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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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