Bob Baker’s story

Bob Baker and I at his theatre

Bob Baker’s story - how he told it to me in a one-on-one conversation on the 3rd of July, 2010.  For more info on his life and theatre and performance credits - visit his website.

When Bob was 6 years old, already trained in piano and dramatics - he went to see a puppet show and was so entranced, he went back twice after, so he could understand how it worked.

Having an understanding mother, he received his first puppet and lessons in puppetry every Sunday for a year. After much training and passion, he did his first puppet show for the payment of $15 in the affluent Bel Air and continued on doing shows until WW2.

Bob went with his puppets to every movie star's home in Los Angeles, taught puppetry when he was in high school, manufactured puppets and became an accomplished Vaudeville performer before even turning 17.

When he turned 17, he was in the army airforce camouflage division, teaching camouflage to older men. After the war - he worked on movies, receiving credits as a puppeteer, alongside some of the world's greatest entertainers, such as Elvis Presley, Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, just to name a few. He was responsible for moving animated objects in box-office classics such as Bed Knobs and Broomsticks, Adams Family 2, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and many more (see his website).

He also became well-known as the ‘Butterfly Man’, when he would make little ‘butterflies’ with bits of mono-filaments or cellophane at the end of long rods and strings, and dangle them over dogs in order to get them to do tricks for the camera.

Bob was also one of the first people to start using Technicolor, and realised that TV could be a pre-recorded medium and not just live. This opened up a whole new world for the art of puppetry and his work appeared in many TV shows, television variety shows and commercials.

Bob also had a very fruitful manufacturing line and supplied puppets for large companies, such as Walt Disney.

More recently, Bob supplied a series of puppets for the animated motion picture The Polar Express. But after the company asked if they could have the copyright to his creations and Bob rejected them, they ended up ditching his puppets, while changing them only slightly to get out of crediting Bob.

Bob told me about his frustration with such practices and more generally with a world of computer-generated imaginary (CGI) and 3D animation. When I asked him what he thought of the future of puppetry and if it had a future, he gave me a cheeky smile as if he had been to the future and seen puppets being ingrained in entertainment again and
said; “We just need to wait it out”.

To hear this coming from a man in his mid-80s confirmed my own view that puppetry is much more precious than we may think it is and we all need to help keep this world alive.

First stop: Downtown LA

A nicer glimpse of Downtown

So, I’ve arrived in Downtown L.A. with the plan of resting a few days from travelling before the big puppet festivals begin. However - this is not the city to rest in. I must use all my strength and energy to walk down the streets over-confidently, so I blend in to not look like such a typical tourist or target. Every corner I turn, I feel like there’s someone waiting for me to let my guard down so they can mug me or worse... It’s hard to not stand out - I’m probably one of the only young, blonde, white females walking by herself on these old worn out streets... But I try my best to keep my chin up (literally speaking). It is however, a much scarier place then I thought it would be.

Though, however scary, there’s something warm and familiar about it which keeps catching me off-guard and giving me home for this place.

The scary world of Downtown...

Yet, somehow it seems very familiar while at the same time, so very different.

One of the biggest differences being that I think my ‘Australian’ English is very different to L.A. English (and also to the LACK of English at times - which makes the city both culturally vibrant and frustrating to get around). At times I feel as misunderstood as a traveller from a non-English speaking country. It’s like a parallel universe. There are minor differences, but the minor differences build up to make you realise you’re so far from home.

Olvera Street

Everything is just like in the movies and TV shows. Let’s just say, watching CSI Los Angeles in preparation before my trip wasn’t such a bad thing to do. Also, I think when you watch American TV and movies back home, you immediately connect everything to a fantasy reality. So finding that in fact most things are as they seem on TV, is probably the biggest culture shock of all.

L.A. is big and it’s hard to get around. Most people are harsh and unfriendly and seem to have an ulterior motive to help you, especially when it comes to tipping and being a young, white female. To choose to stay in Downtown L.A. of all places on my very first stop, may have been a slight miss planning on my part. But when you’re planning from the other side of the world - foresight isn’t always as easy.

There were a couple of nice places to be, especially during the day on the 4th of July. One of these hot spots was Olvera Street, where the world changed into a little festival full of colour, music, laughter and delicious smells!

Olvera Street

However, when you left little Mexico and places like Olvera Street, the streets transform into a hateful a dog-eat-dog world. There are signs on the streets that state: “No drug dealing on the street” with big, tough Mexicans smoking pot on the side of the street in plain site. The classic ‘pimp’ type guys who I thought only existed in cartoons keep asking me if I wanted to hang out with them for the day. I joke my way out of it with flare and confidence (while my heart is pounding and racing) and thank my lucky stars each time for getting out of sticky situations so easily.

After 5pm the world changes

By 5pm it’s still as light as if it were noon, all the shop fronts become closed with dirty garage doors replacing the vibrant world and everything suddenly changes into a very scary, harsh and frightening place to be. With all my might, I walk through the streets with my continual ‘air of confidence’ and try to avoid the trouble that seems to keep meeting me. With a loaded sigh of relief I return to my hotel room and watch American TV, fascinated by the vast array channels, Spanish soaps and bizarre informercials while I try to block out the gunshots outside and the police and ambulance sirens every five minutes. Sometimes I’m worried to fall asleep since the metal fencing in front of my fire-escape window looks like its been broken into a few too many times.

There was an upside in all this - I did find myself living off the huge variety of fast food and Mexican food chains for five days! It’s a world in itself. Everyday I would try a new chain, in total fascination with the portion sizes. When I order ‘small’, to my surprise I receive a very large size. I try to tell them they’d make a mistake, but with my Australian English both parties are lost in total confusion.

Olvera Street markets

My favourite would have to be ‘El Pollo Loco’, which are as common as McDonald’s in Downtown. I wondered in one afternoon after I’d accidently stumbled into the Spanish district, Little Mexico. Here I had the most trouble communicating, as here no one at all really spoke English. Perhaps it was also my lack of understanding of how to use a ‘salsa bar’ and not having used the American currency before and not knowing if and when or how much I should tip. Somehow we managed to speak some attempt at sign-language and I fell in love with the food while listening to the Mexican version of Mandy Moore. Fantastic.

As happy as I feel to be leaving this place - I’m also happy I came. I don’t think I’ve ever feared for my life so many times in a series of a few days, and through that I learnt a few life lessons and felt a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. The rest of my adventure will be easy after surviving this, I hope...