Bil Baird and Cora Baird press photo

Description

From the estate of Bil Baird a wonderful photo of Bil and his wife Cora. Featured at the auction
NOT JUST PUPPETS
A rare moment in time.
Bil Baird and his wife
Cora Baird
, the driving forces behind the Bil & Cora Baird Puppets, were pioneer entertainers in U.S. TV, when commercial television in the States was taking its first baby steps. Much of what early viewers could view on that seven-inch screen, with its eerie, whitish glow in a darkened room where a family gathered round to watch in wonder, had come from radio. But the Bairds' medium - their marionettes - was strictly visual, and the audience was regaled. Their first venture on TV, a 15-minute program called
Life with Snarky Parker
(1950) was directed by none other than
Yul Brynner
. They and their puppets went on to star in other shows, and the Bairds were featured performers on CBS's attempt to wrest away some of the audience from NBC's "Today" show with its "The Morning Show" (1954), which initially featured their principal newsman,
Walter Cronkite
. As well, delineated marvelously by the music of Ukrainian-born composer
Sergei Prokofiev
, the Baird Puppets provided the visual enhancement for
Art Carney
's narration of the 1958 ABC-TV special, "Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf."