April 27 – May 03 (2026) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I generally don’t care much for ai conglomerations. But this one is actually pretty cool. Sometimes I like these “what if” scenarios.

Rick Springfield had some pretty great hits in the 80’s. But when “Love Is Alright Tonight” came up on my device this past week as I was driving around, I was reminded of what a great song it was. And I’ve been singing it ever since!

Monday the 27th – ONE MONTH AWAY! – As I continue to work away preparing the exhibit we’re doing for the upcoming Monsterpalooza convention, today I decided to start assembling the platforms my pal Joe Pendleton made to give it all a dry run. Having the platforms assembled in my living room will give me some time to mount the puppets, pose them, and experiment with how they’ll eventually look in the exhibit. I went to the hardware store to buy some appropriately-sized bolts, nuts and washers. These will attach the supports to the platforms, which have metal brackets on the bottom. I picked up a few packages at my box, and then met my assistant Emily at Paty’s for lunch. Then I went back home and started assembling everything. FUN! The front platform had been completed. It all required a mix of wood dowels, flanges, armature wire, brackets, and screws. It looked amazing! I did my auditions for the day, and then relaxed a bit. Later I took my nightly WOG (walk/jog), and did a second draft of the history of how monsters heavily influenced the early days of the Jim Henson Company. This article will be posted on-line and you can link to it through a special QR code that will be on display at the exhibit. I typed out Wally’s Week and then hit the hay. Wow! What a day!

Tuesday the 28th – EYES, BOLTS, AND BIRTHDAYS TO BOOT! – Toward the end of the afternoon I sped over to my pal Jim Ojala’s effects studio to pick up the eye pieces he worked on for my Herry Monster replica Muppet that I’ll be including in the Monsterpalooza exhibit. He also did some customization on two little plastic pieces that I’ll be using for neck bolts for Frogenstein…a customization of my Kermit the Frog replica. Then I sped over to the Smoke House in Burbank to join my friends Amy and Aliza for their combined birthday celebration. Our friends James and Cynthia arrived too. FUN EVENING! Though I’m trying to limit my carb intake, I couldn’t resist that amazing garlic bread, and I kinda went off my diet for a little bit. After dinner I went to Alex In Wonderland to pick up my Rizzo replica, as Alex had removed the arm rods that came with the puppet (there were much too big and bulky for a puppet of Rizzo’s size) and replaced them with thinner rods more in scale with Rizzo’s diminutive size. I gave her the head of Guy Smiley that we’ve been working on for over a year, as she needs to change his lower jaw a little bit to be more “screen accurate.” I came back home and did a few auditions, took my nightly WOG, and worked on more puppet stuff.

Wednesday the 29th – “HEAVEN ON EARTH INSIDE MY PUPPET WALLS” (WITH APOLOGIES TO PRINCE AND SHEENA EASTON)! – My pals Edi Lurie and Emily Danyel were meeting for lunch at Paty’s, and they asked me to join them. Emily and I had an errand to run after lunch, so this was going to work out perfectly. After lunch we three headed to Hobby Lobby to do some shopping. I was able to pick up two more of those cool Spider-Man lamps (see last week’s Wally’s Week) and a few more miscellaneous items. Then we went across the street to Foam Mart to do some shopping and pick up the amazing barrier walls that they had fabricated for the Monsterpalooza exhibit. Leland Li did a fantastic job. They were GORGEOUS! But Emily had to come along to haul the big one, as my RAV wasn’t quite long enough to accommodate the size. We got back to my house and unloaded everything, and then I did some work around the house. I recorded a few auditions and then relaxed for a bit. Later I got busy on assembling the middle puppet platform for the Monsterpalooza exhibit. It turned out great, but I had to make some changes to the original design. My Animal figure turned out to be much too heavy for the support system I originally designed, so I had to get clever and come up with something more robust. But it was a blast! I worked all night, but it was very, very fruitful. In fact, I had such great momentum going, I didn’t even take time to go on my WOG. I figured one night off wouldn’t hurt me. The next step is to finish my Herry Monster replica and then I can get working on the back platform, and finish everything up. I made a salad and watched an episode of “The High Chaparral.”

Thursday the 30th – MAY GRAY MAYDAY! – It’s truly mind boggling to think that the first four months of 2026 are over. Where DOES the time go?! I relaxed most of the day, recorded my auditions, and did a little work around the house. I met my assistant Emily for dinner at Little Toni’s as I was craving one of their pizzas. I was also in need of more of their delicious salad dressing! When I got back home I did some work on fabricating a few things for the middle puppet platform. I took all the puppets off the front and middle platforms and put them all back in their rightful places. I took my nightly WOG and came inside to do some video editing. I did a little more puppet work and by the time I got to bed it was early morning. But for the first day of May it was very, very overcast and gray. You’ve heard of June gloom? Well May gray is very real too! It looks like we’re in for some sunless days ahead. Such is the way the seasons go in Los Angeles.

Friday the 1st – IT’S BACK! AGAIN! FOR NOW, ANYWAY! – Though it’s been off and on over the past few months, apparently my landline is back in business. I hadn’t had a dial tone in a few months because of equipment issues with the phone company. Criminals will cut the phone company’s wires so they can extract the copper and sell it. This means if you have internet or landline service through this company, you’re out of luck until they can get around to repairing it. But my dial tone is back, but I’m not sure for how long. I stayed inside all day working on more puppet stuff and working around the house. Later I took my WOG, and then did more work around the house.

Saturday the 2nd – STILL LEARNING! – What a busy day! I hit the hardware store for more supplies for my puppet platforms, and then I went to CVS to pick up a prescription and get some photos printed. Then I went over to the grocery store to get some food items that I’ll need. I came home and put everything away, did some video editing, and relaxed. Later I did some more work on the puppet exhibit and took my nightly WOG. Since it’s the first Saturday of the month, it’s time for my traditional monthly commemoration I call “Laurel & Hardy Theatre.” I made my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza-in-a-box, popped some popcorn, and got some ice cold Diet Pepsi. I was down to the very last elements on the new “Laurel & Hardy: Year Three” Blu ray. And it was fantastic! I saw the silent version of “Berth Marks,” which I had never seen before. “Berth Marks” was one of their first sound pictures, but back in 1929 not every theatre had been equipped for sound quite yet. So they produced two versions – one with sound, and one that was silent. But the sound version is MUCH better. As The Boys are waiting for a train, a conductor walks by and says, “All aboaaaard!” Then he proceeds to list all of the cities the train will be stopping at. But he does it so fast it sounds like absolute unintelligible gibberish. Hilarious! But this gag doesn’t play as well in the silent version. You’ve really got to hear how the actor does it. It was brilliantly performed. When I was a kid reading everything I could about Laurel & Hardy, I read something about a bit they did in a film called “Hollywood Revue Of 1929.” But it wasn’t available anywhere at the time, and was never shown on TV. Well, collectors have located a print (albeit a fuzzy one) and they included it on the Blu ray set. Jack Benny was the host, and it had The Boys doing a bad magic act. I’m glad I was able to FINALLY see it! But for some reason Stan didn’t utter a single word! I wonder if he was under the weather when they filmed this, and maybe had a case of laryngitis or something. I also watched a small bit they did for an MGM promo reel that was produced for France. I had never EVER seen that before either! It’s odd that, after having been a fan of Laurel & Hardy for 52 years, I’m still learning new stuff about them. Utterly astounding!

Sunday the 3rd – STRANDED! – In the mid-afternoon I woke up to check on emails and see what was new in the world. I got a text from my gal Angi telling me that there were equipment problems on her flight home, and she wasn’t able to make it back on the 2nd like she had hoped. The flights are booked up pretty solidly now, especially with Spirit Airlines going out of business, so not only are the other airlines raising their prices, but seats are hard to come by. So now it looks like she won’t be home for another week! EEK! That means she’ll miss my birthday this coming Wednesday, which frankly…makes me a bit sad. But, it is what it is…and we’ll just have to celebrate it once she returns home. Modern problems, doncha know?! I did my auditions and got ready for a new week. I took my nightly WOG and enjoyed seeing the local wildlife. There’s a mommy Mourning Dove who has a nest in a hedge near where I walk. The only reason I know this, is because somebody put a sign up by the hedge letting people know that there was a nest there. I always walk by as quietly as possible (they’re very skittish little birdies) but I always like to glance over as I’m walking by so I can see mommy’s little head as she sits on the nest. My headlamp caught four little reflective beads up ahead, and I realized that it was the eyes of two raccoons that were scurrying about in the middle of the night. I said, “Hi guys.” And they scampered off. I got back inside and did some more video editing, and then headed for the shower. But I noticed that the showerhead was sounding strange…very loud, in fact. Then I noticed that there was a good amount of water leaking out of the bottom of it. Right under the little handle that allows you to change from setting to setting, it was leaking pretty good. I guess since that area is moved so much, it eventually wears out. I got on Amazon and ordered two more showerheads just like it, and delivery should be on Monday afternoon. Luckily, I had another back-up showerhead underneath my bathroom sink. I installed that and I was good to go temporarily. I made a pot pie and watched another episode of “The High Chaparral.”

And how was YOUR week?!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Much of the time, ai is WAY off! When I saw this picture posted this past week I just had to grab it. First off, ai doesn’t know the difference between Ant Man and Batman. Secondly, Catwoman looks as if Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether had a baby. And Batgirl? That’s not Yvonne Craig. That’s my pal Sara Raftery. ai found a picture of Sara on-line somewhere cosplaying Batgirl and cobbled that together with the rest of the image. Sorry, but ai has a looooong way to go.

I dressed the recently refurbished Gonzo photo replica puppet in some summer clothes and sat him atop the prop stool I recently acquired at the Jim Henson Company auction. He looks right at home!

On the front platform, I started with The Count and his Bat Pack….

…then added Cookie Monster…

…and Beautiful Day completed the first row!

Now it’s onto the second row…

Because I don’t have the depth I need in my living room, the platforms are a little more compressed than what they’ll eventually be at the convention. But these are the two rows together, and I think the Creatures, Monsters and Misfits exhibit will be amazing!

But I did find away to raise Gleep aka Green Grover up a little, and to shrink Animal down a little bit so he’s more in line with the rest of the characaters.