My oldest friend PAUL RUBIN passed away on Christmas Eve morning. He was my running buddy back in the days of early teenage hood when I was young and innocent and Paul was a whole lot more sophisticated about the ways of the world; how to get around New York City and find the cool stuff (like THE MEMORY SHOP movie memorabilia joint) and girls. And most importantly, puppets!!! (Me, Rowlf, Jim Henson, and Paul on the set of A SUMMER PLACE on CBS circa back in the day) As everybody knows, I'm a puppeteer and have been since I could stick my hand over the crib. Paul was once a puppeteer too. That's how we met. To New York City people of my generation there were a few truly magical names. Names like Sandy Becker, Soupy Sales and especially Chuck McCann . These guys had local TV shows with puppets and cartoons and they were on everyday and we all watched them. Some of us were adventurous enough to leave our living rooms and head to the TV studios where these heroes did their shows