Here I am starting out at 14 years old - with some attempted copies of hero
Jim Henson's work.
My mother mailed this photo to Jim Henson and he wrote back introducing me to the Puppeteers of America and encouraging me to start my own unique style...which I immediately began to do from that point on......
16 years old - with my stable of original characters at that time. Left to right (Dwight D. Duck, Woody, Fancy Flamingo, Rusty, Herbie the Mouse.)
I sold my first puppet to a professional vent when I was 15 years old.
It was a bright orange fur fox puppet. I would love to see if someone out there still has it!
I went on to create more characters in my one man show, which included some of my first latex puppets (woman and bird) and my Bird Arm Illusion concept which I added in the seventies.
I married Suzi and in 1980 and moved to a very small town in central California. We had hopes of starting a puppet business. One sunday while trying to find a church, we opened the phone book and put our finger on one. We ended up driving to a small church in Atascadero (which translated means "mud hole") that was meeting in a pre-school. After the service a man and his wife just happend to invite us to come to their house for lunch.....it turned out to be Craig Lovik, who's puppet work had inspired me for 20 years!
Craig Lovik
Craig was the creator of many of the Maher Vent figures and latex puppets. I still have that original Maher "Furry Friends and Pals" flyer in my collection! Prophetically the friend who gave me a copy 20 years earlier had written on it..."Steve you should go into business doing this".
I believe this was a Divine connection. How could you think otherwise? Craig was excited to find out about my interest in puppetry and introduced Suzi and I to the Ventriloquist world and Craig and I were also involved in several invention deals with toy companies over the years.
I'm now a father of four, and a the president of a puppet company but I'm still really just a kid at heart. A kid with a big dream....still makin' it happen.
Thanks for taking a peek at our history! Now back to the FUTURE!
Mom and Dad who gave me a great family and always told me I was special....
Rev.Ronald and Catherine Axtell
Jim Henson
Chuck Jones
Nancy Hibbard
Charles Casto
Dr. Suess
Murray Dosch
Rev. Gene Clark
Craig Lovik
Walt Disney
Russ Robison
Norman Rockwell
Dr. James Dobson
Bill Boley
Childcraft Books
Edgar Bergan
Bill Hanna & Joe Barbera
Anthony Bulone
Jane Goodall
Red Skelton
Dick Van Dyke
Rodgers and Hammerstein
George Pal
Ray Harryhausen
Mr. Rogers
and YOU. Thanks for your loyalty and encouragement over the years.
It inspires us to continue on!
All Right Reserved any reproduction of any site contents is strictly prohibited