Wally’s Week

April 06 – April 12 (2026)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

8 years ago on April 8th we lost our good pal Chuck McCann…or “Uncle Chuckie” to his friends. We still miss him today, and can still hear his booming voice calling to us from across the room.

Since I’ve been enjoying “The Virginian” on DVD so much, the theme song by Percy Faith is one that really sticks with you! (Percy had the hit with “Theme From A Summer Place” in the late 50’s).

Monday the 6th – PAINT PROBLEMS! PACKING PROBLEMS! – Just before I got into my Gran Torino to go run errands I noticed two small paint chips on the edge of my driver’s side door. Could I have opened my door carelessly and whacked into something? Did somebody carelessly whack into my door? Did a few pebbles kick up and do the damage? I’ll never know. But it’s a real drag. I picked up a few packages at my box, including my new Rizzo the Rat replica puppet made by a builder in Florida. Not only was the package about four days late (I believe the postal service guarantees three day delivery, but it took seven), but it was horribly packaged. The single layer of tape stretched across the joins of the top and the bottom of the box was coming off. The tape that was used was of the “temporary” kind, and it’s not meant for shipping packages. Plus, the package had been crushed a little bit, but apparently the puppet inside hadn’t been damaged. The inside of the box hadn’t been packed very well either. Instead of completely surrounding the puppet with bubble wrap or similar packing, there were only four small pieces of foam rubber to protect him. Poor Rizzo was banging around in that box for about a week before he got to me. I sent a “strongly-worded” email to the seller instructing him to severely chastise the person at the mailing facility who packed his box. Improvements need to be made! Considering that the puppet was CONSIDERABLY expensive, I’m shocked it hadn’t been better taken care of. Lesson learned. I met my pal Chris Malmin at Paty’s for a wonderful lunch on the patio, and then came back and did some work. I went down a “rabbit hole” that I eventually regretted. One of the drawers in my kitchen is the proverbial “junk drawer” that everyone has…but this one was relegated to holding mostly hardware-type stuff. Screws, nails, nuts, bolts, and various other things needed for those types of projects were scattered about everywhere in the drawer, and I finally got sick of having to sort through tons of junk to find what I needed. I remember that I had bought a plastic organizer case several years back that would work wonderfully. I ran into the Chaney Room, pulled it out, and it fit into the drawer perfectly! Now came the task of dumping everything out of the drawer, fixing gaps in the drawer itself, cleaning it out, and separating everything I pulled out into different categories. It was tedious as hell, but well worth it! This would be a two-day-or-more project! I figured when I got tired of it, I would simply walk away for a bit and do something else – and then return to it later. I rested for a bit, and then recorded a ton of auditions. I did my nightly WOG (walk/jog), and came back inside to type out Wally’s Week. I scanned some checks for a deposit I was planning on making Tuesday.

Tuesday the 7th – TASTY TUESDAY! – First, I drove my Torino over to my auxiliary garage to put her away for a bit. I got out my Rav 4 (The Gray Ghost) and got some lunch at Taco Bell at the drive-thru. Then I went over to the bank to drop off my monthly deposits. I got over to Skylark Sound in Burbank a little early, so I finished my lunch in the waiting room. I did a session for a video game, which took only about an hour, and then headed home to do get some rest. When I got up and around I tackled my junk drawer project again. I was finally cutting it down to size and it was a good feeling! Plus, it was looking really, really neat and tidy! I recorded my nightly auditions, took my nightly WOG, and then came back inside to make a salad and watch another episode of “The Virginian” on DVD. It was another amazing episode! This show is excellent!

Wednesday the 8th – MORE PUPPET PREP! – My puppet-builder pal Steve Troop drove over so we could see how his progress on the Gonzo conversion project was going. To summarize briefly: when the company Master Replicas released a Gonzo Photo Replica Puppet back in 2008, there were certain inherent problems they encountered with his beak. The real Gonzo has a beak that’s sculpted out of a chuck of foam rubber, but the foam rubber historically decays over time. It’s no problem for their puppet builders to replace it with a new beak, but Master Replicas couldn’t sell a product that was just going to decay after a few years. So they came up with an alternate plan to make a beak out of a more stable element that wouldn’t break down over time. However, this particular type of rubber looks nothing like the porous beak that’s characteristic of Gonzo’s look. To compensate for that, they put a mesh “sock” over the beak to give it a more porous look. The fans weren’t impressed, sadly – and Master Replicas eventually went belly-up. Also, the alignment of the pupils weren’t correct, so it didn’t really look very “Gonzo-ish.” If you’ve noticed, the placement of the pupils on the Muppets make them seem a little “cross-eyed,” as Jim Henson wanted to create a focal triangle between the pupils and the nose of each character, which would play better on television. The factory engaged by Master Replicas missed this little detail, and the pupils were centered on the white plastic eye-pieces. I’ve hired Steve to achieve the impossible. And if anyone can do it, he can. I tasked him with removing the factory head and beak, and sculpting a new head and beak out of the appropriate foam rubber. This way the Gonzo Photo Replica Puppet will look more like the original. It’s a lot of work, but it’s proving to be very successful – as Steve is doing a fantastic job. He’s also going to remove and re-align the pupils to really finesse the final detail. Using the Master Replicas beak as a guide, he sculpted a new head out of foam and placed it into the fur that was surrounding the head temporarily. But the foam he used was much too porous. In the foam rubber world, there’s something called PPI (pores per inch), and the smaller the pores, the denser the foam rubber. Rumor has it they used a 33PPI on the original Gonzo, which gave him a full range of flex and expression. Most foam rubbers are 55PPPI or above. It seemed like Steve was using a 10PPI, which was VERY porous and didn’t take to his paint very well. Luckily, a few weeks ago, I bought a big slab of foam rubber from Foam Mart in Burbank that they said was 25PPI, which is very close to the much-rumored original Gonzo foam. Unfortunately, the 33PPI is no longer being manufactured in white, so unless you can unearth some in an old cushion somewhere, you’re out of luck. But since the hunk of 25PPI foam I bought was five feet high, two feet wide and 4 inches thick, we had PLENTY to experiment with. Plus, I sense that once people see how good the results are with Steve’s Gonzo conversion, he’s going to be very busy converting them for other collectors who want a more accurate look. If the foam breaks down after a few years, Steve will be able to fairly easily replace it with a new beak – just like the real Muppet builders do. But now the real challenge is to find a good paint scheme for his beak. Steve said he believes that once the beak is sculpted, the Muppet builders dye it yellow – as a base color. Then there is a two-part paint scheme over the yellow to give it an iridescent look. But when you look at different pictures of Gonzo, you can tell that each one they make is slightly different. So we have to settle on the look we like, and replicate that. We drove over to Foam Mart to get their opinion, but they were closed for two days for filming! HUH? Is some major motion picture in the works that focuses on puppet building, or refurbishing old patio furniture? Who knows? So we went over to the nearby Hobby Lobby and looked at suitable paints for our paint tests. Steve said that once the base beak has been dyed yellow, a fine mist of fuchsia is sprayed over the beak – very, very lightly. Just enough to “dust” it. Then, once that dries, a fine mist of powder blue is dusted over the fuchsia. The layering of the blue over the fuchsia gives it a wonderful purplish-lavender look! But it’s imperative that you don’t paint it too heavily. We picked up four cans of paint that we thought would work, and we headed to lunch at Lancer’s to discuss strategy. We got the big hunk of foam out of my garage and cut off a few slices to test with. Since the outer skin of the foam had already yellowed with age, we didn’t need to dye it. But we gave it a light overspray of the fuchsia. Then the blue. BINGO! It looked amazing! That’s how we’re doing it. I gave Steve the entire hunk of 25PPI foam to start his work. But because it’s only 4 inches thick, he’s going to have to cut the beak out VERY carefully to maximize every square inch of available foam. Steve took off and I went inside to do some work. Later my friends the Pendletons told me they were coming to town, and we met at Paty’s for a late dinner. Then I came home to do some auditions, relax for a bit, and then do my WOG. As I’m continuing to work on my replica of Herry Monster for the upcoming Monsterpalooza museum exhibit, my next step is dyeing a chunk of ½” foam rubber red for his tongue. I put some very hot water in a pail, mixed in a half bottle of cherry red dye, and put three small pieces of foam rubber in and swirled them around. I let them sit for a while, and then dumped everything out. But they didn’t come out quite as red as I had hoped. I’m going to try again, but I’m going to use less water, the rest of the dye in the bottle, and only dye one piece this time – in hopes of getting a deeper, richer red color.

Thursday the 9th – ON THURSDAY – IT’S THOR! – About a year ago my pal Thor (who’s a computer genius) and I started putting together the components for my new computer system. There’s really nothing wrong with the current system I’m using, but it’s older – so I’m preparing for the eventual switchover now. That way I’m not caught with my pants down later. He set up the new machine on my kitchen table and started migrating over some of the programs I like. Once the desktop becomes a mirror image of my current desktop, then we can start discussing data transfer to the new machine. I’m not a big fan of change (if something works, stick with it) but I know there will be certain changes I need to acclimate to when the new computer gets installed. We still have a lot of work to do. Alex In Wonderland came over so we could get her started on the body for Herry Monster. We spread the fur out on my living room floor, sketched out a suitable form for his body on some poster board, and I sent her on her way with the fur and the artist’s concept. It’s not an actual pattern, because she’ll take my concept and add in seam allowances and pattern it professionally. Her husband Mike was working with Robo-Hutch in the garage. A while back, I had Mike install a servo motor in the neck of the mannequin that rides around with me in the Gran Torino. The mannequin is dressed like Hutch from the old TV show “Starsky & Hutch,” complete with a wig, side burns, period-accurate sunglasses, a black turtleneck, and a leather coat. With a small knob that sits between the two front seats, I can move his head from left to right. It’s fun to watch people at stoplights when they see Robo-Hutch turn to look at them. But over time the head has gotten quite “wobbly,” and he’s starting to look more like a bobblehead than a robot. Mike thinks the motor is wearing out and needs to be replaced. He’s taking Robo-Hutch back to his shop to assess the situation. When Alex and I cut off a piece of sky blue fur for Herry’s body, I took a piece that was leftover and wrapped it around the foam rubber head form that I had built. It looked amazing, and for the first time I was really able to visualize what he’s going to look like! FUN! I love it when a puppet comes together! I worked around the house tidying up the place for the maids’ arrival on Friday. I rested a bit, recorded an audition, and then took my nightly WOG. I even spent some time outside in the anti-gravity chair enjoying the quiet, overcast (but not cold) night. When I came back inside I took the piece of foam rubber that I had re-dyed cherry red and started cutting out tongue forms. My first try didn’t go so well, as it was apparent that I had become quite rusty at carving foam puppet tongues. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.

Friday the 10th – BLAST FROM THE PAST! – The maids arrived just before 1pm and cleaned up Planet Wallywood. My friend Brittney Powell was coming to town for a few days and would be staying at my house, so I tore through the Puppet Room closet to pull out all of the stuff I had been storing in there to make room for her luggage. Not only did I have bags of puppet materials in there, but I had bins full of negatives, boxes full of photos, and photo albums that I had stashed in there for my photo album project. I took everything down to the Chaney Room and stashed it there so she’d have plenty of room during her stay. Later I took my WOG, and then made a salad and watched another episode of “The Virginian.” The amount of actors on this show who went on to super stardom is staggering. Robert Duvall was in an episode the other night, LONG before he became a star. And tonight’s episode featured a very young Joey Heatherton! It brought back fond memories, because I was helping Joey back in 1998 shore up her Voice Over demos. She was very pleasant and we had a lot of fun. It sure was neat seeing her on the show, and barely past the age of 18 years old! WILD!

Saturday the 11th – TONGUE BATH! – After sliding by my box and picking up a package, I headed to the airport to pick up my pal Brittney who was coming to town for a few days to visit friends. Once I picked her up we went over to Paty’s to grab lunch and catch up. During lunch, I got a text that another package had arrived at my box, so we stopped by to grab it. Since Brittney has very specific dietary requirements, we stopped by the grocery store so she could stock up on her favorite foods. Then we got back to Planet Wallywood and got her settled in the Puppet Room. She had been up since the early morning hours to catch her flight, so she needed some downtime. I took the opportunity to head to the Tranquility Zone to catch a short nap too. Later, we headed to Little Toni’s to grab a late dinner. Then I got back home and I did some work around the house. It was raining so I didn’t get out to do my nightly WOG. But I spent the night working on carving a new foam rubber puppet tongue while listening to some music. It was looking pretty sweet!

Sunday the 12th – TWO BOBS IN ONE DAY! – Today was supposed to be Bob Baker Day at a local park. Once a year, the gang at the beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater stages a huge outing in a local park to celebrate their founder with puppets, people, and fun in the park. But because of the rain, it had to be postponed until September. They announced on their social media that because of the cancellation, they would be adding shows to their Sunday schedule at their theatre. The current show, “Hooray L.A.” is the one that I got to narrate for them. Several of the bits in the show had changed since last year, and I wanted to check out the show to see how the new voice tracks sounded, and see the new bits. But by the time I went onto their website to get tickets, both the 10:30 and the 1:30 shows had sold out. I contacted their social media person and asked if they were going to add any more shows that day, since I thought it might be something Brittney would enjoy seeing as well. They said those were the only shows scheduled, but they would gladly save me a few seats. BINGO! So we headed down to Highland Park to enjoy the show. The rain had mostly stopped, so even though it was still a bit overcast, the weather didn’t hamper us much. We got to the theater and got checked in, and had the usual marvelous time at the show! The only problem I have with a Bob Baker Marionette Show, is that I literally CANNOT wipe the smile off my face for the full hour of the show’s runtime! When the show is over my face hurts from smiling so much. It’s simply a delightful time, EVERY time! It’s fun to chat with the kids who work at the theater after the show and encourage them with compliments. It’s amazing to see that a group of 20-somethings are so interested in the art of puppetry that they are continuing the art form into the next generation. But after the show I was starving, so we drove into Burbank and got a table outside at Bob’s Big Boy. It was still a bit chilly to be sitting on the patio, but Bob’s had the heater on. Plus the vegetable beef soup tasted particularly yummy on a cool, overcast day. I got back home to relax, and then later took my nightly WOG. After that I sat down and carved out a second puppet tongue. This one turned out even better. But now I have two really good options!

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

These faux brick walls are being constructed by the folks at Foam Mart for our Monsterpalooza museum exhibit. They’re not finished yet, but they’re looking VERY good!

One of the smiling faces you see when you get seated at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater!

Ed’s at the organ, and the show’s about to start!

Try and see “Hooray L.A.” before it closes!

At Bob’s Big Boy I met Sharpei…a Native American Indian dog. I had never seen a dog of this breed before, and she was LOVELY! I’m obsessed! She seemed like a mix of a Collie and a Husky!