ZING! WENT THE STRINGS RETROSPECTIVE HONORS BOB BAKER'S LIFE IN PUPPETRY.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

Crafting his bus tour of downtown Los Angeles, Americana slide-show historian Charles Phoenix was looking to draw a parallel between our downtown and Disneyland. Tucked away practically under a bridge where First Street becomes Beverly Boulevard, Phoenix found his Fantasyland.

Admittedly, Phoenix's discovery of the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre wasn't exactly the pop-cultural equivalent of unearthing King Tut's tomb. Baker and his puppeteers had been performing up to seven shows a week at the site for nearly 44 years. And Phoenix had passed the building repeatedly while commuting to and from work in the mid-1980s.

``I was always thinking, 'Hmmm, I wonder what's in there?' '' says Phoenix, who will host a retrospective and tribute to Baker at the theater Thursday through Sunday. ``When I went in and saw a puppet show, I couldn't believe it. 'What decade am I in?' You're in a timeless world before the show even starts. It's absolutely a living museum.''

Baker, the man behind the studio - and behind the strings - earned his first salary performing a puppet show at age 8, and is still designing, building and operating his creations 73 years later. He's a former actor, animator and consultant on film and TV projects who has designed theme-park window displays and played close to every county fair in the state several times over. Given the puppeteer's brushes with Hollywood - through private birthday parties and film work - Phoenix affectionately refers to Baker as ``a kind of Forrest Gump.''

Baker, 81, who still lives in his childhood home in Koreatown, figures he caught the puppet bug at the age of 6. The young Baker was taking dance and piano lessons at the time. Working in a stage show produced by his uncle, Baker became entranced by the show's dolls and puppets.

Eventually the electric trains and other toys went; Baker only wanted puppets. His mother bought him two from the old Bullocks Wilshire and hired the store's demonstrator to train him. The store paid him to perform his first puppet show for a birthday party.

``I got a lot of money, and I said, 'Well, I'll keep doing this, this is great,' '' recalls Baker, who has performed for the likes of Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball and Ronald Reagan. ``It wasn't the money or the idea that I was being paid. I was now a performer, and I kept doing it through school. Every time I'd try to get out of it, I'd end up back in it.''

He plans to establish a school of puppetry and a film shooting stage at the newly acquired land adjacent to the theater, and he rather self- effacingly suggests that anybody can learn to work the strings and delight an audience of children and adults alike.

``Many times, we'll get stuck without a puppeteer, and we'll ask the person on stage doing the drops or the lights to hold the puppet on stage and do something with it,'' says Baker. ``Actually, I don't like to put people out on the floor right away, but as a group, they can get out there in a matter of weeks.''

Baker is a designer and a master puppeteer, not a collector. The Marionette Theatre has a stable of close to 3,000 puppets worth between $400,000 and $500,000. Where an average performance would utilize 125 puppets, the tribute - titled ``Charles Phoenix Presents Bob Baker: This Is Your Life'' - will feature close to 600, including many that have not been seen in years. Baker, who no longer performs at his own theater, will do a special performance for the tribute.

The show - appropriate for all ages - will feature cake and ice cream in the theater's adjacent party room. In addition to bringing in young audiences, Phoenix figures his following of pop-culture Americana lovers will also flock to discover or rediscover a local treasure.

``Nothing lasts forever, so let's appreciate this while we can,'' Phoenix says of Baker. ``We both agreed that we would create a special kind of show or tribute with more puppets on stage than have ever been on his stage in a single show before.''

Going by sheer audience numbers, Baker's marionettes don't figure to give the ``It's a Small World'' creations a run for their money, but if you total the BBMT performances, tours and fairs, the number of people entertained by a Bob Baker marionette figures to have climbed well past 1 million, according to D.J. Haanraadts, Phoenix's producer.

Baker shrugs off the question of audience volume, leaving calculations to other people. Yes, he's well-traveled. Yes, the Bob Baker Marionettes are well-known. Exactly how well-known is anybody's guess.

``When you're working at doing something, you have no idea what the impact is of something you're doing, or who you're reaching,'' he says. ``You're basically building puppets, doing shows and birthday parties, making sure the lights work and hoping to God someone will come in and buy a ticket.''

As long as they do, Baker will continue to work.

``People keep saying, 'When are you going to retire?' I kept looking at them and saying, 'Why do I want to retire? I already have a hobby,' '' says Baker.

``The thing is, I still have a lot I want to do. I don't feel 81 most of the time. The only problem is, I look in the mirror some mornings and say, 'I don't know who you are, but if you hold still, I'll shave you.' ''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

CHARLES PHOENIX PRESENTS BOB BAKER: THIS IS YOUR LIFE

Where: Bob Baker Marionette Theatre, 1345 W. First St., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; through Sunday.

Tickets: $50. Call [phone], or visit www.godblessamericana.com.

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Photo:

(1 -- 3) Bob Baker, 81, below, will be manning the marionettes for a tribute to his more than seven decades in puppetry. The show, at his downtown theater will feature close to 600 puppets.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer