Bob Baker Marionette Theater
| The Bob Baker Marionette Theater | |
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| Location | 1345 W. First St., Los Angeles |
| Built | 1953 |
| Architectural style(s) | Vernacular architecture |
| Designated | 2009 |
| Reference no. | 958 |
 Location of The Bob Baker Marionette Theater in California
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The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, founded by Bob Baker and Alton Wood in 1963, is the oldest children's theater company in Los Angeles. In June 2009, the theater was designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
Bob Baker (1924–2014) was an American puppeteer whose marionettes have entertained thousands of children and adults worldwide for more than 70 years.
At age eight, Baker trained with several different Los Angeles-based companies before giving his first professional performance for director Mervyn Leroy. While attending Hollywood High School, he began manufacturing toy marionettes that sold both in Europe and the United States. After graduation he became an apprentice at the George Pal Animation Studios. A year later he was promoted to head animator of Puppetoons. After World War II, Baker served as an animation advisor at many film studios, including Disney. His puppetry was featured on TV in Bewitched, Star Trek, Land of the Giants and NCIS; and on film in the 1944 movie Bluebeard, in A Star Is Born, G.I. Blues, Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Baker was also instrumental in championing union membership for puppeteers. As a result, Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA now recognize puppeteers as actors with a special skill. He has also provided a place of learning for the next generation of puppeteers, including Scott Land and Michael Earl.
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