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- [Bob] I saw a puppet show
when I was six years old
and I'm still talking about it.
That was 80 years ago.
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- So, I was in school for film and photography,
looking for animatronics, special effects work.
I come down to see a show,
it was the coolest place I'd ever seen.
So, I talked to Bob about interning
and that's how I got here.
Bob Baker was the world's greatest puppeteer.
When he was eight years old,
he saw this puppet show.
He spent his whole life kind of creating
this place and so much more.
We're more than just 2000 plus puppets,
we're really representing
a lifetime,
and not just Bob's lifetime,
the lifetime of everyone that's gonna come
in and out of this building's experience down here.
Essentially, the long and the short,
this is where imagination dwells,
that's what Bob says.
So, it's kind of a musical variety,
spectaculars of
dancing cats, singing dogs,
Russian waltzes.
All sorts of things that kind of
come to life and kind of
bring your imagination to life.
That's for kids of all ages.
The community here,
at the theater,
is
so big.
And it represents from our immediate neighborhood-
like, Daisy lives across the street,
now kind of helps us out in spotlight.
When Bob used to get her ice cream
when she was like a five year old kid.
There's like school kids,
there's generations of puppeteers
that kind of used to work down here,
it's free of cynicism or
messaging or whatever it is,
it's just "watch your beautiful puppet dance"
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- [Bob] One of the things that I love,
when I was performing,
the little child will look up at you and laugh.
It's a wonderful sound.
I wish I could go all over the world doing that.
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- I don't think it's difficult
to follow your passion.
I do think it's easy to kind of lose sight
of how much work is involved with that.
The work involved with that is huge,
it's giant.
And it's very easy to get demoralized by
things not working out
because you're dealing with your passion.
It kind of amplifies everything to 10
to kind of being disappointed in things.
You just need to kind of persevere.
It's what you have to do.
It's inspiring to me, everyday, that
this place is filled and bustling with people
inspired by what Bob did.
And, to this day, we still say, Bob is with us.
Bob's in all these lights,
and these shows and these experiences
and these things that kind of we put on.
Bob has not passed on,
his soul and heart is alive and well.
That's what special.
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- [Bob] Look at things that were earlier,
for the beauty that they might've had,
or the entertainment that they might've given.
Just don't forget about them.
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