical animals, people, trees and a Swiss chalet. After Bon-Ton purchased Hesss, it continued the Pip the Mouse tradition, now beloved by two generations of shoppers and residents of the city. However, the store was closed in 1996, so the last production of The Mouse Before Christmas at 9th & Hamilton Streets was in December, 1995.
The Bon-Ton donated the Winter Wonderland, the Mouse Before Christmas stage, and Pip with all his pals to the Allentown Economic and Development Corporation in 1996. The show was presented by the former Allentown Downtown Improvement District Authority from 1996-2001, at several different venues, including the Allentown Public Library.
Volunteers from Civic Theater of Allentown restored the puppet show stage in 2001-2002, and then when ADIDA was deactivated in 2003, Pip, the stage and props all were given to the Liberty Bell Museum, with the understanding that the Allentown Public Library also would be a partner in the Pip the Mouse program.
The museum restored and digitized the original audio soundtrack and has presented the traditional Mouse Before Christmas puppet show to thousands of visitors during the holiday season each year since 2003. Although the Creegan Company produced stages for 15 department stores across the country in the 1960s, we have the only surviving stage and puppet show.