Johnny McDonald | Downtown News

Not many who visit Balboa Park are aware of a small theater located in the Palisades area, west of the Intentional settlement. But young impressionable children know the place well.

Front rows in the 262-seat theater are reserved for the 2, 3, and 4 year olds.

Marie Hitchcock, for whom the theater is named, began there in 1947 with her marionettes and continued performing almost up to her death in 1994.

Now, Joe Fitzpatrick, a former educator and entertainer from Manhattan, continues the legacy as manager/board president and one of several talented puppeteers. Their midday performances are Wednesday through Sunday and the puppets used vary by performance, and include full stage marionettes, “muppet” style and hand puppets.

This month you can bring the kids to see Millie Patterson’s string puppets performing in “Something’s Fishy,” Aug. 7-11 and 14-18. You can also catch Fitzpatrick’s Big Joe Productions’ hand puppet show, “King Midas: The Golden Touch,” from Aug 21-25.

The Puppet Theater was originally part of a single, large unit erected for the 1935-36 Exposition. Ten years later it became a home for family type entertainment and is considered to be the longest-running puppet theater in the country.

Fitzpatrick is a busy guy, if he’s not on stage – and that’s several times a year – he’s sweeping out the place, painting sets, posting changes of upcoming attractions, and marketing and publishing their newsletter, all things he’s done for 12 years.

Other performers include Enid Bartnicki, Eva Kvaas, Millie Patterson, Gaston Morineau, Julie Otto and a nationally acclaimed 14-year-old youngster, named Zachary Crook.

“Zachary, who has been with us since he was 8, received a scholarship to the National Convention of Puppeteers in Atlanta last year,” Fitzpatrick said.

“Patterson performed as a mine in San Francisco, Gaston is a teacher in South Bay and is our best puppet maker,” he continued. “Otto likes to do big life-sized puppets and Kvaas is from the Peter Kid’s workshop. Crook, who has three shows this summer, has taken classes in Los Angeles.”

The University of Connecticut at one time was the only school where you could get a degree in puppetry, but Fitzpatrick said now there are numerous schools.

“When I hear someone say they came here as a child and now they’re bringing their children, that makes my heart sing,” Fitzpatrick said.

Does anyone still do Punch and Judy, I wondered? According to Fitzpatrick, the popular puppet show of decades past is no longer performed in the United States. “It’s too violent,” he said.

For more information, visit balboaparkpuppets.com.

A museum it is

A few years ago Lord Montegu, founder of the London Motor Museum, visited the San Diego Auto Museum and made the observation that it was just a car collection and not a museum.

Not so, says current Executive Director Paula Brandes, pointing out the educational features and the three yearly floor changes that comply with visitors’ wishes.

They recently featured the Latino cultural modifications with low riders, currently the attraction is car toys and soon they will honor the 60th anniversary of GM’s Corvette, starting Oct. 4.

“Definitely something for everyone with car toys,” Brandes said. “We have pedal cars, a junior dragster, Soap Box Derby cars (featuring San Diego’s Derby racing legend, Gil Klecan), bumper cars made street legal and all sorts of bikes.

“[Research Director] Kenn Colclasure is the point of contact for most of this and works with exhibitors to acquire what we need [vehicles, memorabilia, etc.],” she said. “He also writes the narratives.”

For more info visit sdautomuseum.org.

Elsewhere around the Park – Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein’s 90-minute presentation exploring the language of Shakespeare this past June was so successful, he’s rescheduled another on  Aug. 10 starting at 11 a.m. It’s a how-to guide for student actors, directors and anyone who wants to feel more comfortable with the Bard … Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age will put these local fossils into a broader historical context at the Natural History Museum that includes global climate changes and dramatic pulses of extinction. One of the highlights is a replica of a 40,000-year-old, frozen baby mammoth specimen … the Nighttime Zoo’s artistic, acrobatic and musical performances bring attention to their newest exhibit, the Conrad Prebys Australian Outback … On Aug. 14, the Veterans Memorial Museum will celebrate the end of World War II with Spirit of ‘45.

After an award winning, 38-year sports-writing career with the San Diego Union and authoring three books, Johnny McDonald now considers writing a hobby. He enjoys covering aspects of the port district, convention center, Balboa Park, zoo, and stories with a historical bent. You can reach him at [email protected].