Interview: Bob Baker Remembers Pinocchio
Walt Disney Animated Film Adapted Carlo Collodi Novel
Mar 10, 2009
Bob Baker not only owns the longest ongoing marionette theatre in Los Angeles, but he also worked on several Disney films, including 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Escape to Witch Mountain and Geppetto.
He makes the Disney-authorized puppets of classic characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Jiminy Cricket. These collectible marionettes feature sewing work by Ursula Heinlich – who helped James Galanos make former US First Lady Nancy Reagan's 1981 inaugural gown.
In Part #1 of this exclusive interview, Bob discusses his memories of Pinocchio (coming to DVD on March 10th; review to follow) and some of the Disney animators. In this segment, Bob shares his memories of working for Walt Disney and demonstrates some of his puppets.
(Writer's Note: A massive thank-you goes out to Allied Advertising's Zainab Karim, who allowed us more than our alloted time in doing this interview.)
When did you first meet Walt Disney?
"I first met Walt (in 1930) as an 8-year-old boy. I told him how much I loved “The Three Little Pigs” and the other Silly Symphonies, and I wanted to tour the studio. He said, 'Well, write us a letter.'
"So I wrote the letter, and I got one back saying, 'I’m sorry, we can’t let one little boy through. The 3 Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, Mickey and Minnie are running upstairs and down, singing songs and dancing.'
The next time I met Walt, I was 12 or 14. They had heard about the puppet show I was putting on in my backyard – I had been playing with puppets since I was 8 – so they called me into the studio to ask about how the puppets worked.
"Later on, I was working with Walt on a picture together – I forget what it was called – which would combine puppets and animation. And across the hall was Salvador Dali, who was working on (the short) “Destino.” So we got our film up to where it was storyboarded, and Walt walked in and said, “Guys, put it on the shelf. We’re doing Cinderella.”
"A few years went by and I came back to the studio when I was working for (sci-fi director) George Pal on his Puppetoons. The Disney animators wanted me to show them how to animate stars, and I couldn’t figure out how they didn’t know how to do that because all we did was put a piece of scotch tape over the holes that we drilled in the backdrop, and pull the tape off and on whenever we wanted them to blink! (laughs)
"All that work went into Destination Moon, the Disneyland ride. I did a lot of work at Disneyland. The day before it opened, Walt and I had lunch, and he said, 'Oh God, I hope they come tomorrow!'
"And I said, 'Don’t worry, Walt, they’ll be there.' And whenever Walt’s eyebrow went up, you knew he was really thinking and he said, 'Do you remember the Mickey Mouse puppets that were made in the 1930’s? I can bring them around and maybe you could make some copies.'
"And I said, 'Don’t worry, Walt. I’ve already got my own set.' (laughs). That was how I started making the high-end collectibles for Disney. And he wanted me to put my name on it, which was almost unheard-of at the time."
(Writer's Note: Baker and his assistant Nicole Scott then demonstrated the Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket marionettes dancing to "I've Got No Strings" and "When You Wish Upon a Star".)
Tell us more about the Pinocchio puppet.
"This little boy (shows off a 1' marionette with the serial number 308) is basically a toy. We've done 3 different sizes. The first time Pinocchio was re-released for the public, we made a larger puppet (about 2' high): his arms and legs were carved and his head, shoes and hands were vacuu-formed plastic. He's now selling on Ebay for $10,000!"
Wow!
"This is our latest model: he can walk, and he can dance. The costume was made by, Ursula Heinlich. She came to us from James Galanos, who made Nancy Reagan's inaugural gown in 1981. Ursula did all the beading, and they had her try on the gown for the fitting, because she was the same size as Nancy. So when Ursula saw the Inauguration on television, she said, 'I had that on before you did!' (everyone laughs)
"Ursula is quite particular about how everything is done. I told her, 'Don't be so particular, Ursula, they're not Galanos gowns!' Oh my God, the top of our shop flew off when I said that! (everyone laughs)
"Because Galanos, when you asked him how much one of his outfits cost, would say, 'You can't afford it.'
"One of the things that helped so much when we designed the puppets was that I not only knew the animators, I knew the people in the colour department. When we made the puppets for the Disney characters, the colours we used exactly matched the original colour chart.
"Disney made his own colours (for the animated films) in the beginning. They still make some of their colours, but they mostly get them from other places now."
(In Part #3 of this exclusive interview, Baker discusses his experiences working on Disney films, and Walt as a person)
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