Peter Baird, 52; Son of Famed Puppet Masters Built His Own Career in Television, Film and Stage Productions
Peter Baird, the son of legendary puppeteers Bil and Cora Baird and himself a master puppeteer trained from the age of 5, has died. He was 52.
Baird died of esophageal cancer Friday at Calvary Hospital in New York City, his wife, Mavis Humes Baird, said Monday. The couple maintained homes in Manhattan and Los Angeles.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. July 25, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday July 25, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 81 words Type of Material: Correction
Baird obituary -- An obituary of Peter Baird in Tuesday’s California section incorrectly gave Baird full credit for turning his father Bil’s “Davy Jones’ Locker” puppet show into the 52-minute film of the same title in 1995. Baird was a puppeteer in the film, which utilized the Bil Baird Marionettes, and helped write the script. But Joseph Jacoby, who acquired worldwide rights to the Baird Marionettes in the early 1990s, produced, directed and was principal writer for the original musical production.
The younger Baird worked on the children’s television show “Shining Time Station” for all 65 episodes from 1990 to 1993, voicing and manipulating Grace the Bass in the show’s Juke Box Puppet Band.
His feature film credits include “The Muppets Take Manhattan” in 1984 and “Howard the Duck” in 1986.
Baird grew up above his parents’ marionette theater in New York’s Greenwich Village. He began taking tickets at age 11, and by 19 he was a professional puppeteer. He voiced and manipulated marionettes and moved into writing and directing shows, working in 15 Bil Baird productions.
He toured Europe with his parents’ productions and, after his mother’s death in 1967, worked with his father until he died in 1987. The son then carried on alone, reproducing his father’s “Davy Jones’ Locker” the following Christmas season at New York’s Orpheum Theatre.
In 1995, Baird turned the popular “Davy Jones” puppet show into a 52-minute film that premiered at the Laemmle theater in Santa Monica.
Although Baird continued to perform using about 240 of the 1,300 hand and string puppets his father built, he also moved on to more modern forms of puppetry including working with computer-generated characters. In addition to stage, television and film shows, he worked in hundreds of commercials and industrial productions.
Baird, along with his sister Laura, also worked to preserve his father’s legacy. They received some criticism in 1987 when they auctioned 600 of the puppets to pay their father’s estate taxes.
But Peter Baird pointed out at that time that his father had given 350 puppets to the Charles H. MacNider Museum in his hometown, Mason City, Iowa, and that he and his sister had donated an additional 30.
“Puppets are created to be used, not hidden away in boxes,” he added.
A fund in Peter Baird’s name has been established at the Iowa museum to preserve his father’s puppets.
In addition to his wife, Baird is survived by his sister, Laura Baird Brundage.
Memorial services are being planned in New York and in Los Angeles in August.
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