March 30 – April 05 (2026) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

TWO HANDED PUPPETEERING! Frank Oz performs Piggy and Fozzie, Jim Henson performs Kermit and Rowlf, and Dave Goelz performs Gonzo and another Muppet during the episode of “The Muppet Show” with Rudolph Nureyev. I’ve never seen this shot before!

One of the things I like about Paul McCartney is that he doesn’t have to make every song a world-changing opus of epic proportions. Sometimes he just likes to write quirky little tunes…like “C Moon.” Love it! And SO catchy!

Monday the 30th – MONDAY MOTIVATION! – My pal Chris Malmin was back in town from a short vacation, so we met at Ernie’s Taco House for some delicious food and to catch up. When we finished I headed home to do some work, get some rest, and then record a bunch of auditions. I did my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and then typed out Wally’s Week. All in all, a pretty typical Monday.

Tuesday the 31st – HE’S GOT A BIG MOUTH! – At our complex we’ve been having a growing problem with noise at the pools. And it’s driving us nuts. The main problem is that the parents with children aren’t admonishing them that they can’t scream bloody murder while playing, since there are people trying to enjoy the sanctity of their homes. And it’s affecting the sanity of the surrounding homeowners. However, there are not one, not two, but THREE sets of rules that strictly prohibit noise of this kind. First, the posted rules at each pool prohibit noise and boisterous activity. Secondly, our Homeowner’s Association CC&R’s guarantee our “quiet enjoyment of our homes.” And thirdly, the Los Angeles Municipal Code is VERY strict on noise (but good luck getting the cops out!). We’re not asking for anything special. We just want our management to enforce the rules that are already on our side. (As a side note, I will never EVER join another Homeowner’s Association as long as I live. They’re utterly useless!) So a few of us met for lunch at Paty’s to draft a letter to our management to either “shit or get off the pot,” as they used to say in the Midwest. Meaning – enforce the rules that are already in place, or leave the position of management. After 10 years of putting up with this, we’re done. This WILL be a quiet summer, or our Board of Directors and our management team will suddenly find themselves with a lot of extra time on their hands. When I got back home I decided to do some more work on my Herry Monster replica Muppet. I didn’t like the lower jaw I had made for him initially, so I set about making a new one. It’s really tough to tell the shape of the lower jaw because of all the fur he has. So, I did my best. I also noticed on the videos of the old “Sesame Street” episodes that Harry’s lower jaw is bigger than the top of his mouth. It gives him a fun under bite kind of look. But unfortunately I ran out of ½” foam rubber, so I need to make a shopping trip soon to Foam Mart. I put in a loop for my pinkie in the upper mouth plate on the inside of the puppet’s head. My computer guy Thor came over to set up my new computer (the one we’ve spent the past year building) so we could put it through a few paces and I could get used to the interface. I haven’t torn down my current computer yet because it’s still working relatively well, so we aimed to set the new computer up on the kitchen table. I had a new keyboard and a new mouse to go with it, but when I brought in my former monitor – there was a problem. The monitor was older and seemed to be incompatible with the new computer. It needed some sort of little adapter which I didn’t have. So, Thor said he’d come back in a few days with the adapter and we’d try it again. Once I’m satisfied with the operability of the new machine, we’ll start transferring the data from my current computer and then we’ll do the installation. I’m excited! Even though the things I’ve heard about Windows 11 aren’t particularly encouraging. It started to rain, so I took advantage of the situation and grabbed a nap. Nothing like sleeping to rain! The forecast said it was going to rain all night, so I’m wondering if I’m going to get out for my nightly WOG or not. I got up and worked on my photo albums, and then noticed that the rain had stopped around 3am! I threw on my jogging clothes and went outside to breathe clean, fresh air and take a nice WOG. When I came back inside I did some more photo album work. I’m almost done with the year 1998, but I’m going to take a break before working on 1999 to work on Herry for a while.

Wednesday the 1st – A “SIGN” OF THE TIMES! – For the upcoming Monsterpalooza convention in late May, I’ll be putting together a display for the museum called “Jim Henson: 70 Years of Creatures, Monsters & Misfits.” I’ll have over a dozen of my Muppet replicas on exhibit – particularly the ones that fit in with the theme – and I can’t wait! The puppets will be displayed on a 3 level platform system, and all posed to look life-like. Behind it will be a large printed backdrop of some of Jim Henson’s cartoons and doodles he used as a basis to create these characters. My buddy/webmaster/graphic designer Scott Sebring came over so we could head to the sign shop in Burbank that printed the backdrop for my Roger M00re/James Bond exhibit in the Monsterpalooza museum last year. He wanted to talk to the manager to get a clear indication of the specs for the new backdrop. We hit the Coral Café for lunch, and then headed to Foam Mart so we could consult with Leland, who’s making the faux brick barrier walls for the exhibit. While I was there I also picked up some more ½” foam rubber to complete Herry Monster’s lower jaw. I also asked the staff about a particular type of foam that the Muppets always used for Gonzo’s beak – a foam which is no longer made, unfortunately. It’s a very porous foam rubber with a high “PPI” count (which stands for pores per inch). The foam they used to use for Gonzo’s beak was about 33 ppi, which contains VERY large pores. They said they had a piece of 25ppi foam rubber that was about 5 feet high, two feet wide, and 4 inches thick. I texted my puppet builder friend Steve Troop (who’s currently working on a Gonzo conversion project for me) and he said to buy it immediately. Foam like that in the original white/yellow color is VERY rare! I followed his orders and grabbed it. When I got home I did some work, relaxed a bit, and then did my auditions and took my nightly WOG. I made a new lower jaw for Herry, and I like this one much better. I made a salad and watched an episode of “The Virginian” before bed. It was another amazing episode which Guest Starred Steve Forrest as a con man. Honestly, these 90 minute TV episodes from 1962 feel more like feature films than actual television episodes. Really terrific!

Thursday the 2nd – $TAR$KY & HUTCH?! – A call came in from my mechanic that my Gran Torino was finished and ready to go. I stashed my Rav in my auxiliary garage, and the mechanic’s assistant came to pick me up to take me to their shop. There was a TON of stuff that needed to be upgraded on the car, and it cost me a considerable amount of money. Initially, I just wanted to bring it in for an oil change! But once they got it up on the lift they noticed all sorts of stuff that needed repair…IMMEDIATELY! First, the timing chain was about ready to break, which could have caused irreparable damage to my engine. The engine mounts were all bad, the oil pan was bad, the differential, etc.! Most of the expense was the labor costs, as some of the items needing repair were hard to get to! But considering that I hadn’t spent any considerable amount of money on the car for many, many years – I figured it was about time. After all she’s 52 years old! With a gaping hole in my wallet, I went home to relax. Later I did my auditions and took my nightly WOG. My gal Angi had just finished a show, so she grabbed us breakfast at Denny’s and came over for some late-night dining. YUM!

Friday the 3rd – I’M GOING BATTY! – In the old days I used to like to encourage young actors to try their luck in the entertainment industry and move to L.A. to give it a shot. But given the current climate of the industry I am no longer able to do that with a clear conscience. This is especially true when speaking with someone I like. My South Dakota pal Dave Baumeister’s daughter Molly has a boyfriend who is a local actor. He wanted to chat about the possibilities of getting into Voice Over in Los Angeles. But I told him the industry had changed so much, that I wasn’t really sure what to tell him. I know I came off as a bit discouraging, and it probably wasn’t the news he wanted to hear, but I had to be really honest. I didn’t want him making a mistake that he would regret, and possibly blame me for. So many people are moving out of L.A. because there is literally nothing going on in town. So the last thing I wanted was for him to move to L.A. with my pal’s daughter in tow and have to deal with the lack of opportunity. But…the decision will ultimately be his. My seamstress Maggie popped over with 3 little bat puppets she made which will accompany The Count in the Monsterpalooza museum exhibit. They are cute beyond belief and they’ll look great posted next to Count Von Count! After relaxing for a bit, I took my nightly WOG. I came back inside to sew tiny little furry “bat bibs” onto the bat puppets. The original bat puppets from “Sesame Street” had a little fur on their chests, and some black sequins on their wings. My sequins should be in on Saturday, so I’ll go grab those and get them finished up. Maggie sewed in little pockets on the backs of their wings so the wires could go up their backs for display. When you put the bat puppets on the wires and wiggle the wires around, the bats’ wings flutter and they look amazing! Everything is coming together nicely for the exhibit!

Saturday the 4th – A MENTAL MECH MESS! – I drove over to pick up my packages at my box, and then grabbed lunch with my assistant Emily at Paty’s. I hit CVS for some supplies, and then grabbed some grocery items at the store. As soon as I got home I started putting the sequins on the bat puppets. They looked amazing! I relaxed for a bit, and later in the night I started working on the placement of the eye pieces on the Herry puppet. Though I know the dimensions, the actual eye pieces are being fabricated by my pal Jim Ojala, and I’ll have them midweek. I was thinking a lot about the eyebrow mechanism for the puppet, and how I was going to make it work. I had an initial idea that I liked, but then I started thinking about a lot of other ways to do it. Then all the ideas got muddled in my head and now I don’t know HOW to do it! I think I need to study videos of the original puppet some more before making a final decision. Since it’s the first Saturday of the month, I’ll be watching Laurel & Hardy films tonight with my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza meal. I’m down to the last 3 films on the “Laurel & Hardy: Year 3” Blu ray. As is my usual habit with the silent films, I like to watch them through once, and then re-watch them with the commentary engaged. Laurel & Hardy expert Randy Skretvedt is a genius. As I was watching the final L&H silent film “Angora Love,” he was explaining what was happening in the film industry at the time, and how sound was coming into movies. I learned stuff about this time in film history that I had never known. For example, the cameraman (who no longer had to hand crank the camera) was put in a soundproof box, so that the microphones wouldn’t pick up the sound of the camera whirring. This was known as the “hotbox,” as the temperatures inside those boxes was stifling. The cameras were now powered by electricity, as was the audio recording equipment, and they had to have governors put on their motors so they would stay in sync. Utterly amazing to listen to! And the films were great! What fun!

Sunday the 5th – BROW BEATEN! – As is usual with my Sundays, it was a very lazy day. Plus, it was Easter – so all was relatively quiet. I made a mock-up brow for the Herry puppet out of armature wire and fur, and I moved it around on the puppet trying to lock in on how to make his brow mech. I initially had the idea for a spring and pulley system, but I’m not sure that’s how they did it. I have to remember that the early Henson puppets were done in the simplest possible ways. I think I have a plan to do it, but I’ll know more after the eye pieces arrive from Jim Ojala. If my concept doesn’t work, I’ll just attach the brow to the puppet so it’s stationary, and not worry about a moving brow. Unlike Oscar, Animal, etc. – I don’t feel that a moveable brow is really that important to Herry’s character. In fact, I never even remembered him having a moving eyebrow until somebody reminded me of that recently. We’ll see what happens. I did some work around the house, took my nightly WOG, and even spent some time afterwards outside in the anti-gravity chair. It was a fairly warm, overcast night. It was very peaceful, and a beautiful night. But this forthcoming week should be full of more exciting things!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

This is how the bats looked when they arrived from Maggie.

After a little “bling,” the bats are ready for prime time!

My old pal Dr. Demento turned 85 years old on April 2nd! Happy birthday, Doc! This picture is from 1986 when I flew out to L.A. to be a guest on Dr. D’s radio show. It just so happened that the great Leon Redbone was a guest on the show too!