I read today that Don Wallis, “The Puppet Man”of San Luis Obispo passed away. puppeteer whose mobile shows entertained SLO County kids and parents for three decades has died.
I was fortunate to be among the crowd when Don performed one of his first shows at the Diablo Canyon Information Center parking lot.in February 1976.
Since than Don Wallis, “The Puppet Man,” performed thousands of shows countywide for over 40 years. He was a highlight at protest rallies, Mission Plaza events, local schools, the Swap Meet in Nipomo and especially SLO’s Downtown Farmers Market.
For many years, Don was a fixture at Thursday Night’s Farmer’s Market, setting up his stage on one of the cross streets and attracting passersby to stop and watch as he manipulated the hand puppets and acted out the voices using a microphone headset.
Don died of a heart attack on Wednesday, August 18. He was 74. He is survived by a younger brother, John Wallis, of Medford, Oregon and close friend, Einar Berg, 89, who said that Wallis was a “good man who will be sorely missed.”
He was a larger-than-life man, in more ways than one,” Berg said. “He and his roommate at the time would go and buy a gallon of ice cream. It would go down in one helping.”
SLO NATIVE STARTED IN THEATER
Don Wallis was born in SLO in 1946, graduated from Mission Prep and lived in the city for most of his adult life, his brother said.
He was raised in northern San Joaquin Valley for much of his youth, and studied literature, theater and cultural history at Cuesta College, Cal Poly and UCSB.
Don Wallis performs with puppets at the Nipomo Swap Meet in March of 2000. François Laborde
One of his three books, “The Puppet Man: New & Selected Poems,” notes that Wallis was a spokesman for children, mental health and social change, as well as a poet, playwright, prose writer and artist, according to a biography on the book jacket, Berg said.
“(Wallis) acted in 100 roles on stage and radio before starting his 30-year career as a puppeteer,” the biography notes.
After performing in stage theater shows for years into his early adulthood in SLO County, including playing Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol,” Wallis began focusing on performing local puppet shows using a wooden theater booth that concealed his face from the audience.
“He carved his puppets by hand and sewed the costumes himself,” John Wallis said. “He was very into theater, and this was a way for him to continue his involvement as an adult with a one-man show.”
The set revealed only his hand-orchestrated characters to viewers, his voice acting out their parts in the background as the figures danced and moved.
Among his shows was an anti-smoking campaign, “Puppets for Health,” sponsored by county Public Health’s Tobacco Control program.
Wallis told the Telegram-Tribune in a 1979 story that he had been a chain smoker who kicked the habit.
The anti-smoking show featured characters that evoked cheers and boos for Bernie, the hero, and Witchy, who offered his “poison” to prospective victims in an educational narrative that explained the harms and addictive qualities of nicotine.
“Underline this three times,” Wallis was quoted as saying in the article about quitting smoking. “I can breathe a lot better — it’s not painful — and I’ve got a lot more energy. That’s important for a showman.”
Don Wallis, seen here in March 2000, performed as “The Puppet Man” for 30 years at locations around San Luis Obispo County. François Laborde
HOW HE A BECAME A PUPPETEER
A 1997 Telegram-Tribune article described Wallis’ performance of “Little Red Riding Hood” and its unique theatrical spin. The biggest difference? The Big Bad Wolf character didn’t eat anyone.
“Mr. Wolf has some nasty-looking teeth, scary yellow claws, and his ears are permanently pulled back in a predatory pose,” reporter Mary Schiller wrote. “But when Mr. Wallis told his version of the fairy tale at the Nipomo Swap meet one recent Sunday, Mr. Wolf wasn’t really all that scary.”
Schiller continued: “He had rather a cool saunter, he liked talking to the audience, and he didn’t eat anyone. A hot dog with mustard was more to his liking than a grandma or red-caped kid.”
Wallis explained his interest in puppeteering came as an early way to communicate and connect.
“I came from a very quiet family,” Wallis said in 1997, explaining his brother was ill and demanded the family’s attention. “So I was the kid who was shoved in the corner. Out of that solitude, I desperately needed to verbally communicate my thoughts and feelings. And I needed to physically touch other living beings. It was as simple as that.”
Don Wallis performs with puppets at the Nipomo Swap Meet in March of 2000. François Laborde
Wallis said in the article that he believed children like puppets because they’re smaller than kids and “children never get to see anything smaller than they are.”
As for the grown-ups, they get to slip back into “sensory, emotional memories of childhood,” he said then.
“What Don does with the hand puppets is amazing,” his friend Nancy Abbott said in a 2000 Tribune story. “They dance.”
ACTIVISM, POETRY AND FRIENDSHIP
Berg said Wallis liked playing theatrical roles of high quality with a political bent.
During the Vietnam War, he performed alternative service in a maternity ward as a conscientious objector in Berkeley. And he protested against the operation of the nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon, citing safety concerns.
“He was a confidant for many of the residents at Judson Terrace Homes, where he lived for the past 10 years, listening to them at the end of their lives,” Berg said. “He was generous to a fault.”
Judson Terrace serves low-income seniors 55 and older.
Wallis was also a familiar face as a parking garage attendant in downtown SLO in recent years, greeting people with a joke or an amusing poem, or going into character if kids were in the car at the pay window.
John Wallis said his brother, 11 years older than he, would often amuse John’s three children, as well as the daughter of a second brother now deceased. Don Wallis didn’t have any children of his own.
“He had a funny side and serious side, too,” John Wallis said. “He’d talk to the nieces and nephews in crazy voices on the phone. Then he’d say now, let’s talk serious, and he’d get into things that weren’t just of entertainment value.
###
The post Don Wallis, more than SLO’s ‘Puppet Man’, dies at 74 appeared first on Information Press.