Rusty Lemorande began his work in the entertainment industry as a puppeteer in elementary school. These skills served him will as partial funding of his college career. Later, Lemorande while working as an executive producer on the film, "Caddyshack", would again find those skills useful in proposing to the filmmakers that a puppet version of the 'gopher' could be created and filmed in order to provide a needed continuity for the film. Lemorande co-designed the puppet alongside a moonlighting member of the Disneyland theme park design team. The rest is film history. Lemorande would also later provide puppeteering skills in designing the Geeks and Hooter puppets for the Disney short, "Captain Eo", starring Michael Jackson.