Steve Meltzer has the world on a string. The gifted puppeteer not only has put together his own one-man show but performs it in a theater he built himself, doing comic turns with a series of raffish puppets and marionettes of his own design.
Aimed at younger children, the show is emceed by Meltzer, whose casual, self-deprecating and witty patter immediately puts the tots at ease, opening them up to the magic and wizardry of his beloved art form. Within minutes, the audience begins whooping and laughing at the antics of Freddie, Meltzer's sassy assistant; a gangly music-hall song & dance performer named Calvin; Too Loose, a white-faced gymnast; and Elmer, a circus clown who's trying desperately to become a juggler.
Music and song are worked cleverly into the routines; my four-year-old grandson particularly loved it when a guitar-playing puppet named Woody Woodson argued with Meltzer over the lyrics of the song they were dueting on. Instead of "On Top of Old Smokey," it should be "On Top of Old Spaghetti!" he thundered. Meltzer also pauses here and there to talk about the history of puppetry, and even unveils an ancient, hand-cranked Victrola to show how people used to listen to music in the pre-CD and Internet days.
At the conclusion of the show, Meltzer introduces the audience to his museum, showing the 9-foot-high clown marionette who resides there, not to speak of a 22-puppet animated display rescued from a department store window, and a gallery of Czech-made puppets. All told Melzner has collected some 400 puppets from around the world, many of which he has restored in his adjoining workshop.
In 2007, Melzner produced his own DVD of "Puppetolio!" which is available from his website. Melzner also organized the first Santa Monica Puppetry Festival in Oct. 2008 at which such puppet luminaries as Dan Horn, Tony Urbano, Rene, Bob Baker and Mallory Lewis took part, plus guest of honor Leslie Caron (who starred in MGM's classic, puppet-themed film, "Lili").
