Bernard H. Paul
| Bernard Paul | |
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Bernard Paul in 1939
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| Born |
Bernard H. Paul April 22, 1907 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died | September 18, 2005 (aged 98) Linthicum, Maryland |
| Occupation | Puppeteer, educator |
| Spouse(s) | Edith "Edee" Rogers (m. 1930) |
| Children | Peter Darr Paul Larry Ramon Paul |
Bernard H. Paul (April 22, 1907 – September 18, 2005) was a puppeteer best known for his traveling show and television broadcasts of "Paul's Puppets". His marionette show ran for 10 years on WBAL-TV in Baltimore. In 1931 he performed the first known children's television show.
Paul also did the first professional puppet show for a United States president when he performed at the White House for Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife in 1934.
Bernard Paul was born on April 22, 1907, in Baltimore, Maryland, the only child of Henry James Paul and Mary Paul. He was born in a private hospital called Bidler and Sellman. He went by the nickname "Bernie". The family lived in Baltimore on Lanvale Street for a while and later moved to a house on Gilmore Street.
They moved to a neighborhood called Linthicum Heights in 1919 when Paul was 12 years old. Paul's father designed and built the house that was located on Hawthorne Road. That homesite had many flower and vegetable gardens.
Paul attended Linthicum Elementary School, where he first met his future wife, Edith "Edee" Rogers.
After Paul's graduation from the eighth grade his family had moved out of the area where Edith lived and he lost contact with her at this time. Paul had then attended Baltimore City College for a year. For the next three years he then went to Severn Preparatory School in Severna Park, Maryland, from which he graduated in 1925. Paul then enrolled at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) where he was reunited with Edee. He studied stagecraft and she was a student of costume design and became a professional seamstress. They graduated from MICA in 1929.
Paul and Edee were married on April 17, 1930, in his parents' home on Hawthorne Road in Linthicum. They lived there for their entire lives. They had two sons who were raised there as the third generation in the same house. Peter Darr was their first son, born on January 21, 1933. Larry Ramon was their second child, born on July 10, 1935.
Paul had changed his mind of becoming a college-trained professional in stagecraft sometime in the late 1920s. This happened after seeing a puppet performance of Tony Sarg at Goucher College. He then decided on a career in puppetry. Paul associated himself with Sarg and obtained marionette puppet ideas and skills. In a short time they became friends. From Sarg's unique training he and his wife learned to stage puppet shows at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The faculty was so impressed with their performances that they began teaching puppetry, and a teaching stint spanning almost two decades followed.
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