I live not too far (in midwest terms) from the Charles MacNider Museum which happens to house "Bil Baird’s World of Puppets" in its permanent collection. Bil Baird wrote *"The Art of the Puppet" and is known for creating and performing the marionettes in "The Sound of Music" along with his wife Cora (watch The Lonely Goatherd.) If you are unfamiliar with Bil, that's ok. Time has not been kind to his legacy, but he was a pioneer.