Puppeteer Bob Baker died Friday of natural causes. He was 90.
Baker’s Marionette Theater in Los Angeles is — no exaggeration — one of my favorite spots on Earth. It’s like visiting Disneyland or Pee-Wee’s Playhouse in the magical way that it transports you back to the innocence and wonder of childhood. This ‘magic’ isn’t limited to the shows, either. Thanks to Baker’s innovative approach to entertaining his audience, the ENTIRE THEATER is brimming with l‘enchanté!
While the theater has plenty of traditional ‘theater’ seats, kids (and adults!) are invited to sit on the floor surrounding the ground-level stage. Throughout the show, puppets interact with the seated audience members, adding spontaneity to each performance while blurring the line between audience and performer, ‘real’ and ‘fake.’ The theater’s unique sense of whimsy even extends to after the show, when the entire audience is escorted through a door in the back into one of Baker’s puppet workshops where everyone gets to enjoy free ice cream sundaes at small, kids’-sized tables!
In addition to establishing the theater, Baker also ran multiple puppeteer workshops and had an extensive career in Hollywood. If you’ve ever watched such classic films as The Sound of Music, Close Encounters of the Third Kind or The Nightmare Before Christmas, you’ve seen some of Baker’s marvelous creations.
Bye-bye, Bob. You’ll be missed!
