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Bil Baird's
World
of Puppets
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Bil Baird |
An American puppet master, Bil Baird, was well-known
in his own country and gained an enormous world-wide audience
working out of New York City. He was responsible for the "Goat
Herd" marionette performance in the film The Sound of
Music starring Julie Andrews. A multi-talented and creative
puppeteer, he saw himself as a citizen of the world. |
| With his wife, Cora, and a large company, he played
in India, Afghanistan, Russia, and other countries. "...his
puppets appear always to have a great vitality, are very much
caricatures, and set out to comment on the human race with all
its peculiarities and imperfections. |
A show in Busch
Garden in
Virginia in 1978 |
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A hands-on puppet
theatre was recently added for kids of all ages to perform.
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He seems to have
done literally everything possible with puppets, from delicate,
sensitive, carved wooden figures to huge, larger-than-life creations."
(Fanfare for Puppets, Ann Hogarth and Jan Bussell) Over
his sixty-year career, he and his "little ones" performed
in night-club tours, the Ziegfeld Follies, Broadway theaters,
his own New York theater, commercials, a variety of films, on
television, and at two World's Fairs.
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The MacNider collection of Baird puppets is the largest holding
of the late puppeteer's work to be found anywhere. Displays feature
puppets, marionettes, and other materials created and collected
by the Mason City High School graduate and world-famous puppet
master.
Bil Baird puppets
from The Sound of Music's "Goat Herd Scene".
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The
MacNider Loses a Friend,
Puppeteer
Peter Baird
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Click
here for the story
Baird's
son, Peter Baird, carried on the Baird puppetry legacy
throughout
his life.
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