Postcards from the Puppet Biz

Random pics and stories that don't fit anywhere else...

Cody Coyote - Voice of a Generation

The character of Cody Coyote was originally conceived by Don York ('Donny' of Sha Na Na) as his co-star in a proposed live stage show. Don wrote the show and several original songs; I arranged to have the Cody puppet built and then performed it in a video that demonstrated the concept. Unfortunately, the show never came about - I still wonder if it was because, as the voice of Cody, I actually had to sing - a scary prospect at best.

I kept the Cody puppet when the show folded and ended up using it in several other projects of my own. None of these projects were for profit - Cody was Don's creation, after all, and if Cody ever earns a dime it rightfully belongs to Don. No danger of that so far, though.

Cody's Hollywood Beat - overlooking Hollywood and Vine

One Cody project was a series of videos I shot in and around the Hollywood area - unscripted improvisations around loosely-defined Hollywood and showbiz topics. I'd do a segment whenever I could find somebody who was willing to be videotaped talking to a puppet - then I would send the tapes to a fellow named Richard Concepcion who had a public-access show in New York called "Rapid T. Rabbit and Friends". (He still does - fifteen years on the air and counting.)

Cody interviews Linda Blair

Richard added a snazzy opening montage, and called the segments "Hollywood Beat with Cody Coyote" - thus giving his public-access show some bi-coastal flavor. I did perhaps six or eight "Hollywood Beat"'s in total - they probably weren't the most scintillating entertainment, but whaddaya want from public access?

Another Cody project was a late late night commercial for a children's shoe store. Again, I didn't get paid for the project, I did it as a favor for a friend who needed to put the commercial together for as little money as possible.

I don't know if he got a good deal or not - for some reason I had a hell of a time with the rapid-fire lines and it took quite a few takes to get the thing done. The impressive thing about all those out-takes is that even when I'm completely losing it, the puppet keeps right on going.

One of these cows is a phony ...

While I was at Steve Johnson's XFX company we did this talking cow for a Kool Whip commercial, even though we were right in the middle of production on The Abyss at the same time. It made a nice break - sort of like getting paroled in the middle of a long prison term.

We operated the full-size cow from underneath the stage; pretty exciting stuff because there were also two real cows walking around over our heads, making the plywood floor groan and bend in a most disconcerting way. In fact, the most difficult thing about the shoot was that the real cows would get bored and wander off the set while the cameras were rolling.

Fun Fact: the voice of the cow was performed by Julie Kavner, not too long before she became the voice of Marge Simpson.

Beware the Bag

Yet another XFX project - this one was an episode of the Monsters television series, and was memorable mostly because our creature was basically a weather balloon with some tentacles glued underneath. What can I say - Monsters was a low-budget show.

We did our best to drag the balloon around in a menacing way - but that was a lot easier than what our co-star went through. She had to act scared of the thing - now that was a tough job.

"National Blue Velvet"

I spent a few years working nights at the Groundling Theater in Hollywood as a lightboard operator. (Name Drop Alert) Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Julia Sweeney and Lisa Kudrow were among the unknowns in the cast at the time, along with a very funny actress named Deanna Oliver.

Deanna once wrote a sketch called "National Blue Velvet" about a demented Liz Taylor doing terrible things to her horse. I built and operated the horse puppet. We performed the sketch a few times ... but I think it was a bit too weird for the average audience and the sketch was retired.

Fun Fact: About ten years later, Deanna, along with writing partner Sherri Stoner, wrote the script for My Favorite Martian - which I worked on as animation supervisor for Tippett Studio. It's a small world after all. (I just wish we could have found a part for the horse.)

Freaked Out

My fellow puppeteer "TomCat" Williamson took this picture of me on the set of Freaked. See? Puppeteering is hard work. (Thanks a heck of a lot, TomCat ...)

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