About Us

Early Entertainment

Allan Wade was raised in a family that performed together. His mother Joy Wade started making puppets as a teenager. When the Mesa Public Library opened the children's section in 1959, they asked her family to help. The Wade family put on puppet shows and the people who wanted to see the show brought a book to contribute for their admission. Every year for 20 years the family performed puppet shows to get books for the Mesa Public Library.

Magic

His mother was also a leader in the Cub Scout program of the Boy Scouts of America. She was the Den Mother for both of his older brothers before him. Each year one of the monthly themes is “Showmanship,” “Magic” or something like that. By the time she got to Allan’s group she was teaching each boy a good magic trick one-on-one. At the end of the month when each boy performed his trick, one after another, it made a great show. As her son, Allan was around when she was training each of the boys and soon was performing a whole show by himself. He performed magic in the school talent show at Emerson Elementary School. The music teacher asked him to tour with the school's Swiss Bell Ringers. Performing magic as an intermission gave the other students a rest and gave him exposure to people that enjoys entertainment. Each show seemed to bring another show or two. So his business started to grow.

Puppets

In Puppets, the Wade family started performing story book shows with hand puppets. Later they branched out into marionettes and other types of puppets. Allan developed a show called the “Puppet Tree,” when he had young children of his own. It demonstrated all the various branches of puppets that have evolved over time.

The extended Wade family continued to perform puppets together as it continued to grow. Joy Wade’s grandchildren grew up performing puppetry. Each year they'd get together for the Cousins' Christmas Puppet Show. This was a tradition that Joy Wade directed for thirty years.

Allan Wade performed at the Arizona State Fair with his children for eight years in a row. His family performed a magic show on one Saturday and a puppet show on another.

Speaking

The speaking career for Allan Wade began early in his life just like the entertainment. When he ran for Student Body President at Emerson Elementary School, he used magic in his speech. He was elected and conducted Student Council meetings through the following year.

In junior high school, Allan got involved with the Speech and Debate Team. He won a trophy in a speech tournament for second place in Expository Speaking. His speech explained how to do ventriloquism, with a ventriloquist figure and demonstrating the skills of ventriloquism.

In high school, Allan Wade continued with speech, drama, campaigns and performing magic.

In college Allan got into Readers Theatre. Then he took a Presentational Speaking Class. In 1983, this launched him into his first career as a High School Public Relations Representative.

Balloon Art

Allan Wade started twisting balloons when he was young. Joy Wade’s family put on Saturday morning Clowning Classes for groups of children. As part of the program they would teach students to twist the long skinny balloons into dogs. With a few adjustments in the dimensions, the family members showed them how they could make bunny rabbits or giraffes as well.

With a growing family of his own Allan Wade went back to school and needed a night job that could fit around his school schedule. Twisting balloon figures at restaurants was starting to become popular at that time. He spent a few days in “balloon school” where he learned to twist bears, lions, hearts, flowers and other popular figures. Then he started performing as a balloon artist in restaurants all over the valley. With some creativity, over the next year, he twisted more than 300 different figures including animals, crazy hats and other things as requested.

Costumed Characters

Body Puppets are a branch of puppetry. Therefore, Allan Wade has performed in a wide variety of Costumed Characters throughout his life. He performs as super heroes like Spiderman, Batman, Superman, and Power Rangers. For parties he has dressed up as Pooh Bear or a loveable purple dinosaur. He brings famous characters from the screen to life like Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear and Sponge Bob Square-Pants. He makes seasonal occasions fun as the Easter Bunny, Uncle Sam, Dracula, Santa Claus, the Grinch, or Frosty the Snowman. He has performed as a Mexican Hat Dancer, a Country Mouse, Bears, Harry Monsters, Monkeys, the Tweety Bird and other Big Birds including the Stork that delivers babies. He has been seen as the wizard Professor Kalibus, a Safari Hunter, Pioneers, Pilgrims and other early settlers. Other members of his family have also performed as the Princesses made famous in storybooks and movies.

Clowning

As a clown he is known as “Woofles,” a name coming from the magic “woofle dust.” His make-up accentuates natural features to allow the widest range of facial expressions from very happy to very sad, etc. He is a character clown that maintains a positive hopeful attitude. This is like a hobo clown so he usually does not wear the make-up of a traditional white-face clown. What he calls a rube face is similar to the auguste clown that includes skin tones yet not with the muzzle. He uses make-up as a beard (more like the face made famous by Emmet Kelly, the circus performer).