The puppet master brings them to life

Paul Andersen

They sit on shelves and stand in corners, while others hang from

closet-like clothes rails. A select few are in glass cases, displayed

like the favored offspring they are. But mostly, they are in pieces:

legs, arms, torsos and a preponderance of heads.

This is a place where puppets are born.

Rene Zendejas built his first puppet when he was 13, beginning a

journey that still continues today some 60 years later. Working from his

cramped Main Street studio in Burbank with a small crew of dedicated

artisans, Zendejas has created a world that includes the Pillsbury

Doughboy and the McDonald’s Fry Kids, Adam and Eve and the Crypt Keeper.

In fact, he’s scratching his head as he tries to clothe Eve in cowboy

clothing for an upcoming shoot.

“I think I’m going to have to take her hands off to get this shirt

on,” he says matter-of-factly. He points to a horse on wheels.

“We carved that one from scratch for Disney -- they gave us carte

blanche on the project -- and I liked it enough that I made another for

myself,” Zendejas says. “The wheels were hard enough that I cast a mold

of them, which made life a lot easier when one of the original’s wheels

broke.

“We had another job where Disney gave us a drawing and said ‘Make

these figures,’ ” he says, laughing. “ ‘Whatever it costs, do it.’ Can

you imagine? Carte blanche again. And we made them.”

The sketch, now framed, sits on the wall, with a picture of the

finished figures below it. Uncannily, the drawing has been seemingly

brought to life.

“They’re now enclosed in a window at Disney Tokyo, I think,” Zendejas

says.

Building puppets and ventriloquist figures is only one facet of the

studio, though. Pulling the strings and bringing them to life is at the

core of Zendejas’ artistry. Through the years, he has toured the world

with an acclaimed nightclub act, performed on Ed Sullivan’s TV show,

hosted his own local Emmy-winning children’s show and worked in movies

like ‘Man in the Moon,’ where he re-created the magic of Howdy Doody,

which he also built.

“We had access to the original molds for that one,” he explains.

“Velma (Dawson, who crafted the original figure) is a dear friend of

mine.”

Zendejas is appearing at the Laguna Art Festival on Wednesdays through

August, as he and assistant Joe Selph give three performances of a fiesta

in miniature.

“I’ve got a bit of arthritis in my neck, so I don’t perform as much as

I used to. It’s hard, because you’re always working in close quarters,”

he says.

But somehow, though, you get the feeling that Rene Zendejas still

likes to pull all the strings.

RENE’S FILE

BORN: September 24, 1927 in San Salvador, Central America -- “I’m a

Libra, but just barely.”

FAMILY STATUS: Never married, no children -- “But I do have my crew:

director Thom Fountain; costumer Doug Seymore; sculptor/painter Eric

Schaper; Joe Selph and James Blankmeyer, assistant puppeteers; Kaci

Treadway, seamstress; and Gary Frank, who puts the vent(riloquist)

figures together.”

FAVORITE FIGURES: Popcorn the Clown, Spanish Rose.

PET PUPPETEER PEEVE: “Please don’t ever, ever call them dolls -- dolls

are inanimate objects!”