Eugene Lambert, who passed away earlier this year was a master puppeteer who founded the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown, Dublin, Ireland.

Before developing and building the theatre and museum, Eugene was well known for his vent act with his figure Finnegan.

With the success of the puppet theatre which opened in the early 70s, Eugene had less opportunity to perform with Finnegan. I was lucky enough to see them a number of times, always bringing the house down.

As it turns out, I'm only aware of one performance of their act being taped which is now on Youtube. It was taped in 2007 at the Laurel and Hardy convention in Ireland. To be fair, Eugene here is aged 78 and a couple of times forgets the place in the script. I hope you enjoy this and wish you could have seen him live in his prime.

Here's what it says on Youtube: Irish entertainer Eugene Lambert performs at the 8th European Sons of the Desert convention in Dublin in 2007.
Eugene performed the very same act that he had performed onstage at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in 1953 when he supported Laurel and Hardy.
Oliver Hardy was watching from the wings as Eugene did his thing and afterwards was so impressed that he invited the young man to his dressing room to meet Stan and to join them for tea......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Ad-_dHjxo

That was very, very nice. Thanks, Quentin.

Dave

Here in Ireland we all grew up with Eugene Lambert. He was responsible for a brilliant children's television show, featuring a number of puppets. Wanderly Wagon is what got me started, and I will always remember Eugene Lambert with affection - despite the fact that I was never lucky enough to have met him.