I
was out of the country for the Sept. 12 broadcast of one of my favorite shows,
“Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!”, the syndicated news-quiz show on NPR. But it
didn’t take long for a number of my friends to tell me about it as soon as I
got home.
The
special guest that day was Frank Oz, the movie director and co-founder of the
Muppets. Before he faced a battery of
questions from radio host Peter Sagal, Frank acknowledged that he had gotten
his start as a teenage apprentice at Children’s Fairyland’s puppet theater.
Director/Muppeteer Frank Oz apprenticed at Children’s
Fairyland as a teen; shown here with the park’s longtime puppetmaster Lewis
Mahlmann at the park’s 20th birthday celebration in 1970.
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It’s
true: The voice of Bert, Miss Piggy and Yoda (and many other characters) does
have a history at our park. And next year we’re presenting one of the shows he
wrote as a teen.
In
his introduction, Peter Sagal said that when he’s in Bay Area he enjoys running
in “this park in Oakland, and passing this little amusement park in Lake
Merritt…”
“Children’s
Fairyland!” Oz interjected. He went on to say that he worked at Fairyland when
he was about 14 years old, apprenticing and doing three shows a day. He created
the Muppets with Jim Henson when he was 19.
We
know the story well.
Frank
was the son of puppeteers Mike and Frances Oznowicz, who married in Belgium and
moved to Oakland in 1950. As a young boy, Frank performed shows with his
parents at Yosemite National Park and all around the Bay Area. Given
Fairyland’s puppet theater’s history as the longest running in America, it was
only a matter of time before the Oznowicz family connected with the park.
Fairyland’s
master puppeteer and resident historian Randal Metz tells us that Mike and
Frances supported the theater on many levels: doing voices, looking over
scripts, and -- in Frances’s case --
designing fabulous costumes for the puppets, many of which are still in use.
While
he was still enrolled at Oakland Tech, Frank made the acquaintance of Jerry
Juhl, who was six years older than he, and together they ran the well-respected
Vagabond Puppets. (It operated under the auspices of Oakland’s Park and Rec
Department and was based in what is now Studio One.) Jim Henson first saw the
two teens perform at a Puppeteers of America meeting in Monterey County. “I
want these guys!” said Henson, according to Randal Metz’s account.
Frank’s
parents insisted he finish high school, but Jerry joined the Muppets in 1963 as
a writer/producer. He played a key role in the success of the Muppets’ television
and film projects.
It
wasn’t long before Frank followed – shortening his last name to “Oz” along the
way -- and the rest is television and film history. But Frank never forgot the
little park that gave him his start: he returned in 1970 for Fairyland’s 20th
birthday—and he brought Cookie Monster and Bert. Thousands of kids turned out
for the reunion.
We
haven’t heard from Frank in more than 20 years. We hope he’ll consider visiting
next year when we produce a show he wrote way back in his Vagabond Puppet days.
It’s the tale of a reluctant dragon, and it’s called “The Dragon Who
Wasn’t.” Randal is reworking the script,
building the puppets and recording the soundtrack. One thing won’t change: the
humor that has always been Frank Oz’s trademark.
We
heard some of that wit on the “Wait Wait” broadcast, when Frank recalled being scolded
for on Cookie Monster’s syntax—“me do this, me do that.” It could be hurt the
kids’ grammar, some people warned.
His
response: “You know, I don't think somebody's going to grow up [to become] a
lawyer and say, ‘Me want to represent you’.”
I
did lift an eyebrow when Frank recalled being “a sick kid ... a puppeteer. I was very weird.”
We
won’t repeat that to young Will, an 11-year-old puppeteer-in-training who’s
been hanging out with Randal at our theater for a few years now, building
puppets and learning other aspects of the craft.
It’s
like Yoda said: Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.
Me
believe that.
-C.J. Hirschfield
C.J. Hirschfield has served for 13 years as Executive
Director of Children’s Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall
operation the nation’s first storybook theme park. Prior to that, she served as
an executive in the cable television industry. C.J. is former president
and current board member of the California Attractions and Parks Association,
and also serves on the boards of Visit Oakland and the Lake Merritt/Uptown
Business Improvement District. C.J. writes a weekly column for the Piedmont
Post and OaklandLocal, where she loves to showcase the beauty of her city and
its people. She holds a degree in Film and Broadcasting from Stanford
University.
I was a kid at Childrens Fairyland in the early 70, with my younger brother… we probably just missed Frank Oz’s time there. And we grew up with Sesame Street, where some of the live footage in the early years was shot in the Bay Area, Oakland and San Francisco, places that I recognized when my daughter watched “Old School” Sesame Street on DVD.
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