Lewis Mahlmann (September 6, 1927 – March 18, 2014) was the master puppeteer at Children's Fairyland for 43 years. He retired in 2006.
Mahlmann made his own puppets and their costumes by hand, and taught puppetry at San Francisco State University.
excerpt from an interview. info about Mahlmann and the history of the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild. a list of books he's written.
This is the Opening Curtain and photos of Lewis Mahlmann's DVD presented to him at his 80th Birthday at Storybook Puppet Theater at Children's Fairyland in Oakland, CA.
Mahlmann also designed some of the features in Fairyland like the Japanese Tea Garden and the Emerald City Stage. 1
Mahlmann was the 2014 recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Partners in Preservation award from the Oakland Heritage Alliance.
Links and References
- Lewis Mahlmann returns to Fairyland for a tribute to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in puppets by C. J. Hirschfield Oakland Local July 9, 2013
- An Incomplete History of The San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild
- Sixty Years of Pulling Strings at Fairyland on Oakland Momma
- Oakland puppet theater is nation's longest-running East Bay Express August 25, 2016
- Oakland Children's Fairyland puppeteer Lewis Mahlmann dies SFGate.com April 17, 2014
