Interview with Muppet Writer Craig Shemin, Part 1

Mitchell Stein - I had the fantastic pleasure of interviewing Muppet legend Craig Shemin last Thursday. I was very nervous to be interviewing such an amazing Muppet legend, but once we got into it, I realized Craig was such an fantastic guy and so great to speak to.

Craig of course is notable for his work for the Henson Archives and as president of The Jim Henson Legacy. He recently lent his writing talents to publish a new book, The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, and you can read our review of the book right here.

Thanks to Chase Beecher for your help on the questions!

Interview with Mr. Craig Shemin, author of The Muppet Character Encyclopedia

Mitchell Stein:   How did you come to work with the Muppets and come to work where you are today?

Craig Shemin:   I actually started out as a Muppet fan. The Muppet Show came out when I was ten years old and before that I grew up watching Sesame Street. When I was in college, I saw the documentary Henson's Place on PBS. I was later looking for something to do over the summer, so I called Henson Co. to see if they had any open jobs for an internship. So that’s what I did, and I worked as a summer intern, summer of 1987, and when I graduated I came back to work at the company.

MS:   What did you intern as?

CS:    I interned in the public relations/PR department and working a little bit with the company archives. I answered the phones, made a lot of photocopies, and faxes and all that. Back then, our clippings services would send us all the newspaper clippings where the Muppets or Jim Henson would be mentioned and it was my job to compile them into clippings packages and make copies and send them all around the company.  Nowadays the services send everything digitally, but back then they would mail us the actual newspaper clippings, so it was incredibly low-tech.

That summer I got to meet Jim Henson at the staff company softball game, and he actually borrowed my glove for a few innings, so at the end of the day I got him to sign it.

MS:   I bet you have that glove framed on your wall.

CS:   Right, exactly. I probably have the only Jim Henson-used baseball glove, with his autograph.

MS:   Did you ever work with Jim Henson personally?

CS:   I did, a little bit. When I was working after I graduated, one of my jobs in public relations was to get Jim Henson's quotes for various articles, when they would want Jim to comment on a specific article or something. So I would go up to Jim, and he would talk about how he felt about whatever the quote was and I would type it up.

When I was making my transition to writing, one of the first things that I wrote for the Muppets was performed by Jim. It was a speech for Kermit for the Disney Shareholders Meeting back when Disney was in talks with Jim to purchase the Muppets the first time round. It was a lot of fun, and Jim was such a nice man. I was very intimidated by his presence, but not from anything he did, he was just very casual and kind. At that first company softball game when I was an intern, he came over and introduced himself to me because he didn’t recognize who I was. I told him I was an intern and he said "Oh, you're the new intern! I heard we had a new intern here." He was very warm and I was nervous when he was around, but he was Jim. He wanted everybody to call him Jim, and that was the way it was.

I was just getting to the point where I could be in a room with him and not get nervous when he sadly passed away. Just a month before that, we were doing The Muppets at Walt Disney World, I don't know if you’ve seen that one yet.

MS:   I have actually! It’s my favorite Muppet special of all time.

CS:   At that time we got to go down there because at that time I was writing all the press releases and all the public relations writing, so I got to go down to that shoot and write a press kit for the show. When I got there the first day, I see Jim walking towards me. I looked around to see who he was walking towards, but then I realized he was walking towards me. "Oh hello Craig! How are you?" he greeted me. It just really took me aback, for him take off what he was doing to come over and greet me was truly remarkable. So I spent four or five days down there at the shoot and interviewing several puppeteers to write the press material for the show.

MS:   What would you say was your fondest memory of Jim Henson?

CS:   On that shoot was one of them. Y’know, when you're part of a shoot like that they cater the lunch, and I remember having lunch directly across from Jim and he was really enjoying his macaroni and cheese. I don't remember a lot of what he was talking about, but I do remember he was so happy that they had brownies for dessert. He seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of everything -- and in this case it was lunch, And that shoot was really special for me, because I got to see how big groups of people react to Jim, because this was shot on location in Disney World.

One setup we were doing at the Grand Floridian, and Jim just left the set to go to the bathroom, and he was just walking to the bathroom and large groups of people were following him. They didn’t know where he was going, but they all knew he was Jim Henson and they’re following him, and I got a feeling what it must have been like for Walt Disney to walk around Disneyland. It’s really amazing that Jim meant so much to all these people, and they were following him, so I knew that was one of my favorite things I ever saw about Jim.

MS:   How is the restoration of the Muppet characters going at the Smithsonian, Museum of Moving Image in NY, and Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta going? What can fans expect from those experiences?

CS:   They all have very different sets of puppets, some are duplications, because we had multiple puppets, but those selections were made for very specific reasons. Center for Puppetry Arts is receiving things that are very significant from a puppetry perspective, unique designs, unique performance qualities. Moving Image is the items that were more unique and more significant to Jim’s role as a creator of the moving image and film. Then the Smithsonian is really significant, cultural icons. The Smithsonian will be also using their collection on a revolving basis as part of their exhibits on television and puppetry. I believe there are already some on exhibit as of now.

MS:   I believe so. The last time I was there, Kermit, Oscar the Grouch and the Sam and Friends cast where there.

CS:   My wife was down there a couple of months ago, and Prairie Dawn was on exhibit there. So like I said they’re going to rotate the puppets that they have for exhibition, because the puppets are rather delicate, so they don’t want to have them out under the light and in the open for too long, so you’ll see rotating exhibits there.

The Center for Puppetry Arts is doing a major renovation, and the Henson exhibit there will be a part of a larger global exhibition on puppetry and Henson will have a very significant part in that. I think 2015 is the date that we’re talking about for the CPA and MMI. We don’t know an exact date yet, but those are the year that is being kicked around. The Museum of Moving Image will have a Muppet gallery which has yet to be named, but we have over 200 puppets that they received, so there will be a significant and prominent exhibit of Jim's career. There's talk of creating a traveling museum as well, so that will be a way to refresh and rotate the exhibit that they have permanently. The curator of the museum, Barbara Miller, is working on that as we speak, and there is going to have to be a lot of restoration and renovation on the puppets as well.

What’s also really interesting is that the museum was so excited to make this exhibit that they even had to give up some of their office space for this gallery. They’re creating this new Henson gallery out of what is currently the museum director’s offices and some of the other offices, and for them to give up their real estate shows they’re really excited about this exhibit. There’s also a small theater there that this gallery will be around, and that is going to be mostly dedicated to showing Henson productions. To keep awareness high, we’re doing monthly screenings and events until the opening. Last month, we held an event for my new book and this month we have preview screenings of Muppets Most Wanted, and next month we’ll have something Easter related!

MS:   That sounds very exciting! I’m sure we’re all really looking forward to these openings. They’re going to be a great way to celebrate the life of Jim Henson. I wanted to ask you about another legendary Muppet restoration, and I’m referring to the Muppet Pipes at NBC's 30 Rockerfeller Center. Where did the idea surface, and who’s idea was it to refurbish that?

CS:   As far as I’m know, that was actually Jimmy Fallon's idea. He knew about the pipes from being a Saturday Night Live cast member for several years, and it sort of became the thing people would talk about at NBC. For years the pipes were in Max Weinberg's dressing room when he was the band leader on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. When I saw them for the first time, we went in when it was still his dressing room, we asked if we can go into his dressing room since we were there for an appearance, I believe it was for The Today Show. We got to go in and see the pipes in their original position in the dressing room, and when Jimmy Fallon took over Late Night, they were doing some renovation on the floor and from what I hear, he intervened and made sure the pipes would not only be safe, but also be put on display so they would no longer be hidden in a dressing room but rather they would be under glass. They turned it into a big event and included it on the tour. Not all of the NBC tours include this, so I suggest doing the research prior to your visit, but you can now see it on most of the tours of 30 Rock. They did a beautiful job of restoring it. They put it under glass they put some footage of the Muppets doing the Jack Paar show, they put up some great still photos, and the fact that they had Frank Oz come in and dedicate the pipes made it very special.

MS:   That is interesting. Jimmy Fallon is a fantastic Muppet fan, but I was unaware of this.

CS:   Yeah, he actually rode the Sesame Street float in this year's Macy's Parade along with The Roots. My wife, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, works as a Sesame puppeteer and she found out that it was Jimmy Fallon who asked to be on the float, and Sesame Workshop didn’t even approach him.

MS:   What would you say is the most valuable thing in the Jim Henson Archives?

CS:   Hmm... That;s a tough one. I think the most valuable thing is no longer in the Henson Family, and it’s the original Kermit, which was donated to the Smithsonian a number of years ago. I think that was the most valuable thing that was in the Henson family until recently. It's a beautiful piece, and since it's all fabric and there’s no foam or anything else to break it down, Kermit has held up well over the years, and I think the Hensons are proud that Kermit now sits in the Smithsonian.

MS:   Do you have a personal favorite item in the archives?

CS:   There’s so many! I love Rowlf, so I love all the Rowlf sketches and puppets in the archives, so my favorite will probably have to be the original Rowlf puppet. There’s something so lovable about the character, and I just always love looking at him when he's on display anywhere. I also love a character named Sir Linit from a commercial for "Linit Fabric Finish", He's a beautiful puppet - he's a spray can knight. When they first opened up the box for that puppet, it was all in pieces, and they did a great job of re-assembling the puppet from all the parts in the box.

MS:   Is there a separate archive for the Disney-owned Muppets and the Sesame owned Muppets from the main Henson archive?

CS:   Karen Falk, the head of the archive, she keeps everything all in one archive collection. When the company sold the characters to Disney it was agreed that Disney got the production photography and franchise but Jim’s drawings and sketches and all archive material stayed at Henson Archive. The Disney archive doesn’t maintain material for their acquired properties, only for their main original Disney properties, so it worked out well to keep all the material at Henson.

MS:   My next question is related to your book: When you were writing this book, did you discover any new info that you didn’t know prior to writing this encyclopedia?

CS:   Yeah, I’m always learning things that I didn’t know. I couldn’t think of one specific thing, but yes, many things that I didn’t know before have come up that I learned. The thing was with this book that if I didn’t have all the full info or I couldn’t find the info I basically just had the ability to make it up.

MS:   And in a very humorous fashion!

CS:   (laughs) Thanks. I was trying to be as funny as I could, because I didn’t just want it to be a reference and we wanted to target it to everyone, as originally it was just supposed to be a children's book. Originally when I was approached, the publisher, DK was planning to do it as a children's book -- they generally do children's books and they saw it as part of their regular line for kids. Jim Lewis, the consultant on the book, and myself, we wanted to not just target at children, but to a broad range of Muppet fans, and I wanted it to be as entertaining as it could be. I sent some material to Jim Lewis to look at and he would tell me that he was laughing out loud. Once the publishers and Disney saw what we were doing and that it was suitable for kids even though they might not get all the jokes, they agreed that this was the approach to take.

MS:   You mentioned this was also supposed to originally be intended for children as well, I guess that’s why The Muppet Show pilot title was only referred to as "Muppet Show pilot" in the book instead of "Sex and Violence."

CS:   Well, I sent in my manuscript and it had the original title on it, but it still needed to be suitable for all ages so they decided to just call it the "Muppet Show pilot." It’s interesting to know that the TV Guide listings when it aired in the 70's referred to the episode as "The Muppet Show" and not by the title "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence." Basically, that’s generally the reason it was cut out of the books. The book needed to be suitable to all ages.

MS:   Where did the idea for this book come from? Were you approached by Disney, or DK or was it one of your own ideas?

CS:   It wasn’t one of my own ideas. I was approached by Jim Lewis, if you don’t know Jim, he’s been involved with the Muppets for a long time. He was the editor of the Muppet Magazine way back when it was in publication. I worked beside him for a while and when he moved to LA, I took over his job and Jim was involved in a lot of Muppet stuff over the years, he is involved still at Disney and I get called in occasionally when Jim is busy. When Disney and DK decided they wanted to do this book they went to Jim and he didn’t really have the time so he approached me but he agreed to be a consultant. He gave my info to DK and they approached me later. It all happened very quickly. The thing about this book, I only started writing it in July of last year.

MS:   Speaking of Disney, what do you think about the Muppets being remade for new movies and TV shows? How does I match up compared to thirty years ago?

CS:   Well, it’s always gonna be different. I think that the fact that they are still around and people are still going to see them so many years after they were created is wonderful. I think Jim saw that these would be characters that would live on as long as people would keep going to see them. I think that certain shows are more successful than others, but that’s always been the case, but I think the fact that they keep cranking out new specials and new movies is fantastic.

MS:   So have you seen Muppets Most Wanted yet? (EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted before the film was released).

CS:   I haven’t got a chance to see the film yet, but I got to read the script because I had to write pages for Constantine and the Leprechauns and I thought the script was really great. It improved on the previous Muppet movie by letting the Muppets really take over the center of the story. A problem that I had with the last movie was that I felt it wasn't as much of a Muppet movie. I understand why they had to take that role in that film, but based on this script, this second film is more of a Muppet movie.

MS:   I guess they really had to undergo the phase to re-introduce the Muppets to the general audience again. It was necessary, I guess.

CS:   I understand why they thought it was necessary for them. I guess they needed to feature a "journey" for the Muppets so they needed to feature them as "washed up." There are different ways to do things, I probably would have taken another way to tell that story, but that doesn’t mean what they did was wrong. There’s many different ways to tell that story. I think that the fact that it came out and it did well and people went to see it was a wonderful thing.

Check back soon for Part 2 of our interview with Craig!







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Interview with Muppet Designer Bonnie Erickson

Today on The Muppet Mindset we are proud to present our first interview of 2012! And we couldn't be more pleased with our interview today, because it is with current Executive Director of The Jim Henson Legacy and designer and builder Muppets, including Miss Piggy and Statler and Waldorf. Bonnie worked on numerous Muppet projects, including The Muppet Show, The Frog Prince, Fraggle Rock, and The Muppet Movie, and also worked very closely with Jim Henson. Bonnie very graciously agreed to join us for an interview and answer a few questions about her work, her career, The Jim Henson Legacy, working with Jim, and much more. Read on!

Interview with Bonnie Erickson

Conducted by Ryan Dosier

RYAN:   Greetings, Bonnie, and welcome to The Muppet Mindset! Thank you so much for agreeing to the interview! It's such a pleasure to be able to talk to someone who has so much history with The Jim Henson Company as you do. I guess we'll start off with the beginning... How did you first get involved with The Jim Henson Company? What was your first job title?

ERICKSON:   Freelance costume designer. After an interview and a look at my costume design portfolio, Jim hired me to design... and build... the costumes for the Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince special. My educational background was in theatre and fine art. I had been working on and off-Broadway for several years as a costumer with a specialty in specialty costumes and masks.

RYAN:    You are now the Executive Director of The Jim Henson Legacy. How did this come about? What does your position here entail?

ERICKSON:   I joined the organization as a trustee in the mid-nineties, soon after it was established by Jane Henson along with Arthur Novell, Al Gottesman, and Richard Wedemeyer. For the past several years I have served as President working with Arthur Novell, our Executive Director. When he decided to take a less active role, the board asked me to take on the position. One of my first (and smartest) acts was to ask Arthur, who is still a trustee, to continue on as consultant.

Day to day I schedule board meetings, establish and oversee the budget, propose projects, and facilitate projects approved by the board, work with my staff to maintain our website. We function as a source of information and respond to the many questions that come to us. In the long term, we manage exhibits, loans and restorations of objects in the Henson Family Collection and work with our partners and the rights holders to make Jim's body of work available to the public in new and interesting ways.

RYAN:    Does The Jim Henson Legacy have any involvement with new projects being produced in the Muppet world? Or do you deal strictly with showcasing the great works of the past?

ERICKSON:   Although the Legacy is not involved in new projects from the Jim Henson Company, Disney, or Sesame Workshop, we do try to present the work of the past in new contexts that reach out to a generation that may not be so familiar to that work. Jim's work is still very relevant today... evergreen, like Fraggle Rock. Much has become iconic, such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, both of which have a lively following. There are community theatres where Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas has become an annual event. Young musicians are doing covers of The Muppet Show tunes. Still relevant and still kickin'.

RYAN:   One of the great new projects from the Legacy is Jim Henson's Red Book. How did the idea for this brilliant online resource come about?

ERICKSON:   Karen Falk, the archivist for the Jim Henson Company, wanted to find a way to use the diaries that Jim kept. She expanded on his entries with reminiscences from colleagues and photos she was able to find from the company files. Karen is also on the Legacy's board and worked with the Smithsonian to develop our traveling exhibition, Jim Henson's Fantastic World. She probably has more information about all of us than we can remember!

RYAN:    You are an incredibly talented puppet designer and you worked on numerous Muppet projects. What are some of the characters your work can be seen in the designs of?

ERICKSON:   Nice of you to say. The first project I worked on was as Muppet costume designer for The Frog Prince. Probably the best known characters are Miss Piggy and Statler and Waldorf. I also designed the Country Trio caricatures of Jim and Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson. The four human style puppets and body costumes for The Muppet Musicians of Bremen were my creations. Zoot, George the Janitor, The San Francisco Earthquake wrestlers, Dr. Strangepork, The Newsman, and others were my work. Jim and I developed Animal and together we built the Swedish Chef. Although I didn't do the design, I built Janice, Fozzie Bear, and Vazh for SNL's "Land of Gorch." I was at the right place at the right time and had opportunity to work on many characters for Jim. What fun it was!

RYAN:   You were the first to design Miss Piggy. What do you think is the most important aspect of her design?

ERICKSON:   Her ability to reinvent herself over time. She has evolved and grown into her role as an ageless diva. I'm proud of having given her an appropriate name. Frank Oz set the tone with the karate chop and the rest is history. I do think she has had some work done recently!

RYAN:   Can you talk to us a little bit about Jim Henson?

ERICKSON:   A subject near to my heart!

Jim's work has a whimsy and gentle anarchy that seems to appeal to people. It is not mean spirited but it is often irreverent. I believe Jim was one of the most confident people I have ever known and he inspired it in others. He trusted his judgement and because of that was able to rely on those he worked with to create the worlds he envisioned. He gathered about him people of different skills and disciplines who would often become lifelong friends.

He believed in the value of play. Experimentation was given great weight and nothing was wasted–not in the creation of characters or in the performance of them.

He was generous–with praise and with credit.

He believed in details and that even though a detail might not be apparent, it contributed to the cumulative effect of richness and texture that someone out there in the audience would notice.

He was a smart and fair businessman, multitalented, complicated and very tall!

RYAN:   I'd love to know your opinions on how the "Big Three" companies are handling Jim's characters and projects currently. Would you be willing to talk to us a bit about this?

ERICKSON:   Sure.

RYAN:   Terrific! Let's start with Disney and their work with the Muppets.

ERICKSON:   Well, The Muppets movie has just come out and I believe the affection Jason Segel obviously feels for the characters comes out in the film. I'm delighted to see them back on screen. The performances of the puppeteers are wonderful and have lost none of their charm and quirkiness. The promotion was extraordinary. The trailers just got better and better, capturing that self-aware irreverence of the Muppets. As The Pig would say, I want more!

RYAN:   How about Sesame Workshop?

ERICKSON:   The focus for Sesame Workshop is certainly more international, with partnerships in many countries. That can't be a bad thing. Sharing the values of Sesame Street within the context of different cultures has to be a step toward more understanding and tolerance. Certainly this is one of the things Jim Henson espoused and would applaud. Here in the States, it continues to produce award winning programming for young children that a parent can trust! And it does it with humor. Another good thing.

RYAN:   And The Jim Henson Company?

ERICKSON:   So much is happening at the Jim Henson Company. The company continues to explore the possibilities of digital visual effects, animatronic creatures, animation, and soft puppets for the international media industries. Always developing new projects, the company has taken on a very important task of bringing science to pre school kids with Sid the Science Kid and natural history to them with Dinosaur Train. It has a new show Pajanimals for preschoolers, and a live show of puppet improv, Stuffed and Unstrung, for the adult audience of post schoolers!

RYAN:   How willing are these companies to work with the Legacy to showcase Jim's work?

ERICKSON:   All of these entities have been wonderful to work with and happy to help tell the Jim Henson story.

RYAN:   Is it easy to get Muppeteers and others connected to Jim involved in Legacy functions? Everyone I've ever talked to has always been thrilled to work with the Legacy in any sort of capacity.

ERICKSON:   Just as you say, we have had a wonderful response from our friends and colleagues, for which we are very grateful. Many have participated by introducing and doing Q and A sessions for the film retrospective we have toured nationally and internationally and that is currently part of the weekend programming of the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. We have very generous colleagues.

RYAN:   Are there any upcoming Legacy events or surprises that you can share with us?

ERICKSON:   There was a Jim Henson Legacy: Amphibian Alumni Associates Reunion recently at the Museum of the Moving Image, the first one to invite anyone who ever worked with Jim or the Jim Henson Company. We had a huge and enthusiastic international crowd for a whole day. There were people exploring the newly renovated space, seeing the Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit, viewing a loop of rare Henson clips and attending a presentation of images from the past in the beautiful main theatre at the museum. The raffle of vintage collectibles mainly from our president, Craig Shemin's personal collection was a big draw. Richard Termine, provided a photo setup for everyone next to a large space where people could catch up with old friends.

But the latest news is that the exhibit at the museum has been so popular that it has been extended until March 4th, 2012. Also, there is a musical tribute to Jim planned for Carnegie Hall on April 14th, 2012. And that's just the beginning part of the year.

RYAN:   What are your favorite Muppet projects?

ERICKSON:   Sorry, I love them all. The movies are great. I've just seen all of them again on the large screen. The Muppet movies are so different from The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth but the attention to detail makes them all endlessly interesting to me. Emmett Otter is so sweet. But I think, because it was the harbinger of things to come, I have a special place in my heart for The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence from 1975.

RYAN:   What about your favorite Muppet characters?

ERICKSON:   No favorites. Nuh uh! None. Like 'em all! Just the same! Yup!

RYAN:   Carrying on Jim Henson's Legacy is obviously a hugely important task. What do you consider to be the most important aspect of Jim's Legacy?

ERICKSON:   The positive attitude he had about life and work. He never gave up and he took enough pleasure in the process to not be too worried about how it would work out. He loved what he did and I loved doing it too. I believe we all did.

RYAN:   Why do you think Jim's work lives on and flourishes as well as it does—even so long after he has gone?

ERICKSON:   So many people have come up to me at the film tour and the exhibits to tell me what good memories they have of the time they and their family or friends spent with Jim's work. There is nothing cynical about it. His characters are forgiving and accepting and tolerant of each others foibles. But they're not saccharine or cloying. He obviously believed that evil could be vanquished. That's also a good thing.

RYAN:   How can we, as Muppet fans, carry on Jim's legacy?

ERICKSON:   Keep believing that you can write your own ending! Follow your muse. Do what you love. All that stuff!

RYAN:   Finally, Bonnie, what is your favorite Jim Henson quote?

ERICKSON:   Actually, it's not one from Jim, but one written about him by his friend, Jerry Juhl.

"What Jim always wanted to do was to sing songs and tell stories, teach children, promote peace, save the planet, celebrate man, and be silly."

RYAN:   Bonnie, thank you so very much for this interview. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! Thank you for everything you've done to carry on Jim's legacy as well. We Muppet fans are thrilled to see all the work done with it.

ERICKSON:   It was entirely my pleasure, Ryan.

All of my thanks to the lovely and kind Bonnie Erickson for agreeing to this interview. She is a true treasure to the world of Jim Henson and the Muppets and we are all lucky to have her working for the Jim Henson Legacy to keep the spirit and magic of Jim Henson alive.

Also my thanks to my friend Arthur Novell for helping to set up this interview.






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com 

The Muppets Head to Scotland

Coverage of Muppets, Music & Magic in Edinburgh, Scotland

Martin Harvey - It’s only retrospectively that I realize that Edinburgh is the backdrop to some of my greatest Muppet memories. It was where I excitedly bought a copy of The Muppets Take Manhattan and took it with me to Malta where I spent two weeks reading the back of the box and looking forward to getting home to watch it. Then, at the Edinburgh Fringe I was lucky enough to attend a performance of Puppet Up! and even luckier to get to meet Brian Henson afterward, shake his hand, and collect his autograph.

So, for me at least, it’s appropriate that Muppets, Music & Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy should come to Edinburgh and it was certainly worth the train journey from my home on the West Coast of Scotland to spend the day there. I’m a big enough kid to want to see Muppet movies in a cinema but sadly a bit too much of a grown-up with work commitments to have made it over the weekend of 23-24 April where Martin Baker will introduce some real archive gems in Muppet History 101 and Muppet History 201: More Rarities from the Henson Vault so this is a report on what might be considered an “average day” within the season.

The interior of Screen 1 of the Filmhouse, with its red seats and curtains, is oddly reminiscent of the Muppet Theatre. Sadly there are no boxes nor were there two curmudgeonly old men heckling from the audience, but then you can’t have everything. Muppet music was playing as the audience made their way into the auditorium and waited for the film to start.

The first feature, The Art of Puppetry and Storytelling, was attended by about 20 people. I don’t know whether that is good or bad for this sort of event but it was early afternoon on a weekday and the numbers did increase over the course of the day (although I didn’t notice anyone else attending all three screenings.)

The Art of Puppetry and Storytelling began with the Harry Belafonte episode of The Muppet Show, the episode with perhaps the strongest story telling theme and a great example of how Jim Henson was able to combine both the important and the downright silly. In this episode, Fozzie acts as the script writer for the show (“Curtains open; Lew Zealand and Rowlf do something funny; curtains close”) and tries to improve Belafonte’s rendition of "The Banana Boat Song" with a choir of pigs and actual bananas, although Beauregard has difficulty in remembering which particular fruit or vegetable they happen to be. The show of course ends with Belafonte’s "Turn the World Around"--inspired by a meeting with a storyteller in Guinea.

There followed about twenty minutes' worth of clips of various lengths. Some of these were more appropriate to the storytelling theme than others, but they certainly represented a fairly wide spectrum of Henson’s work. They included the Sam and Friends skit “Visual Thinking”; three Wilkins Coffee advertisements (which got the biggest laughs of this screening) and Henson (assisted by puppet builder Don Sahlin) on a chat show demonstrating how simply changing the facial features can completely change the character of the puppet. The longest clip was taken from a Henson narrated backstage Muppet Show documentary showing amongst other things the making of the “In The Navy” number. One quite startling fact that cannot at all be appreciated from the final cut of “Another Opening Another Show” was the sheer distance covered by the Muppeteers during the recording of that number which reminds us that a huge amount of stage, televisual and puppetry tricks were used by Jim Henson and his team.

This feature ended with The Storyteller episode "The Heartless Giant," which was perhaps intended to demonstrate how puppetry can be used as one element within storytelling. This included The Jim Henson Hour introduction and closing where Jim Henson himself notes that the idea behind the series was to combine folk tales with fast paced and up-tempo pop music videos.

Sesame Street at 40: Milestones on the Street was the second film to be shown. This screening had a slightly higher attendance with around 20 adults but also 10 little kids. It opened with some clips from the first episode with Gordon introducing a little girl called Sally to the inhabitants of Sesame Street with the rather odd looking early versions of Big Bird and the orange Oscar the Grouch.

There were too many clips featured for me to list them all but they included Gordon and Snuffleupagus running the marathon; various trips away from Sesame Street to New Mexico, Santa Fe, Hawaii (with Mr. Snuffleupagus being airlifted in) and Puerto Rico; Big Bird’s nest being damaged in a storm; Maria and Luis’s wedding and, of course, the grown-ups helping Big Bird to understand that Mr Hooper died.

Best for Sesame Street Muppets were: Ernie counting cupcakes while Cookie Monster reduced the number; Waiter Grover serving Fat Blue alphabet soup;  Prairie Dawn’s Four Seasons pageant; Bert teaching a pigeon to play checkers and the hilarious Ernie and Bert disguise kit sketch. Kermit doing the alphabet with the little girl who thinks Cookie Monster is a letter received audible “awws” and Herry and John-John counting and getting louder (and in John-John’s case much older) also got laughs.

There were plenty of cartoons (including Ladybug’s Picnic and The King of 8) but not so many songs (Sing: The Music of Sesame Street is a separate feature later in the season) although the arguing art critics with living works of art and the tongue-twisting “An elevator operator is a person in your neighbourhood” were among the few included. There was one block of Kermit’s Sesame Street News Flash made up of many short clips and Elmo’s World was dealt with similarly.

A recurring feature was “Family Album: Before They Moved To Sesame Street” showing actors Will Lee, Roscoe Orman, Bob McGrath in pre-Street roles, in Bob’s case on the panel game I’ve Got a Secret singing Irish songs in Japanese. This was later turned on its head when a clip of Big Bird and Elmo on The West Wing was shown allowing us to see Lily Tomlin and Stockard Channing on Sesame Street before they moved to the West Wing. More celebrity appearances included The Fonz, R2D2 and C3PO, Fred Rogers, Patrick Stewart (“B or not a B?”), Liam Neeson; Ben Stiller as a cheese; Robert DeNiro as a Muppet Cabbage; and Michelle Obama helping Elmo and some kids plant a garden.

Of most archive value might be the brief appearance by Rowlf in the Song of Nine but of equal interest to me were some more recent clips I had never seen before (Sesame Street is no longer shown in the UK) which were parodies of recent hit shows (Meal or No Meal, 30 Rocks, and Mad Men). I’ve heard the criticism that Sesame Street is now geared towards younger children but these clips were certainly appreciated by the adults in the audience. There were a couple of vocal interventions from the children though and it was genuinely heart warming to here a small child excitedly shout “Cookie Monster” when our cake scoffing furry friend popped up to eat Ernie’s cupcake while (perhaps more predictably but no less cute) another small voice announced “There’s Elmo” the moment the small red monster first appeared in the corner of the screen in a non speaking role.

The final film of the day, attracting about 50 cinema goers, was The Great Muppet Caper. Before the screening began a member of Filmhouse staff apologized that the print was of variable quality and in places faded and too pink (“A little too much Miss Piggy and not enough Kermit” as he put it.) Seeing The Great Muppet Caper at a screening is something I would highly recommend to everyone, Muppet fans especially. I’ve always thought of it as being the funniest of the Muppet films and almost every line got a big laugh – not least the scene with John Cleese and Fawlty Towers guest star Joan Sanderson as the upper crust couple plagued by pigs climbing up the outside of their house and lizards in the cupboards. I won’t go through the movie but suffice to say it was enjoyed by all and, in spite of the brief Gonzo scene at the end of the film being cut, there was spontaneous applause at the finish.

As I said earlier, the more obscure clips will be part of two Muppet History films to be shown at this weekend (full details at http://www.filmhousecinema.com)but other less commercially available gems feature in Commercials and Experiments–which includes "Time Piece" and "The Cube." There are two other Sesame Street compilations and one of musical numbers on The Muppet Show. Five of the first six Muppet Movies (The Muppet Christmas Carol was shown separately last year), The Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Elmo in Grouchland, and Muppet Fairytales round out the program. Some more recent productions, by that I mean those made since Jim Henson’s death, would have helped to show his ongoing legacy and a more location specific film showing how British involvement was important to the success of The Muppet Show would also have been appropriate.

Having said that, Muppets, Music &; Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy is a fitting celebration of both the obscure archive piece and a rare and welcome chance to see some of our favourite films as they were intended to be shown on the big screen.  I very much hope that this collection of features will be added to and that it will go on to tour around the UK and further afield.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Upcoming Muppet Screening Events - Texas, New York, United Kingdom

Everyone's favorite documentary about Kevin Clash (that I still haven't seen), Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey is screening at the Dallas International Film Festival this Saturday, April 2nd at 12:30pm. Cost is only $10 to get in and see this fantastic film, so if you live in the Dallas, Texas area and haven't had the opportunity to see Being Elmo yet... why haven't you bought your tickets already?!

Speaking of the Longhorn State... the fantastic Jim Henson Legacy sponsored series Muppets, Music & Magic: Jim Henson's Legacy is showcasing several different screenings in the Austin, Texas area at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in the coming weeks. Click the link above for all the information on the various screenings between March 29th and April 10th. I've seen a couple of the screenings being shown, including Inside the Sesame Street Vault and Sesame Street at 40 and they're both wonderful gems that are sure to delight any Sesame fan (and I'm sure the other ones are too) so if you happen to be in the Austin area and you need more Muppet goodness in your life, be sure to check this out!

The Muppets, Music & Magic: Jim Henson's Legacy (pages 10-15 of the PDF) series is being showcased in the United Kingdom as well at The Filmhouse, home of the Edinburgh Film Festival. The screenings will occur from April 18th through April 27th (check the schedule in the PDF link above for specific screenings) and will feature appearances by Martin Baker on April 22nd, 23rd, and 24th at various screenings.

The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City is hosting a screening of The Muppets Take Manhattan on April 23rd at 8:15pm at the Tribeca Drive-In. This is a free screening of the film and it includes, what sounds like, a very fun pre-show with face-painting, Muppet trivia, sing-alongs, and "fuzzy surprise guests." One can only imagine what that might mean. But if you live in the New York area and you've got yourself a free night on April 23rd, why not stop by and witness Miss Piggy's hideous 80's afro on the big screen?

And, finally, for those Muppet fans who don't live near Dallas, Austin, New York City, or the United Kingdom (like myself)--and even for those of you that do--we have a new Super Grover video from Sesame Street to share with you all. It is, in a word Fantastic!









The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Coverage of Fran Brill and Zoe in Chicago, Part 1

Danny Beckwith - The weekend of November 13-14th (Note – The Programs for Saturday and Sunday were switched.) was a very memorable one in Chicago. The Gene Siskel Film Center began its Jim Henson retrospective with two great programs and one (or should I say two?) very special guest.

Here is how the Gene Siskel Film Center billed the first event:

Fran Brill and Zoe in person!

Jim Henson & Friends:
Inside the Sesame Street VaultVarious dates, Various directors, USA, 83 min.

This super-entertaining program highlights the contributions of Jim Henson and his early Sesame Street collaborators, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill, and Caroll Spinney. In addition to old favorites, there are some extremely rare clips from specials and guest appearances on other television programs. Beta SP video.
--description courtesy of the Jim Henson Legacy

Emmy Award-winning puppeteer, actress, and voice-over performer Fran Brill will host the program on Sunday, November 14, accompanied by Zoe, her signature Muppet character.

Barbara Scharres, the Director of Programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center, took to the podium at 7:30pm. She began by introducing Fran Brill and listing her credentials from her amazing body of work. It was a wonderful introduction for a wonderful lady.

Fran Brill was simply glowing as she approached the podium to introduce herself and what the audience was about to see. She briefly gave some context to Sesame Street and setting up the first clip that would allow fans to get a glimpse of Sesame’s humble beginnings.

1969 – “The Ed Sullivan Show”

Clip was in color at screening.

Kermit and Grover appeared six months after the first season off Sesame Street aired. Kermit is playing a piano and singing, “What kind of Fool Am I?” Grover enters and does his classic, “Hey, froggy!” and slap. Kermit will not let Grover sing, so instead Grover pulls out a banjo. Finally, after an exasperated frog has had enough of Grover’s antics and calling Grover a “furry dumb dumb,” Kermit lets him sing. Grover calls in more Muppet monsters to help.

Fran came back up to the podium while the audience laughed. Commenting on how we were laughing at the odd amount of time Ed Sullivan shook Jim’s hand. She explained that Jim and Frank were probably the funniest duo of puppeteers, with Frank being the catalyst. She mentioned that Jim and Frank were great on set, but they didn’t really socialize outside of it.


“The Dick Cavett Show”
Ernie and Bert start off trying to look and act cool for the show. Ernie has convinced Bert that in Hollywood, everyone talks and looks a certain way, much to Bert’s reluctance. Dick Cavett enters and Bert begins talk in a very ridiculous fashion, using the same words that Kermit did as an agent in The Muppets Take Manhattan. Ernie, meanwhile, is quiet and slowly taking off the silly clothes. Dick wonders what is going on, and Ernie, much to Bert’s chagrin, looks quite normal.

Grover gets to help Dick with the lead in to the commercial. Grover, who can’t seem to see to cue cards, has the cue card man bring them closer. Even though they are close, Dick wonders why Grover can’t read them. Grover admits he can’t read. Dick helps him successfully make the lead in. Oscar the Grouch also gets to help with a lead in. Oscar just wanted to get to the trash on the show and wonders where the commercials are.

Dick then has a conversation with Carroll Spinney, still in his Big Bird legs, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson. Dick wonders if Carroll only got the job as Big Bird because of his legs. Jim then explains about Anything Muppets and Jim, Frank, and Jerry perform the song, “My Favorite Letter P.” (Available on SesameStreet.org.) This clip actually had a side-by-side comparison of the recorded segment and the live performance.

1970 – “The Flip Wilson Show”
Big Bird makes an appearance as a guest star and performs the song “ABC-DEF-GHI” with Flip Wilson.


1970 – Bob Hope Christmas Special
Big Bird makes an appearance and of course makes a crack at Bob’s nose. Bob wonders what kind of birds are Big Bird’s parents and what that makes Big Bird. Big responds with, “A chicken with a gland problem.”


1985 – Night of 100 Stars
Big Bird sings a song with Carol Channing.

1973 – “Julie on Sesame Street”
Julie Andrews did special with the Sesame Street characters. It was filmed in London and you could tell that a replica set because of the raised curbs. The real set did not have real curbs, they were painted on. Highlights include Kermit and Julie singing “Bein’ Green” and Biff, Ernie, Bert, and Julie performing hilarious versions of “Fugue for Tinhorns” from Guys and Dolls, with a great ending, and “Big Spender” from Sweet Charity with Cookie Monster almost devouring Julie.

Hollywood Squares
Big Bird and Oscar both appear as the secret square, though at different times. Someone asks what kind of bird he is and Big responds with, “I’m a Lark!”

“What’s My Line”
Big Bird appears as a guest.


“Family Food” with Richard Dawson
The Hungry family from Twin Forks, South Dakota appears on the show. (Available on YouTube.)


1984 – “Out to Lunch”
The Electric Company and Sesame Street take over ABC while the news anchors are out to lunch. The special included Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, and Carol Burnett (who also happened to be on lunch break). This contained a great Grover and Kermit sketch. Grover unwittingly is supposed to jump the Grand Canyon, as Grover Knover, on a motorcycle and turns it around on Kermit, who ends up plummeting to the bottom. It also included The Nighty Night Show where Cookie Monster plays Johnny Carson and Guy Smiley plays Ed McMahon.

1975 – “Johnny Carson”
Kermit and Jim Henson as guests.


1976 – “The Dinah Shore Show”
Jim and Frank are guests. Dinah asks if Frank is funny and Jim responds with, “As a man, he’s not that funny.” Jim recognizes though that Frank is a hilarious puppeteer. Jim then brings out Kermit and they chat. Frank brings out Grover and they discuss the Grover and Kermit relationship with the classic, “Hey froggy!” and slap to Kermit’s back. Kermit also says it's his 21st birthday and Grover did not get him anything. Grover asks Kermit what he wants and it can be anything. Kermit asks for Grover not to slap him on the back anymore. Grover responds with that is a very big request!

Fran then took to the podium again and explained the idea of Muppet inserts on Sesame Street. She said that they would try to film four inserts in one day, which was not a lot. Especially with Frank being somewhat of a perfectionist, they could do many takes, taking up a lot of time. And when Frank said it was the “Do or Die” take, that meant the absolutely last one. What followed was a series of classic inserts.

Episode #0279 – “Fish in the Cowboy Hat” Ernie and Bert
Episode #0494 – “Beat the Time” Cookie Monster, Guy Smiley
Episode #3594 – “Oklahoma!” Kermit, Forgetful Jones
The Sesame Street Special – Robert MacNeil, Kermit as an attorney, and Cookie Monster
Episode #2538 – “Captain Vegetable” Eddie, Andy, Captain Vegetable
Episode #2797 – “Exercise” – Betty Lou, Grover, four Anything Muppets
This clip showed behind the scenes footage of Fran Brill and Richard Hunt puppeteering. Richard was doing Grover.
Exercise #2773 – “The Honker-Duckie-Dinger Jamboree” Ernie, Honkers, Dingers
The clip also featured behind the scenes footage of the puppeteers.

1976 – “Mike Douglas Show”

Kermit sings a “new” song for the time, “A Song From Kermit.” Dom DeLuise also appeared on the show. After Kermit’s song, Dom promptly wipes Kermit’s mouth clean with a handkerchief and then tickles him. He also tries to give Kermit some water while the end credits are scrolling.

After the compilation of videos finished, Fran came back up for a Q&A session. She explained how she got started with Jim Henson while he was looking for puppeteers for the Ed Sullivan Show Christmas Special and how she and Richard Hunt went through training together. She answered a question about the difference between Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, and how the characters –with the exception of Kermit – did not cross over shows. She explained Zoe’s origins and then much to everyone’s excitement, took out Zoe!

Zoe answered some questions as well, with the help of Fran. After some more Q&A, Barbara Scharres informed the audience that Fran would be out in the lobby to take pictures and cut the cake!

Yes, there was a reception with cake afterwards hosted by the Chicago Reader! But not just any cake. A three-tiered cake adorned with Sesame Street characters including Grover, Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Big Bird, Count von Count, Elmo, and Cookie Monster. It was delicious. Oh yes, and there was sparkling wine.

Fran and Zoe cut the cake, with a little help. Zoe mentioned her favorite flavor of cake was chocolate and hoped the first layer was chocolate (which was actually the last layer!). After cutting the cake, Fran and Zoe took pictures and chatted with anyone who was still around, including Ryan and myself.

It was a great night lasting an impressive four hours. Fran Brill was an extraordinary speaker with an astonishing story and talent. But that was not the end of the wonderful world of Fran Brill – the fun would continue the next day!







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier