Peter Baird, 52; Son of Famed Puppet Masters Built His Own Career in Television, Film and Stage Productions
Myrna Oliver; LA Times
Peter Baird, the son of legendary puppeteers Bil and Cora Baird and himself a master puppeteer trained from the age of 5, has died. He was 52.
Baird died of esophageal cancer Friday at Calvary Hospital in New York City, his wife, Mavis Humes Baird, said Monday. The couple maintained homes in Manhattan and Los Angeles.
The younger Baird worked on the children's television show "Shining Time Station" for all 65 episodes from 1990 to 1993, voicing and manipulating Grace the Bass in the show's Juke Box Puppet Band.
His feature film credits include "The Muppets Take Manhattan" in 1984 and "Howard the Duck" in 1986.
Baird grew up above his parents' marionette theater in New York's Greenwich Village. He began taking tickets at age 11, and by 19 he was a professional puppeteer. He voiced and manipulated marionettes and moved into writing and directing shows, working in 15 Bil Baird productions.
He toured Europe with his parents' productions and, after his mother's death in 1967, worked with his father until he died in 1987. The son then carried on alone, reproducing his father's "Davy Jones' Locker" the following Christmas season at New York's Orpheum Theatre.
In 1995, Baird turned the popular "Davy Jones" puppet show into a 52-minute film that premiered at the Laemmle theater in Santa Monica.
Although Baird continued to perform using about 240 of the 1,300 hand and string puppets his father built, he also moved on to more modern forms of puppetry including working with computer-generated characters. In addition to stage, television and film shows, he worked in hundreds of commercials and industrial productions.
Baird, along with his sister Laura, also worked to preserve his father's legacy. They received some criticism in 1987 when they auctioned 600 of the puppets to pay their father's estate taxes.
But Peter Baird pointed out at that time that his father had given 350 puppets to the Charles H. MacNider Museum in his hometown, Mason City, Iowa, and that he and his sister had donated an additional 30.
"Puppets are created to be used, not hidden away in boxes," he added.
A fund in Peter Baird's name has been established at the Iowa museum to preserve his father's puppets.
In addition to his wife, Baird is survived by his sister, Laura Baird Brundage.
Memorial services are being planned in New York and in Los Angeles in August.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: PETER BAIRD. Born to Bil and Cora Baird, he made a name for himself in projects such as "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and "Howard the Duck." PHOTOGRAPHER: Mavis Humes Baird
>Peter Baird, 52; Son of Famed Puppet Masters Built His Own >Career in Television, Film and Stage Productions
>Myrna Oliver; LA Times
>Peter Baird, the son of legendary puppeteers Bil and Cora >Baird and himself a master puppeteer trained from the age of >5, has died. He was 52.
>Baird died of esophageal cancer Friday at Calvary Hospital >in New York City, his wife, Mavis Humes Baird, said Monday. >The couple maintained homes in Manhattan and Los Angeles.
>The younger Baird worked on the children's television show >"Shining Time Station" for all 65 episodes from 1990 to >1993, voicing and manipulating Grace the Bass in the show's >Juke Box Puppet Band.
>His feature film credits include "The Muppets Take >Manhattan" in 1984 and "Howard the Duck" in 1986.
>Baird grew up above his parents' marionette theater in New >York's Greenwich Village. He began taking tickets at age 11, >and by 19 he was a professional puppeteer. He voiced and >manipulated marionettes and moved into writing and directing >shows, working in 15 Bil Baird productions.
>He toured Europe with his parents' productions and, after >his mother's death in 1967, worked with his father until he >died in 1987. The son then carried on alone, reproducing his >father's "Davy Jones' Locker" the following Christmas season >at New York's Orpheum Theatre.
>In 1995, Baird turned the popular "Davy Jones" puppet show >into a 52-minute film that premiered at the Laemmle theater >in Santa Monica.
>Although Baird continued to perform using about 240 of the >1,300 hand and string puppets his father built, he also >moved on to more modern forms of puppetry including working >with computer-generated characters. In addition to stage, >television and film shows, he worked in hundreds of >commercials and industrial productions.
>Baird, along with his sister Laura, also worked to preserve >his father's legacy. They received some criticism in 1987 >when they auctioned 600 of the puppets to pay their father's >estate taxes.
>But Peter Baird pointed out at that time that his father had >given 350 puppets to the Charles H. MacNider Museum in his >hometown, Mason City, Iowa, and that he and his sister had >donated an additional 30.
>"Puppets are created to be used, not hidden away in boxes," >he added.
>A fund in Peter Baird's name has been established at the >Iowa museum to preserve his father's puppets.
>In addition to his wife, Baird is survived by his sister, >Laura Baird Brundage.
>Memorial services are being planned in New York and in Los >Angeles in August.
>GRAPHIC: PHOTO: PETER BAIRD. Born to Bil and Cora Baird, he >made a name for himself in projects such as "The Muppets >Take Manhattan" and "Howard the Duck." PHOTOGRAPHER: Mavis >Humes Baird
***Interesting. He was an answer in last Sunday's Washington Post crossword ("puppetry name").
Maggie < so were Willie Mays, Al Gore, Don Adams, Ken Kesey and Gale Sayers for anyone keeping track of these things
In article <40fd126e$0$5650$61fed...@news.rcn.com>, Hyfler/Rosner
<rel...@rcn.com> wrote: > Baird grew up above his parents' marionette theater in New > York's Greenwich Village. He began taking tickets at age 11, > and by 19 he was a professional puppeteer. He voiced and > manipulated marionettes and moved into writing and directing > shows, working in 15 Bil Baird productions.
> He toured Europe with his parents' productions and, after > his mother's death in 1967, worked with his father until he > died in 1987.
I remember the Bil Baird puppets. There was an ostrich named Magnolia (I think) and a nasty-tempered crow named Calvin who had a cigarette in his beak. There were others as well, but I don't remember much more than those two. They were on television a lot in the 1950s.
April Cool <firstofap...@fools.com.invalid> wrote: > In article <40fd126e$0$5650$61fed...@news.rcn.com>, Hyfler/Rosner > <rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
>> Baird grew up above his parents' marionette theater in New >> York's Greenwich Village. He began taking tickets at age 11, >> and by 19 he was a professional puppeteer. He voiced and >> manipulated marionettes and moved into writing and directing >> shows, working in 15 Bil Baird productions.
>> He toured Europe with his parents' productions and, after >> his mother's death in 1967, worked with his father until he >> died in 1987.
> I remember the Bil Baird puppets. There was an ostrich named Magnolia > (I think) and a nasty-tempered crow named Calvin who had a cigarette in > his beak. There were others as well, but I don't remember much more > than those two. They were on television a lot in the 1950s.
Wasn't the elder Baird the puppetteer for Kukla,Fran,& Ollie?
-=-=- The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again, at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
<leps...@shell.fcc.net> wrote: > April Cool <firstofap...@fools.com.invalid> wrote: > > In article <40fd126e$0$5650$61fed...@news.rcn.com>, Hyfler/Rosner > > <rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
> >> Baird grew up above his parents' marionette theater in New > >> York's Greenwich Village. He began taking tickets at age 11, > >> and by 19 he was a professional puppeteer. He voiced and > >> manipulated marionettes and moved into writing and directing > >> shows, working in 15 Bil Baird productions.
> >> He toured Europe with his parents' productions and, after > >> his mother's death in 1967, worked with his father until he > >> died in 1987.
> > I remember the Bil Baird puppets. There was an ostrich named Magnolia > > (I think) and a nasty-tempered crow named Calvin who had a cigarette in > > his beak. There were others as well, but I don't remember much more > > than those two. They were on television a lot in the 1950s.
> Wasn't the elder Baird the puppetteer for Kukla,Fran,& Ollie?
No, that was Burr Tillstrom, who died on December 6, 1985. Fran Allison died on June 13, 1989. The puppets were left to the Chicago Historical Society, which sometimes exhibits them.
Bil and Cora Baird's most often seen puppets (I've looked this up since last night) were Sir Geoffrey the Giraffe, Magnolia the Ostrich, Albert the Chipmunk, and Calvin the Crow. They also had a puppet named Charlemane the Lion who worked with Walter Cronkite (?!?) on CBS's The Morning Show around 1953.
