Word: muppeteer
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Weird kiddie cinema? An outtake from National Lampoon's Animal House? Nothing of the sort. It's just the Muppets, the world's most popular television stars, making their first movie-an $8 million comedy called simply The Muppet Movie. The film is a "road" epic about the puppet gang's perilous trek from the Deep South to Hollywood...
...movie is being shot in Georgia and California without any animated effects. Beyond the clever scenes and imaginative facial sculpting, its success depends on a proud and well-paid crew of 20 invisible performers who are the real actors. The Muppeteers must crouch uncomfortably below the set's surface with their Muppet-covered arms stretched painfully skyward, as they stare into reverse-image video monitors to see what their arms and fingers are doing. "Think of dancing, which is a physical extension of internal feelings," explains Muppeteer Jerry Nelson, 44. "In a smaller way, pushing creative energy through your...
Without waiting for an answer, he and his fellow conspirators proceed to annihilate a classic. The epic adventures are turned into a few friezes reminiscent of a sixth grade pageant: Polyphemus, the Cyclops, bears a strong resemblance to a Sesame Street Muppet; Telemachus (Russ Thacker) might have escaped from a G-rated Disney film. The celebrated dancing and fighting is reduced to a series of galvanic gestures and deafening groans. The groans may be distinguished from the songs easily: the songs have words. Those lyrics, which act upon the mind like nepenthe, are also by Segal, a classics scholar...
...fingers of Ernie's hand: Burr Tillstrom, who has his own NET series, Kukla, Fran and Ollie; Bil Baird, who operates a puppet theater in Greenwich Village and Jim Henson of Sesame Street. Fusing the best of puppets and marionettes, Henson coined the name and the creature, "Muppet." For six years, Henson's Muppets enjoyed a quiet, loyal following (including Joan Cooney) before they hit the big time on the Ed Sullivan Show. On the Street where they now live, the Muppets no longer do guest shots. Operated by Henson and Associate Wizard Frank Oz, they eclipse the "real" actors...
...were overly repetitive, even for commercials, and Mrs. Cooney agrees; this year there will be less repetition. In response to complaints from inside and outside the staff that the show's approach was too Waspish for its audience, Mrs. Cooney has approved a more emphatic ethnic style. A black Muppet, Roosevelt Franklin, has become a star. Miguel (Jaime Sanchez), a Spanish-speaking actor, will be an occasional host. The show will also be less male-oriented; a female writer has been added to give it a more feminine slant...