Larry Schmidt was a third generation Californian, born in
Berkeley on what he fondly calls “The coattails of The Golden Age of
Marionettes”. Marionettes were Larry’s passion, and he produced some of the
finest examples for his yearly Halloween show “Driveway Follies”.
Larry received a B F A in fine art from The California
College of the Arts in Oakland, made costumes for the Oakland Ballet, and
joined the San Francisco Puppet Guild. As a young man he studied Indonesian
mask dance from Suzanne Suwanda, performed with Leonard Pitt, and then began
building marionettes for a production of Stravinsky’s Firebird. In 2007, he
first presented “Driveway Follies”, an alternative “site-specific”, as well as
“calendar specific” marionette show in the driveway of his Oakland family
triplex. The roof of his garages also featured a “Halloween Haunt” that was
populated with animatronic Halloween “dark ride” creations that Larry had
designed and sculpted himself.Larry is survived by his many puppets and life partner and
inspiration Carl Linkhart.
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