Puppet Masters: Hollywood’s beloved Marionette Theater pulls the strings back into the zeitgeist

Not long ago, Hollywood’s beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater was hanging by a thread. In the final decades of its eponymous founder — he died in 2014, at age 90 — the puppet organization was in perpetual dire financial straits, and its old theater in downtown Los Angeles was in a state of decay, especially as the advent of CGI sapped its workshop’s film and television gigs.

However, recent years have seen a revival of the BBMT, known for its cabaret-style shows that draw their vintage aesthetic from vaudeville and carnival. Today, a nonprofit, the theater is making its way back into the zeitgeist, with its puppeteers performing to a capacity crowd at Coachella this spring and its merchandise adorning HBO’s talent manager Rachel Sinnott. I love Los Angeles

Now, in its next chapter, BBMT is trying to buy the historic Highland Park Theater it acquired in 2019 and stage the company’s first original show in more than four decades. “It’s a rare, heartwarming story in the time we’re living in now, this little glimmer of hope,” says board chairwoman Thas Nasimuddin, who has her day job as head of an advertising agency.

The ongoing fundraising campaign — $5 million to purchase the property, and another $2 million to renovate it — has already gone a long way, with $4.7 million raised so far. The effort received major donations from the foundations of the late Univision owner Jerry Perencio, media heiress Wallis Annenberg and former NPR CEO Jarl Mohn, as well as Jack Black and his wife, Tanya Haden, who worked as a puppeteer on multiple puppet projects.

“In the age of screens, Bob Baker offers kids something radical: proof that attention, craft, and the human hand can still magic a room,” says Stefania Ramirez, CEO of the Perencio Foundation. “We didn’t invest in a building. We invested in the certainty that generations of Angelenos will continue to discover what it means to believe in something made entirely of thread, paint, and dedication.”

says Brie Larson, who also contributed to the D.C. campaign Hollywood Reporter“Just the fact that Bob Baker exists brings our community together. It’s a place for children and the young at heart to enjoy the magic of a craft that may otherwise be lost to time. I always leave feeling inspired and proud to be a Los Angeles native!”

Baker, a Hollywood High School graduate who early interned for George Ball Dolls (who had a contract with Paramount Studios), worked closely with the entertainment industry throughout his career. His workshop has long produced handcrafted puppets, including the Pinocchio puppet sold at Disneyland, as well as custom pieces for featured roles in films ranging from A star is born to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He later became a member of AMPAS and a Governor of the Television Academy.

Baker and his theater, which began in 1963 in a space formerly used for film production design, often performed special off-site events, including birthday parties for the children of Jack Benny, Danny Kaye and other stars — a continuing revenue stream to nurture. San Vicente Bungalows offers BBMT for packages targeting the children of its members. “I think Bob will be happy and amazed to know how well we’re doing now,” says production manager Daisy Hernandez, who grew up across the street from the old theater and remembers Baker serving ice cream on hot days.

In Highland Park, the organization saw 45,000 people visit its venue last year, many of whom were school children, although BBMT leadership was keen to highlight that the shows are for adults too. “We’re partnering with Sid the Cat,” the Eastside indie music promotion group, which adds a touch of flair, explains Mary Fagot, the theater’s co-executive director. “You don’t need to kidnap a four-year-old to come see Bob Baker.”

BBMT has retooled its reference offerings to suit modern sensibilities. Stereotypes that existed a half century or more ago have been removed. “We no longer use some of the puppets, and we remake others,” says art director Alex Evans. choo choo reviewa new hour-long production running through August 30, features more than 100 new puppets including dancing luggage and a cicada jug troupe. “It was about innovation, which is just as important to us as preservation.”

Fagot notes that for digital kids, BBMT’s dolls may be more magical than previous generations. “our [administrative] “There are desks in the mezzanine above the stage,” she says. “When field trip groups come to perform, we hear them. I have noticed an escalation in the amount of reaction from children who scream and shriek with joy when a doll comes and sits on their lap. It is incredible for them to interact with this handcrafted art, in three dimensions. They intuitively understand that there is humanity inside these dolls.

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