Melikin Puppets: A True Bolingbrook Success Story

Ever wonder what it takes to do what you love?

According to Mel and Laverne Biske, owners of , it’s pretty simple: it’s a typical suburban, boy-meets-girl story—plus puppets. Lots of them.

The two have owned Melikin Puppets, one of Bolingbrook’s more unique storefronts, for more than 40 years.

Mel was a purchasing agent for a photography company in Des Plaines for 15 years—fostering a love for puppetry that began as a cub scout. LaVerne, his future wife, was a NICU nurse who admits that if as a young woman someone told her she’d end up a professional puppeteer, she would have told them they were crazy.

But life certainly has its curveballs.

“I never dreamed I’d do this. I had these big plans, and I thought I’d stay in nursing,” LaVerne said.

The two began their marriage in Burbank and had three of their four kids when Mel received his "now or never" moment.

He’d begun producing his own puppet shows at the young age of 12, working them through the “church basement” circuit. 

“It was a hobby,” he said. “But I never thought about it as a full time business.”

Again, life likes to throw curveballs.

Mel quit his job and dedicated himself full time to puppeteering. He made the puppets, wrote the shows, built the stage and went door-to-door to Chicago schools with presentation materials until bookings started coming in. 

LaVerne, meanwhile, worked at the hospital to support the family during those lean, early years.

Melikin Puppets performed their first professional show at Libby School in Chicago on April 15, 1967—the same day Martin Luther King was assassinated. 

“It was a lot of hard work and sacrifice the first 10 years, but after it caught on, LaVerne left her employer and we worked together full-time,” he said.

By then, their kids were beginning to show an interest. And ever since, Melikin Puppets has been a family affair.

“It was busy, but I enjoyed it,” LaVerne said of Melikin’s early years. “I would go to work—and often I’d be working nights—come home, change clothes and meet him (Mel) at the school and do the show.”
Through word-of-mouth, Melikin Puppets eventually established itself a customer base that included schools and libraries across the country.
Now, after 43 years, Melikin has more than 450 handmade puppets and 16 major productions in the bag.

They company still operates out of its Bolingbrook home. The Biske’s four kids, now all grown, help out—everyone keeping diligent eye for interest among the seven grandchildren. 

It’s been a dream, but not all of it rainbows.

In 1995, Mel suffered a stroke as the result of injuries he sustained in a car accident while traveling home from a show in Rockford. 
Doctors’ predictions were grim and the family’s priest was called in to give him his last rites. But just four months after the accident, Mel was back on the road—he credits his recovery to puppetry.
When Mel sought his doctor’s advice on getting back to work, he admitted to having returned to it already, at least part-time.

The doctor told him, “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up. That’s what brought you back.”

Melikin has cut back on the number of performances it gives these days—from about 300 per year down to 200.

But even after all of this time, they see little need to slow down. 

There have been plenty of changes (remember those curveballs)—from voice recordings on tape, to CD, to flash drive; and from small, latex-head puppets to polyfoam giants like the 35-foot long Chinese dragon that requires five people to operate (and was built entirely by hand with the help of the Chicago Chinese Consulate).

But the passion for the art has never faltered.

“People ask, ‘What are you going to do when you retire?’” LaVerne said. “When you retire, you do what you like doing. So we’ll probably never retire.”