Classic Muppets filming NBC Christmas special
"Letters to Santa" is set on Christmas Eve when Kermit and company mistakenly avert three letters en route to Santa Claus, which triggers a race against time to bring a happy Christmas to the kids whose wishes were lost in the mail
Courtesy of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
September 8,
2008
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The Muppets will return to NBC this Christmas. |
Can you imagine Mayor Bloomberg scolding the Muppets’ uppity Miss Piggy for being too pushy as she waits in line at the post office to mail her letter to Santa?
The lesson in courtesy takes place in a NBC television special titled “Letters to Santa” that was being filmed by a crew of hundreds on the stoop of 129 Joralemon St. in Brooklyn Heights most of Monday in the late-summer heat.
The location was decorated with an American flag, a sign reading “New York, New York” in shiny silver lettering, and the usual postal hours of service, which converted the first-floor façade of the yellow brick mansion into the entrance of a branch post office.
The gabby Miss Piggy is told by the mayor that it would be improper for him to push ahead of the others waiting to enter the post office. At least, that seemed to be the dialog heard by a huge crowd of onlookers watching the action. Joralemon Street and nearby Clinton Street were jammed with dressing rooms and all the vehicles and equipment required for a major film shoot. Parking was banned, but traffic was allowed.
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The new Christmas special will star “View" host Whoopi Goldberg, Equus' Richard Griffiths as well as Madison Pettis and former "Sopranos" stars Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa. Singer-songwriter Paul Williams is also working on new songs for the NBC special. |
Produced by the Muppets Studio unit of the Walt Disney Company, some of the special is being filmed and edited at the Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Onlookers were surprised to see the mayor walk onto the location, where he was introduced to director Kirk Thatcher. He was quickly hustled into the makeup tent, where a light dusting of powder was applied. Then he stepped halfway up the stoop for the encounter with Miss Piggy. He emerged in a dark winter coat and bright red scarf.
Among the spectators was Allison Card, who has lived in an apartment in the mansion for the past four years, with her pet dog Clyde, a small black-and-white wire-haired dachshund. The young woman said her family owns all of the Muppets DVDs. The crew promised her a photo of Clyde meeting with Kermit the frog, another well-known Muppet character. The picture would become the family Christmas card, she said.
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