Puppeteer. Baker’s interest in puppetry was sparked at the age of 5 when he saw a puppet show at a downtown Los Angeles department store. Within a few years he was studying the art and competing in local talent shows. After graduating from Hollywood High School and serving in the Army Air Corps during WWII, he worked for the George Pal Animation Studios. Amid labor unrest, he left Pal and began marketing his own line of marionettes and created window displays for prominent retailers around the country as well as the storefront windows on Disneyland’s Main Street, USA. Along with business partner, Alton Wood, he also had a thriving side business at a small workshop in Hollywood where they designed and built puppets for movies and commercials and produced toy Pinocchio puppets sold at Disneyland. The workshop became a magnet for future showbiz stars, including Bob Clampett, Stan Freberg and Daws Butler. In 1963, he launched the Bob Baker Marionette Theater near downtown Los Angeles, offering puppet shows for young and old alike and traveled the world with his famous marionette troupe which grew to a collection of more than 3,000 puppets. He worked as an adviser to Disney and other studios and his work was featured in prominent films, ranging from 'A Star Is Born' (1954), 'G.I. Blues' (1960), 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' (1971), 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) and 'Star Trek' (1979). In 2009, the theater’s location on First Street was named a Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument.
Puppeteer. Baker’s interest in puppetry was sparked at the age of 5 when he saw a puppet show at a downtown Los Angeles department store. Within a few years he was studying the art and competing in local talent shows. After graduating from Hollywood High School and serving in the Army Air Corps during WWII, he worked for the George Pal Animation Studios. Amid labor unrest, he left Pal and began marketing his own line of marionettes and created window displays for prominent retailers around the country as well as the storefront windows on Disneyland’s Main Street, USA. Along with business partner, Alton Wood, he also had a thriving side business at a small workshop in Hollywood where they designed and built puppets for movies and commercials and produced toy Pinocchio puppets sold at Disneyland. The workshop became a magnet for future showbiz stars, including Bob Clampett, Stan Freberg and Daws Butler. In 1963, he launched the Bob Baker Marionette Theater near downtown Los Angeles, offering puppet shows for young and old alike and traveled the world with his famous marionette troupe which grew to a collection of more than 3,000 puppets. He worked as an adviser to Disney and other studios and his work was featured in prominent films, ranging from 'A Star Is Born' (1954), 'G.I. Blues' (1960), 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' (1971), 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) and 'Star Trek' (1979). In 2009, the theater’s location on First Street was named a Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument.
Bio by: Louis du Mort
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