SKYLAR

SKYLAR is our BOY puppet. Portrayed by Olga, we always use him as our audience identification character. He is also one of our few FOAM RUBBER PUPPETS. Well, at least he was. Last time we looked, poor Skylar returned from whence he came. Powder.
Here he is (with Olga) dressed as an Inuit kid.

SKYLAR in action.

SOME FUN BEHIND-THE-SCENES SHOTS

Co-Campbell Mike Director also puppeteered. Here he is yanking my arms (not!) Actually, he's about to help a helium balloon achieve lift-off. Sorta what he does. . .
Painting the backdrop for "Neither Here Nor There."

VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE: in the Underground TV Studio. Olga 'n me preparing SAM SIMIAN'S SPACE CAPSULE. (Quackerbox supervises from her bird bath).

This is the shot we set (above).
Me and Mike and Doron (DP) and Cousin Mike (SM) at the dwindling storyboards. There's nothing quite like crossing off the boards once we've gotten the shot!
A COUPLE O' HAPPY PUPPENSPIELERS - - OLGA FELGEMACHER & JONATHAN FREEMANALAN SEMOK prepares to enter FOREST 40 TREES for his role as COUNTY CAT.
The Campbell Kid making it a better shot.
ALL PICTURES FROM THE HAMPTOONS & FOREST 40 TREES

RARE OLGA/BAIRD NEWSPAPER PICTURE

(click on pix to enlarge)

BIL BAIRD'S "Alice In Wonderland"

I am loooooooong overdue for a posting about the late great puppet master of his domain; the marionette monarch of all he surveys, the one and only BIL BAIRD! I'm going to do a jam-packed post real soon, but right now his production of Alice In Wonderland has been floating around Cyberia, so this here is dedicated to that there.

After his wife CORA passed away, Bil despaired of ever finding a female puppeteer of superior skill to take her place. Then one day, answering an ad in the trades along with 300 other applicants, in walks OLGA FELGEMACHER. Olga is a graduate of Northwestern University, and she cut her puppetry teeth touring the country with the wonderful Nicolo Marionettes. Bil was her childhood idol, and there was no turning back. So, after stealing her courage, she climbed onto that FRICKIN' SCARY RAIL-LESS MARIONETTE BRIDGE and? Nailed it! For the next eight season, Olga became leading lady at the Bil Baird Marionette Theater in New York City and on multiple national tours.

Bil & Olga. Her first roles were Christopher Robin, Tigger and one of the two Cottleston Pie Mice in WINNIE THE POOH. Bil was Eeyore.

Olga went on to play the female lead in every production at the theatre (and most of the boy leads too, including Pinocchio), as well appearing on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and dozens of commercials. ALICE IN WONDERLAND was the last show Bil produced at his theater.

Autographed poster hangs in our living room.

Olga not only played the live-action Alice seen when the show opens . . .

. . . she also puppeteered and voiced both the marionette Alice and the Red Queen. . .

. . . from that FRICKIN' SCAREY RAILESS MARIONETTE BRIDGE. . .

. . . in her Alice costume!!!!

It was great all around that Olga walked in that day and got to work so closely with the genius that was Bil Baird. I'm pretty lucky too. I met Olga right when Bil closed his theatre and she was working for the Muppets on Sesame Street & the first Muppet Movie. We fell in love, started our own Flexitoon company, I married her, we have a son Gabriel, and we're partners in everything this life has to offer.

Olga backstage in Alice costume.

Photos of Olga in her Alice costume by Steven Widerman