Bob Baker Marionette Theater

At age six, Bob Baker saw his first puppet show and was sold. He decided right then to dedicate his life to puppetry. Two years later, he began training with multiple companies and gave his first professional performance before he was ten years old. While in high school, he commercialized his love and expertise, and began making toy marionettes to be sold around the globe.

After World War II, Baker became an animation advisor at Disney and other film and television studios. His mastery at pulling strings landed him features on numerous television shows, ranging from Bewitched to Star Trek.

In 1961, Baker partnered with Alton Wood to purchase a run-down scenic shop that had belonged to Oscar-winning special effects legend M. B. Paul. They transformed it into the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, which became both a live theater and home to upwards of three thousand marionettes, each one handcrafted by Bob himself.

In 2014, the legend passed away at the age of ninety, but the space he carved out and characters he created will forever embody the passion he felt. The City of Los Angeles named the theater a HistoricCultural Monument, and the live theater relocated to Highland Park, where audiences continue to be enthralled by the longest-running children’s theater company in the city of angels and puppet masters.

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