Steve Weber before he passed away in 2004 sent me this note below, which sheds more light on Bil Baird's personal life.

Hi Dave,

I just ran across your website about Bil and I thought I'd like to get in touch with you and introduce

myself.

I'm a puppeteer and had worked with Bil at his theater on Barrow St. in the 70's.

He was my mentor and friend, and there has never been anyone who has

influenced my life and work so profoundly as Bil Baird did.

Even before I had ever met him, My childhood was filled with dreams and

fantasies about working with him and becoming his friend. And as the

Buddhists say, 'if you put out, it will happen' , which it did.

He and his wife and partner Cora, generated a 'magical' energy so intense, I doubt whether they were even

aware of it. She was a very strong lady, but she gave him focus and motivation and helped to hold

the whole works together. But when she died in 1967, alot did change.. with Bil and at the theater.

He remarried three times after that, with the third wife (Suzanna Lloyd) being the downfall of Bil and his

beloved theater and -.

She alienated his lifelong friends, generated disharmony among his puppeteers, and when

he entered the hospital for knee surgery.. sued him for divorce. She was a psychotic monster

as anyone who knew her and loved Bil will tell you.

Anyway, I thought I'd offer a little more insight into the legacy. I do have an enormous collection of

material about Bil's work and career, so if there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to

ask.

I should also mention that I'm putting an extensive website together about Bil and Cora's golden era from

the mid 40's to mid 60's.

It should be up and running (barring any glitches) by Christmas of this year.

Peace,

Steve Weber

The info below comes from Brian Stokes page.

http://www.lifeformz.com/weblog/2004_11_01_archive.html

Thursday, November 25, 2004
In Memoriam: Steve Weber

My friend R. Steve Weber passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago. He was an extraordinary fellow, with more creative accomplishments than most of my friends put together. Trained dancer who worked with the legendary Bob Fossie. Emmy-winning make-up artist for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Master marionette-builder trained under Bil Baird (who created the puppets for The Sound of Music).

I had the privilege of hanging out with him nearly every day for 5 months, during our unemployment and a city-sponsored Photoshop/HTML class we took at Goodwill, in the hopes of getting into better video-editing or 3-D classes at the Bay Area Video Coalition. Despite all that was going on, he was always an optimist. We chatted about puppetry, creativity, and our dreams of "making it", someday.

I miss him dearly.

posted by Brian at 9:06 AM 0 comments links to this post