puppetmaker | LJ Idol 4.25 Confessions of a Muppethead

I have always been a puppeteer. I had a good friend who is an incredible artist once answer the question, "When did you start to draw?" with the fact that he can't remember a time that he didn't draw. I can't remember a time when puppets were not a part of my life. I can't think of a time that they will not be. They just are.

I can, however, remember the first time the Muppets made it onto my radar. It was a picture in the Sunday New York Times (newspaper which my father still reads every week) in 1969. The picture had a couple of kids, a couple of grown-ups, and a couple of puppets which included the original Big Bird and Bert and Ernie and I think Oscar but I am not sure about that. I do know that there was at least one other monster in the picture. My father told me that the article was about this new show called Sesame Street. I was a little old for it but my brother was the perfect age. We use to watch it together in the afternoon. I loved the Muppet segments of the show more than the human parts. We rapidly found phrases from the show becoming part of our every day life.

I did find out years later that the first Muppet I saw, but didn't realize it was a Muppet, was the La Choy Dragon and probably some of the Ed Sullivan appearances.

I remember watching "The Frog Prince" in 1971 and then "the Muppet Musicians of Breman" in 1972. No video tape then kids, but those shows still live in my memory. I fell in love with Sweetums in the Frog Prince. I can remember my brother and I worked out mixed up speech for weeks after having seen the Frog Prince. I found out many years later that a lot of the puppets used in that show were original build for a pilot for a series that never got off the ground called "Tales of the Tinkerdee." More on that later. I enjoyed Breman. It was the first use of the Muppet chickens and rats.

Then came the Muppet Show which was required Family Viewing in my household. We would fight over seats on the couch and such so we could watch it. (I didn't see the Land of Gorch until years later at the Center for Puppetry Arts). We loved the Muppet Show and could quote large parts of the dialogue. I saw some incredible performances and learned about other forms of puppetry that I hadn't even thought of. The Muppet Movie I saw on the opening day. I still cry at the end when they get to the "Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending."

The first time I saw Jim Henson in person was in 1978 at the opening of the Center for Puppetry Arts. I still have the black and white photo I took of him before the crowd pushed him into me. He had Kermit on his arm and he turned around to see what had happened. Some people had kept me from falling all the way down. I found myself talking to Kermit who asked me if I was OK. I have to admit I forgot that Jim was there and told Kermit that I was fine.

It was sort of because of the Muppet Show, I got to meet Jim Henson and talk to him. One evening we, being the kids, were plopped down in front of the TV set watching the Muppet Show. Our parents were talking to some friends of theirs Gene and Ruth Smith. Gene Smith was, at one time, the voice of public radio in Atlanta. His wife worked with my mother. Gene saw what we were watching and said, "I worked with Jim." This got our attention. He had done the voice-over for a pilot that had been shot in Atlanta called "Tales of the Tinkerdee." He still had an audio copy of the episode that he made us a copy of with the solemn promise to never copy it.

The September before the December opening of "Dark Crystal" found me in Baltimore at the World Con. There was a display of puppets and props from "The Dark Crystal" and a lot of promotional material given out. Jim Henson came to talk to the kids as part of children's programming. It was the first time I saw Jim with kids and it was an amazing thing to watch. He was careful to make sure that each child got his attention even if it was just for a moment. He answered the questions with honesty and humor. That is also where I heard a parent telling a kid that this big guy with the beard was Ernie. The kid looked very skeptical until Jim talked to him. The kid had a look of amazement on his face and he turned to his parent and proclaimed very loudly, "Mommy, that man stole Ernie's Voice!"

He opened it up to the adults. I was the first 'adult' called on and I asked him a question I had for a number of years at that point, "What happened to "The Tales of the Tinkerdee?" I swear his jaw dropped to his knees as he stared at me. The first words out of his mouth were, "How did you hear about that?" He went on to explain to everyone else what I was talking about. He said it was the first time that they had used the video system that was now standard practice for the Muppets. That pilot had been the beginning of a lot of things that were now standard ways of shooting the Muppets. He thanked me for asking such an interesting question.

A couple of hours later I was walking through a concourse on my way to get some food when I heard a familiar voice behind me, "Excuse me miss?" I turned around to find Jim Henson rapidly catching up with me. I, of course, stopped. He asked me again how I heard about Tales of the Tinkerdee and I explained that the gentleman who did the voice over for him was a friend of the family. He told me that he hadn't a copy of the video or the audio at that time because some boxes went astray in a move. He handed me his business card and asked if I could send him a copy of the tape for his archives. I said of course. He smiled, shook my hand, and thanked me.

I can remember telling my father that evening that I needed to make a copy of the tape. He reminded me that we promised that we wouldn't do that for anyone. I dropped my bombshell on him, "Well Dad, Jim Henson would really like a copy of the tape." I can still remember the pause and then my father saying, "Ok maybe for him."

I remember going and seeing "Dark Crystal". Totally changed my world and opened up possibilities for puppetry that I never thought of. I drug as many people as I could to see that film. I watched the TV special on the making of and collected magazine articles on the film.

"Labyrinth" just blew my socks off. I just wanted to see it again and again. This was still before they sold videotape and DVDs of movies so I had to go to the movie theater again and again. I can remember helping some friends with their versions of the Ballroom costumes. Again Jim had shown me the possibilities for puppetry that I had not considered. I still have a button that they gave away when the movie opened. I was a stage manager at that point and had sort of put most of my puppet stuff on hold because I was working in Theater. I ran into Jim a couple of times over that period of time. I just had to say the magic word Tinkerdee and he remembered who I was and where he had met me. Always left me with a warm special feeling.

I watched any and all specials that he produced. I watched the Storyteller; the Jim Henson Hour; Dinosaurs; Muppets Tonight; Fraggle Rock just to name a few. If Henson created it and I could find a way to see it, I did see it. Muppets were almost a religion to me.

I was at Yale when Jim died. I went to the memorial service in the city. I gave my program and butterfly puppet to a little kid clutching a well-worn Ernie Doll who got in with her mother but didn't get a program. A piece of me died the day that Jim died. The world felt different to me. But I knew after the service that this was a beginning not an end. I had participated in a celebration of the man's life and heard his words to his family and us that we all were part of something bigger. I swore to never forget this and I haven't so far.

Since then I have tried to bring the art of puppetry to others. And along the way I have been able to meet and talk to people about Jim and his legacy. I've become friends with puppeteers that he worked with. I have a couple of props from the various TV shows and movies that he created. I have met the Frouds. I worked with John Tartagelia. I have been rejected by Kevin Clash but at least he told me why I wasn't going any further in the Sesame Street Auditions. I have the entire Palisades Muppet collection. I have a lot of muppet stuff in my house. I even got to do the one costume that I thought I never would be able to do. When Caroline was two, I did my Labyrinth sketch and yes I have pictures.

I am an unabashed Muppet Head and I wear that title proudly. I have fleece and foam in my veins and the Muppet theme in my heart.