November 3, 1975. Thirty years ago this morning, I stepped out of my comfort zone and did something that was pretty unlike me. I have never had the courage to try it again (I don't know why), and yet I have cherished every moment it produced.

I was a freshman in college at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. I was starting to figure out that my major was going to be Computer Science. I was still trying to fit in, trying to find my way in life.

I went downtown to Columbia College, to their building (long gone now) on Lake Shore Drive and Ohio. It was an old building, and I remember having to get to the top floor of the building via elevator that 1) had an operator and 2) felt like a freight elevator.

Part of the top floor was the television facility. There was a class in session - just a plain Television Production class.

The place was pretty crowded, however, and pretty active. There had to be 20-30 students there as well as about 20 "others" milling around. plus a few people in the middle of the studio - the focus of today's exercise.

One of those people is Thane Lyman, the Chairman of the Television Department at Columbia, and instructor of the class.

In the middle of it all was the focus of today's session - a legend in Chicago Children's Television. a gentleman by the name of Bill Jackson.

I had come today to audition to be a puppeteer. A television puppeteer.

Any broadcast television experience? No. Have you ever puppeteered before? No. Do you do any voices? No. As I said - way out of the comfort zone for me. (The voice thing really wasn't an issue - Bill did ALL of the voices for all of the characters. The call today was to replace a puppeteer that had left the show. The person would step in next month to start the second season of Bill's show "Gigglesnort Hotel" that was on the local ABC-affiliate WLS Channel 7.

I couldn't tell you exactly why I did this. In high school I had been involved with the school's television studio/station for almost 3 years. At that time, few high schools in Chicago had a full fledged studio (with classes in television production). I had learned to be on-air talent (being an anchor on the daily news shows that we produced and broadcasted to 2,700 students in their home rooms). I really got hooked on it. But when graduation came, I realized that there wasn't anyplace to go to go further and still stay in Chicago. I love this town. My family and friends were here. I had no reason and no want to leave. I graduation from high school and left television behind.

One of the guys from high school contacted me, told me about the auditions, and coerced my to go. I had nothing to lose. I'd get to meet Bill Jackson. I'd get to see Columbia College.

I don't remember the group of people that were there to audition. There were only 20 (I think it was 22) that were there. I remember some people bringing headshots with them, so they must have been the "pros" that had come. Or maybe actors just trying something else.

The audition process was simple - we would be given one of Bill's characters and we would do one of a few pre-set scenes with Bill and another puppeteer of his - Nancy Wettler. The Television Production class will shoot and record the auditions.

We all gathered together in a corner somewhere where Nancy gave us a few pointers on how the puppets operated. I remember a few things about Nancy that really struck me - First, I was actually looking down at her. I'm pretty damn short at 5' 3", and yet she's shorter than me. I found out later that she was a dancer as well, which would explain the next thing I remember - she was flexible, almost pliable. As she demonstrated how to hold the puppets and move them across the stage (studio), there was a certain fluidity and gracefulness to it.

Up to this point, I had been a bit nervous. I still wanted a shot and to this day I still can't tell you why.

We would each be doing a scene. There were a couple of scenes that we'd be alternating around as we're called-up. I don't remember using any props, but the set was built simply but exactly how any typical set piece is used on the show. There's usually a table that you would be behind. The puppets would move back and forth behind.

It was clear that to run one of Bill's puppets wasn't going to be easy. When you think of hand puppets, you immediately think of The Muppets. Those puppets are basically made of fabric, with heads that are typically - with many exceptions - not much larger than the size of your hand, maybe twice the size. Bill's puppets have heads that are made of latex rubber (that he made himself). The torsos are foam rubber, and then are fully clothed. Each puppet weighed a few pounds. Some were lighter, some were less. The mouths were different from character to character. In most cases their were short rubber tubes glued to inside of the top and bottom of the mouth, so you would slip your fingers into the tubes to manipulate the mouth. In some characters, because of their size and design, the use of tubes wasn't necessary and you could just lay your hand and fingers into the mouth an easily move it opened and closed.

But, as we learned together, the first problem and the primary thing that people get wrong when amateurs pick up a puppet is something very simple. When making the puppet talk, most people instinctively do something opposite than what's required: The close the mouth when speaking a syllable instead of opening the mouth. Think about it - the instinctive reaction is to touch your fingers together with every syllable, when the exact opposite is needed - opening the mouth. Try it. Think about it. Use the simple sentence "How are you today?". When you say "How", the mouth starts closed and then opens. When you say "are". the mouth closes slightly and opens. "You" is the same way. "Today" is a quick close-open-close-open. You open for vowels and close for consonants. So, you must pay attention to your hand and what the puppet says. Oh, let's really make it harder - you don't supply the voice to the puppet, someone else does. Now you not only have to concentrate on the mouth movement, but you must listed to see how the person (in this case, it was always Bill) is playing the voice. Each take could have slightly different pacing - you can't think too far ahead. You have to listen intently and make the correct movements. (What you find out later is that Bill never does a line the same way each take. There is always a slightly different "read" for each take). You couldn't really anticipate what was going to happen - when you do, the error looks worse than being behind the speech.

To operate the puppet, you had to extend your arm straight into the air. It can't "list" in any direction. It had to be straight up and down, without flexing at the elbow.

The puppets had long torsos. Because of their length, many times the end of the body would be near your shoulder. Now the thing that made Bill's characters so great is because they looked great. When you saw them on screen, you wanted to see as much of them as possible, lending more toward thinking that they were actually "little people" instead of hand puppets. When shot, it wasn't just heads at the bottom of the screen - you wanted to see torso - body - as well. To do that, you'd have to get your head out of the shot - that would mean that - while you held your arm perfectly straight, you had to roll your head over onto your shoulder. Now when you looked straight ahead, everything would be a little crooked because, well, your head is crooked.

On top of moving the mouth on the puppet while your arm was straight up into the air and your head swiveled out of the way to get out of the shot, there were times when the character had to move around the set. We were told to duck-walk. You know, crouch down low and try to move your legs, sort of like a duck, to walk around the set. While paying attention to the mouth, keeping straight and keeping your head out of the shot, we now have to worry about balance and falling.

Now, these puppets are actually characters in a scene. They don't just look straight ahead toward a camera - they talk to and interact with other characters. You are an actor, acting through the puppet. Now, you could try looking up - sideways, mind you because you head is tilted toward the side to get it out of the shot - but you will probably be behind a piece of set and you won't know where the cameras are. This is important because sometimes you may have to "cheat" toward or away from the camera to make the angles look correct. The only way to make the shot work correctly with the characters interacting properly is to actually see the camera image on a monitor. So, underneath major set pieces there would be a a small black and white monitor, propped-up so that as you are duckwalking with your arm straight-up in the air, head cocked to the side and probably operating the puppet's mouth, you can watch what your character is doing.

Here comes still another problem that is more difficult than you would initially imagine. We are all aware of what a mirror looks like and what it does. You know EXACTLY how to move when looking in a mirror. What was SHOCKING is that the image in the monitor is actually BACKWARDS from how a mirror works. Your "gut feel" says to move right when you have to go left. Having the monitor is a blessing and curse because you can see exactly what is going on, but you have to interpret what the monitor tells you before you move and do the opposite..

My head had sufficiently started to spin by this time. There was a hell of a lot to remember - stuff that I had never had to do in my life, stuff that didn't make a lot of sense, stuff that, quite frankly, hurt. How could I remember all of this? Not only remember, but execute this simultaneously and seamlessly?

Watching the monitors you'll see another problem that pops-up. Your arm may be straight and the character is straight and not listing, but your character may be looking up high a little too much or down low too much in relation to the other character or camera. So not only do you have to concentrate on operating the mouth with your hand/fingers, but your wrist may have to be cocked slightly tilt the head downward or upward, again depending on what is going on in the scene.

Remember: Duckwalk, arm straight up in the air, head cocked, watching the monitor and interpreting the relative placement of characters and props, and moving the mouth in-sync with the character voice, cocking wrist to make sure character is "facing" the proper direction.

Oh, then the killer. Each of the character's wardrobe has slits cut into the forearms of the sleeves. A "dummy" stuffed hand can be removed from the character's arm. Why? Well, you know, these characters are just "small actors", so they have to be able to interact realistically. That means you have to interact with props and most times, just gesture to make the character come to life. There are sleeves with sewn-on gloves made out the exact same material as the characters costume. The puppeteer would put one of these matching sleeves on their "free" arm and put their hand into the slit on the forearm of the character sleeve and through the cuff. You can then just use your own hand as the character's hand and now you can interact with props or just gesture to emphasize spoken lines. But, remember, that extra arm and hand is now also above your head, attached to the puppet.

Duckwalk, one arm straight in the air, other arm in the air captured through the character's sleeve, head cocked to the side, watch the monitor, "saying" dialog lines, keeping the head looking in the correct "plane"

My head was spinning. I decided to try and pay attention. Pay attention to how the set is setup. Pay attention to the content of the scenes being done. Pay attention to the lines. And then, pay attention to the people in from of me - the competition. I want to see how everyone is handling these Rules of TV Puppetry.

And that's when I realize that nobody is nailing this. Some of the characters are large and are just pretty unwieldy and people had trouble wrangling them. Almost everyone has issues with the voice sync. Using props with the second hand is a mess. Some people have problems with balance. Lots have the characters looking high into the air, not paying attention to the monitors.

My turn starts to come up. I get my character - and to this day I can't remember who I had! I have a sneaky suspicion it was Dirty Dragon. The scene is short - under a minute, probably. Long enough to seem like an eternity. One thing I figured out quickly. When you're behind the set, looking at the monitor - don't rely on the monitor. For me, I have always been a guy that totally grasped spacial relationships. If, when I was in position, I took a second to look up, and size-up where the set pieces were, where all the characters were and - before I duck behind the scenes a quick look around and look at the camera positions. My mind could place them in a virtual scene, and I would "know" exactly where everything is. I could use the monitor - not for movement but to fine tune positioning, like making sure the head is in the correct plane. Balance is difficult. Coordination is hard - I'm totally uncoordinated and this is pushing me. I feel like I have memorized the lines so I can push that "process" back in my head and work on movement, getting the sync correct, getting that head stable and looking in the correct direction.

It went fast. Hardly anyone was left by the time I got done. I left and went home. I don't remember the trip at all.

A month and a half later, I was at WLS Channel 7 puppeteering the 1st show of the second season of Gigglesnort Hotel.

Everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - that happened while puppeteering and working for Bill I have cherished all of my life. It really was that cliché thing - it was the time of my life. I've been in the IT industry for 25 years and yet it's this time of my life that I felt alive, vibrant, excited, energized, and like I was actually accomplishing something. THANK YOU, BILL.

Oh, and one more oddity from that day. Who was in the Television Production class at Columbia? My wife, Carol. We started seeing each other about 4 months after the auditions and have been together ever since.

Time of my life.