Bil and Cora Baird - Talented husband/wife puppet team who created hundred's of puppet and marionette characters in the early days of television including Groovy, a screwball disc jockey rabbit; Bubbles La Rue, a dancing puppet; Flannel the Mouse; and Charlemane the lion.

Bil and Cora Baird puppets were featured on THE BIL BAIRD SHOW/CBS/1950; Ed Sullivan's THE TOAST OF THE TOWN/CBS/1948-49; Sid Caesar's YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS/NBC/1950-54; THE MORNING SHOW/CBS/1954-57 with host Walter Cronkite; Westinghouse's ADVENTURE'S IN NUMBER AND SPACE/SYN/1957; and on the ABC musical special ART CARNEY MEETS PETER AND THE WOLF that aired on 11/30/1958 (with music by Prokofiev, lyrics by Ogden Nash).

The Baird's most popular and ambitious program was the Saturday morning children's adventure THE WHISTLING WIZARD/CBS/1951-52. It followed the adventures of J. P., a cute, wide-eyed little boy who accidentally fell to the bottom of a well (much like Alice fell into Wonderland) only to find the entrance to an enchanted world of "The Land of Beyond" ruled by a Leprechaun, named Dooley, (a.k.a. the "Whistling Wizard").

Speaking with an Irish brogue and playing a magic flute, Dooley protected his kingdom against the evil Kohlrabi and Mistress Spider Lady who weaved her black magic spells by uttering the incantation "Elia Kazan!"

Other residents of this fantasy land were King Rutabega, the ruler of a neighboring kingdom of Nagard; Thimble, Dooley's assistance; Davey Jones, the guardian of the treasure at the bottom of the sea; and Heathcliffe, a horse.

Many of the puppets used on the series were recycled from the western puppet adventure LIFE WITH SNARKY PARKER/CBS/1950, an earlier marionette show created by the Bairds.

Snarky Parker was a deputy sheriff of a western town of Hot Rock during the 1850s. With the aid of his talking horse Heathcliffe, he rid the town of Hot Rock of such dangerous critters as Ronald Rodent and Blackie McGoo.

Additional characters included Cuda Barra, a siren; Miss Butterball, the school marm; Slugger, the Hot Rock Cafe piano player; Noose Nolan, a reformed desperado; and  Fluff Webster, his partner.

TRIVIA NOTE: The Charles H. MacNider Museum at 303 2nd St. SE, Mason City, IA 50401 features a permanent collection of  puppets created and collected by master puppeteer Bil Baird.