CHILDREN'S FAIRYLAND SPRINKLES STARDUST OVER LITTLE CHILDREN

Over the 13 years I’ve run Children’s Fairyland, hundreds of adults have said it was their grandparents who brought them to the park when they were young. The tradition continues, and it’s not hard to understand why: We provide a safe, sweet place that invites intergenerational interaction. At Fairyland, the child is the leader of imagination-driven adventures, with no electronics or commercial influences to stand in the way of talking, reading and singing—three activities that have been proven to dramatically improve the chances of success of our kids.

During the holiday season, when so many grandparents visit family in the Bay Area, we delight in seeing multiple generations of Fairyland fans.

So due to this we decided to create Grandparents’ Week: the day after Christmas through Dec. 30. By welcoming grandparents with free admission, we hoped to embody the essence of the holiday season—families connecting and making lasting memories.

Grandparents’ Week is an unqualified hit with over 5,000 family members joined us last year.

At Fairyland we see the positive influence of grandparents every day; there are an increasing number of children in our community who live with their grandparents, or being raised by grandparents. But even if grandparents don’t live with their grandchildren, they nonetheless support parents by providing parenting tips, affordable childcare, much-needed breaks and more.

For children who are in high-risk situations caused by poverty or trauma, grandparents can really make a difference in helping form a child’s sense of normal relationships.

Grandparents, we love you. Come grab your grandchild and visit Fairyland. Sprinkle your special brand of stardust …and, while you’re at it, buy the kids some cotton candy and a noisy toy; that’s also part of the gig.

Fairyland’s Grandparents’ Week is Dec. 26 through 30; 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Free for grandparents! During Grandparents Week, in partnership with ScholarShare, go tohttp://www.fairyland.org for the chance to win $500 towards a ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan account!

-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.

KREEPIE LIVES ON

Next year, Fairyland’s historic puppet theater will celebrate its 60^th anniversary with a number of wonderful programming firsts. We’ll be presenting a show created by master puppeteer Frank Oz (famous as the voice of Miss Piggy and Yoda) that was written when he was a teen. We’ll also debut a new version of “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

One first has special significance for us. It’s the first show in our history to have been created by a puppeteer working outside Fairyland.

The show’s creator (and narrated voice) is well-known to Bay Area audiences: Nick Barone, who died last December, at 47, of lung cancer. Nick had performed the sweet and funny “Tricks & Treats” puppet variety show at our park over the years during our Halloween Jack o’Lantern Jamboree, and guests of all ages loved it. The show featured Nick’s signature character: Kreepie the Cat, a feline who tries to control everything and everybody.

Nick Barone

Nick created eight shows, but this is the only one that will continue to be performed. “I just can’t see anyone else doing it,” Nick’s widow Rose told me. The couple used to wander around Fairyland, she said, appreciating its rich history and lack of cynicism. “And the theater is kind of a puppet temple,” she said.

Nick designed his first puppet when he was 8. His grandmother stuffed it for him, and Bob the Dog was born. Over the years Nick earned his living in Hollywood as a scene painter, but he decided he didn’t much like working for other people. He and Rose met at a puppet conference in San Diego in 1996, when she was a web developer interested in using puppets to teach kids about online safety and security. “It turned out to be a festival of love,” she said.

Kreepie Cat

The two of them eventually moved to San Jose, where Nick earned a great living performing at libraries, schools, country clubs, parks and private parties. He was even recognized occasionally on the street by his fans.

Nick loved hanging out with other puppeteers, which is how he came to meet Fairyland’s master puppeteer, Randal Metz, at a gathering of the Bay Area Puppet Guild in the 1990s. “He was Mr. Rogers with a sense of humor,” said Randal, who added that Nick was always generous in helping his friends out. “He would share ideas and talk through your problems. He was that type of guy.”

Randal recognized just how special Nick’s shows were. “Nick had a childlike innocence. I mean, this is a man who had a whole room of Legos.” Nick’s shows resonated with kids, Randal observed: The strange-looking creatures were never scary, but they sure were funny. According to Rose, Nick was inspired by Bugs Bunny’s ability to entertain both kids and adults—entertainment that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

It will definitely feel strange to have someone else perform the show that was Nick through and through. We’ll hear his original music and his voice – actually over a dozen voices that he created – on the soundtrack, and see the Muppet-style puppets and delightful monsters that have given so many people such joy. And, of course, Kreepie the Cat will live on at Fairyland and delight future generations of kids.

“Many puppeteers die, and their work is gone,” said Randal. But Nick influenced a generation or more of puppeteers through his workshops on building puppets, creating mouth mechanisms, using fabrics inventively.

Randal speaks for all of us when he says he feels honored that Nick’s family felt comfortable enough with Fairyland to entrust us with Nick’s legacy show. We’re proud to include it as part of our theater’s 60^th celebration next year.

By the way, although the cat is named Kreepie, Rose said the puppet’s is far from creepy: the show is all about characters learning how to care about each other.

As for the performing troupe of puppets we’ll be welcoming soon, Rose said: “We know they’ll be in very good hands.” 

-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.

SEEING THE UNSEEN

Hayok Kay is one of three people featured in a powerful and surprisingly inspirational new documentary about an unusual subject: the people who earn their living by recycling trash and selling it at Alliance Metals in West Oakland.

“Dogtown Redemption” had its world premiere last week at the Mill Valley Film Festival. For Iranian-born producer and co-director Amir Soltani, the film’s debut is bittersweet. While he admits to feeling exuberance and relief after working on the project for eight years, his elation is tempered by two recent events.

The first is the recent tragic death of Hayok Kay. The daughter of a prominent Korean-American family, “Miss Kay” was a feisty drummer in the 1980s post-punk band Polkacide. In the film, she struggles with mental health issues, but her humanity, heart, and tenacity come through.

Then, on Aug. 18, she was beaten to death by an unknown assailant as she slept on a sidewalk in Emeryville. She was 61.

The second event also occurred recently. After years of fighting a lawsuit by the Oakland City Attorney’s office for alleged “nuisance activity,” Alliance Metals has announced that it will be closing next August.

Amir wonders about the future of the estimated 500 to 1,000 people who rely on Alliance for their financial survival. These people are plagued by addiction, mental health issues, homelessness and poverty. But “Dogtown Redemption” makes you care about them. It celebrates the strength and smarts of the people we regularly see pushing and pulling carts through our city.

“The recycling center is also a community center, not a cabal of evil,” says Amir, calling Alliance “an ATM for poor people.”

That’s one perspective. Another is reflected in a recent press release from Oakland’s city attorney: “Neighbors say Alliance accepts stolen metal, encouraging theft of fences, construction materials and other items in the area, and that the thieves use the money they get from Alliance to buy drugs in the park across the street. Blight and trash have been constant problems.”

Amir, who moved to Oakland in 2005, says he knows what trauma and displacement are about. “The truth is, we have a refugee crisis in America—we call it homelessness.” He has worked in Afghanistan and in other developing nations where poverty is the norm. “In America, poverty is brutal, and those in poverty are criminalized and stigmatized.”

The other recyclers featured in the film are Landon Goodwin, a former minister and addict; and Jason Witt, who battles drug addiction. By the end of the film, each has taken steps to re-connect with what he’d lost. For Landon, the lost connection is God; for Jason, it’s martial arts. I was rooting for both of them as the film ended.

To make “Dogtown Redemption,” Amir raised more than $56,000 through a Kickstarter campaign. Now he’s talking with a distribution company to bring the film to a national audience. In addition, he’s received a grant to screen the film locally, for the purpose of outreach and engagement. He remains positive about finding solutions to the challenge of Oakland’s poorest residents.

“There’s a goodness in America that’s getting lost,” he says. “We want quick solutions, but a lot of people are getting crushed and trampled. We have a failure of imagination, love and leadership.”

Oakland’s unofficial recyclers block the street with 100 pounds of trash when we’re trying to get somewhere fast; they make noise at 5 a.m. as they go through our garbage; they steal shopping carts. Some do drugs; others use our streets as bathrooms. They may not have jobs (and there are a lot of reasons for that), but they work incredibly hard. Some city officials are trying to identify another site for a recycling center; there are sure to be those who will object.

As this issue plays itself out in our community over the coming months, I hope that as many people as possible will have the opportunity to see “Dogtown Redemption.” Once we have the opportunity to see the unseen, we’re changed.

“Dogtown Redemption” will be screened a second time Oct. 15 as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival.

-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.

TIPS FOR RAISING BOOK LOVERS

Does your child like reading the same book over and over?

• They understand it better each time, including the plot, vocabulary, and humor
• They become more confident and enthusiastic about books and interested in the idea of reading
• Let them fill in parts they know-- Make mistakes on purpose for them to catch or encourage them to say the lines they remember

What can you read besides books?

• Street signs and street names while on the bus
• Boxes or cans of food in the kitchen
• Small signs in the grocery store, like for apples

Don't have a book with you?

• Make up stories FOR your child -- You can change characters or use the same ones every time
• Make up stories WITH your child -- Ask them what happens next or how a character should feel
• Tell your child tales of your life -- "When I was your age..."

Toddler Storytime at Fairyland is Fridays at 10:30am and 3:00pm - 

for the before and after nap crowds.

• Books specially selected for toddlers
• Fun and lively songs
• Body movement and finger-play
• Site outside comfortably on our Emerald City Stage
• A focused 20 minutes of literacy complements playing at Fairyland to stimulate your child's development

Want to know more about Toddler Storytime? Ask for Shana, the Education Director!

FAIRYLAND AND FRANK OZ

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 20^th birthday celebration in 1970.

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 20^th 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.

WORKING TO LIVE

Earlier this year, Fairyland – and all of Oakland – lost one of our brightest lights. 

Susie Elkind had worked tirelessly and cheerfully to make her community a better place, and her life was cut much too short. She didn’t ask for attention or credit, so her name may be unfamiliar to you. But her life just may inspire you.

I knew many of Susie’s family members decades before I ever met Susie herself. My ex-husband studied drama with her  father at San Francisco State in the 1960s. I worked for Susie’s aunt on a community newspaper in the 1980s. I met Susie’s sister and nieces and nephews in the 1990s through a mothers’ group organized by a mutual friend.

I finally met Susie at Oakland Rotary. I’m a member; Susie ran the office. Every Thursday I looked forward to seeing Susie’s warm smile and viewing new photos of her nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. And for years, every Tuesday morning Susie volunteered in Fairyland’s gardens, where she was the uncontested queen of deadheading roses.

But here’s the thing: Susie knew a million people from a million different worlds, so it had been only a matter of time before we connected. Sadly, it was much too short a time before we disconnected: On May 22 of this year, Susie died, peacefully, at her home.

In August, Fairyland was honored to host a celebration of Susie’s life. The service was sweet, loving and often humorous, and it gave legions of friends and family members a chance to learn more about this unassuming lady who truly worked to live, and not the other way around.

Susie held a variety of interesting part-time jobs—among her many skills, she was a stellar copyeditor—so that she could seek out adventures both locally and abroad. Here at home, I frequently ran into Susie at the Berkeley Rep and the Aurora, where she was a volunteer usher. She regularly attended jazz, opera and dance performances. Trips to New York and London for arts events, and jaunts to more exotic destinations, seemed to charge her batteries. She was a tap dancer and a diehard Giants fan.

Susie’s obituary observed that she had “stitched together a life full of ‘small-world’ stories,” and many of them were shared that night.  Susie’s sister, local writer Risa Nye, shared “Susie moments,” suggesting that if we experience them, we should take notice and remember Susie. I agree, and pass along some favorites.

You’re experiencing a “Susie moment...”

When you have the opportunity to dance, and you dance.

When you describe what you had for lunch or dinner – using your hands.

When you pack more events into a weekend than seems possible, especially if you urge your friends to come along.

When you are the first to arrive at the party and the last to leave -- after helping with both setup and cleanup,

When you step up and cut the wedding cake, because no one else knows how to.

When you root for the home team, no matter what, year after year.

When you send a birthday card via snail mail.

When you come to stay as a house guest and take over the kitchen to make several meals that are enjoyed by all.

When Fairyland horticulturalist Jackie Salas and I visited Susie shortly before she died, we told her that we wanted to plant a special rose for her at Fairyland. She thought a while about which rose was her favorite, and finally chose “Double Delight,” a fragrant and showy award winner. As soon as the weather cools down, we’ll plant a “Double Delight” in the middle of our bed in front of our Chapel of Peace.

Appreciating the beauty of a rose and taking the time to smell it—that’s definitely a Susie moment.

-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.