What’s an Oobi?
Written by Franklin Haynes
Oobi was a famous children’s program here in America created by Little Airplane Productions.
Geared toward toddlers on up to about 5 years old. My daughter loved watching Oobi for years.
Josh Selig, the developer of the series, created Oobi shortly after leaving Sesame Street, which he had a creative hand on since its early seasons. He developed the idea for Oobi while watching bare-handed puppeteers audition for Ulica Sezamkowa, the Polish version of Sesame Street.
The series features Muppet performers Tim Lagasse, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Noel MacNeal, and Tyler Bunch in starring roles.
This show actually popularized the use of the finger ring eye puppets, but they had a history long before the show.
History
It’s not a nostalgic history, but a good one nonetheless. The original purpose of these eyes was to train puppeteers without having to use quality investments to do so. Also, you can see how they are moving their hand inside the puppet, so this allows you to catch common mistakes as they are noticed with the bare fingers before they get noticed with a puppet, such as star gazing; you can notice fingers slowly positioning upwards before you will a puppet.
To this day, I still try to train my students with these before I let them even try on another puppet.
Can Get In Just About Anywhere
Not so much of late, but for years I often could be found with a pair of these eyes in my pocket. I have pulled them out in restaurants and made dinner rolls into puppets, I have pulled them out on a plane to Russia and entertained kids that couldn’t even speak English, I have have handed them out to people as gifts to spread the love of puppetry.
There are many places that you can’t get into with a large puppet, but since these things are so small and innocuous, you can take them just about anywhere.
I agree completely, Franklin. And kudos to you for spreading the magic of puppetry wherever you go!!
