Bob Baker Marionettes Theater

Bob Baker www.bobbakermarionettes.com

After what felt like the walk of my life, I finally arrived in what felt like heaven - The Bob Baker Marionettes. In hindsight, I should have taken a taxi, but a 20-30min walk from my hotel in the heart of Downtown L.A. looked so simple on Google Maps at the time.

I count my lucky stars that I made it through the bewildering alternate universe. Along my little journey I encountered one too many a gang of threatening looking kids with knives, one too many a shady character concealing things under their shirts and one too many open roofed cars pumping harsh rap music and yelling out to me if I wanted to join them...

Being a person who tends to get lost even with a GPS navigator - I felt a high probability of getting lost and ending up in situations I didn’t want to think about - so I found myself praying to any god, spirit or angel that would listen for me to not loose my way...

Miraculously, the spirits must have been watching over me - either that or pure fear and intuition helped me navigate my way through the nightmare and I only managed to turn the wrong way once. Headstrong and determined, I kept walking through sweltering heat with my head and my heart pounding as I cursed at myself for not spending a few extra dollars to take a taxi. But, at that point I had gone too far and there was no taxi or familiar sight to be seen and all I could do was keep going and hope it wasn’t much further.

But in the end, the journey was worth it, and in hindsight - it probably seemed much worse then it really was. Of course it helped tremendously that the journey’s reward was so very sweet, as I got to see the America’s oldest running 50 year old puppet theatre and also meet the legendary Bob Baker (now in his mid-80s) himself.

I was treated like a celebrity - being that I came ‘all the way from Australia’ and taken backstage to meet all the puppeteers and their puppets and see the workings of a theatre that is been built on pure love. From the 3000 puppets - each one was his child - to the hand-made coffee-can stage lights, this place has a real history and carries an immense sense of passion I’ve never felt anywhere else.

Most of all, the emotional warmth the theatre holds in such a cold part of town is striking and knowing it has survived the elements and surroundings for 50 years now, without losing any sense of pride and integrity, is truly astonishing.

Bob took me into his office and welcomed me like his long-lost granddaughter and told me about his life and how he got started and how he became what he is today while showing me all his photo-albums containing photo after photo of all his creations, like one would about his children, and the stories each of these characters held.

He opened his heart and explained how he still continues to this day to create theatre, tell stories and spread puppetry to the hearts of the youth today. Even though his arthritis-ridden fingers won’t let him manipulate his marionettes and his body won’t move the way he wants it to - this man carries more hope and faith in his work and the art of puppetry than anyone I have ever met. (read next blog entry for Bob’s story he told me).

The show I got to see was called “It’s a Musical World”, a musical variety show with music from Bob’s life and generation, performed with countless puppets by four young puppeteers who have trained under Bob.

I was fascinated to see a full house of people had come to see the show and that it was full of families with grandparents and all. Each person equally entranced by the movements and colour of the wonderful array of puppets and it was amazing to see that children as young as 2 years-old were enjoying music that was popular way before even their parents time.

You could almost say Bob has kept his theatre and acts so persevered, unmoved and uninfluenced by the fast pace of the outside world that you almost feel transported through time. Transported to a time where Bob was in his peak - performing variety shows for the rich and famous in their Beverly Hills homes, back in the era where cabaret and vaudeville variety acts were highly sought after. This only gives you a little insight of Bob’s integrity, pride, determination and love for his art.
 

But what struck me the most - that any notion that the show was ‘out of date’ was countered by its success, as evidenced by the fact that Bob’s puppets could inspire children and adults of any age in any time or any generation.

Here is a video (not of the show I saw) of a Bob Baker Marionettes show.