STRANGE BUT TRUE. . .

I'm working.

(circa 1974)

IT'S OBAZ's 17TH BIRTHDAY!!!

OBAZ is our family dog. He's a Cairn Terrier, like Toto, only twice as big. 27 pounds. I never wanted a dog. I was raised in a housing project where dogs weren't allowed. So if I felt like I needed an animal, I made one (the only cleaning up was done by mother after I made a mess making the puppet!) But when Gabriel and Olga made me take a look at this guy, that was it. It was as if I always knew him.

Gabriel (L) and Obaz, his first morning home.

Here are a bunch of pictures, from the most recent (below, stuck between his "ice floe" and the couch) to little bitty Obaz from long ago. How did the 17 years get here so quickly?

Here's sniffin' at YOU, pup.

BAIRD SHOT IN COLOR

I'm heading out to an editing session for the next couple of days, and wanted to leave y'all with this great BIL & CORA BAIRD shot (probably from Life magazine.) Love this one. Got it from my friend, author and historian Rick Goldschmidt. He's da man on all things Rankin/Bass. So if you love ANIMAGIC (and historic kids TV shows) as much as me, his blog is a treat!

http://www.enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/

MARKO PUPPET THEATRE PICTURE 'n POSTER

1968 - - the earliest MARKO PUPPET THEATRE photo.

Some of the puppets crossed over from when I was younger, but the rectangle headed guy DING BOSLEY, along with the psychedelic guy under the logo, HAL LEWIS NATION, augered the light fantastic I was about to trip into.
Our very first poster that we displayed at colleges across the Yoo Ess of Ay!

CARICATURES

Ed Sullivan by Bil Baird (from the Doug Preis Collection)

I always thought 'CARICATURE" puppets were special. To be able to capture the essence of a person and exaggerate it so that you still recognize who's being captured without being slave to the specifics, is a real art. Especially when sculpting and animating. It's more than putting glasses on Guy Smiley and saying "Look! Stephen Colbert."

BIL BAIRD

Leonard Bernstein

(Thanx to Bairdophile extrordinaire DOUG PREIS for the above description)

Ed Sullivan & Jack Paar

F.D.R

PAUL ASHLEY
Norton & Kramden
(WOW!!!)

Jimmy Carter & Walter Mondale


FLEXITOON

Inspector Clouseau (l), John McEnroe (rear) Walter Cronkite (r)

Julius Marx

Ray Charles, Pookie, Soupy Sales
John McEnroe

Julius, Leonard and Adolph nee Arthur
Jimmy Durante

TOY PUPPETS

Any reader of this FlexiBlog knows that I was greatly influenced by PAUL ASHLEY and his hand puppets. To assuage my hand-puppet needs, dad and mom would buy me the (mostly) GUND-made character puppets (IF - - I did well in school). The cartoony heads had real sculptural integrity, and were usually pretty true to the essence of the cartoons on which they were based (as opposed to nowadays where toys look a lot like lumpy arts ands crafts projects. Which is what lots of puppets also look like nowadays, but that's a rant for another post.) Here are a bunch of cool old-time cartoon puppets!

POPEYE'S PAL WIMPY

FRED GWYNNE as OFFICER MULDOON (Car 54 Where Are You?)

BOB CLAMPETT'S DISHONEST JOHN (Time For Beany. And Cecil)

The Mysterious CHUBS. Anyone know what he's from?

BARNEY GOOGLE

CAPTAIN KANGAROO

Edgar Bergen's CHARLIE McCARTHY: Dummy as Puppet

BILLY DeWOLF Premium by BIL BAIRD

ZORRO (I mean Don Diego. Shhhh. . .)


EMMETT KELLY as WEARY WILLIE

DICK TRACY

MARGARET from DENNIS THE MENACE

SOOP!

Jimmy Durante's pal MR. UMBRIAGO

21-25

HOP-SCOTCHING THROUGH A WINDOW IN TIME

and what a time.