May You Always

[D'Snowth]

I find the inclusion of Catgut in this number - where Muppet dogs are serenading a photo of Lassie - to be a rather odd choice. Is there any specific reason why she was thrown in there seemingly randomly? Did they not have the Rover Joe puppet when they taped that episode that they could use?

 

[minor muppetz]

I find the inclusion of Catgut in this number - where Muppet dogs are serenading a photo of Lassie - to be a rather odd choice. Is there any specific reason why she was thrown in there seemingly randomly? Did they not have the Rover Joe puppet when they taped that episode that they could use?

Rover Joe did appear later in the season, though.

It reminds me of something I had been thinking about. So there's a Muppet Workshop in New York, but The Jim Henson Company also has an office in LA, and there's quite a few Muppet productions that were done in Canada and England (and other parts of the world, but New York, England, Canada, and LA are the most common). Many of the Muppet productions done in recent years were made in LA, while Puppet Heap is based in New Jersey (and The Jim Henson Company still keeps the older puppets in its archives, and it seems they've supplied existing Muppet puppets when needed). I wonder what it's like sending the puppets to different parts of the world. Like, when the Muppets have a TV show, do they send all of the puppets (well, besides ones used for other shows) to the locations they are recorded at, in case the puppets do get used, or do they just send a small handful, and have others delivered from New York/New Jersey if the characters are needed?

Hmm, that might be a question for another thread.

 

[D'Snowth]

All I know is that Kermit Love used to pack Big Bird's body in a bass violin case, and his head in a large drum case whenever they had to travel.

 

[minor muppetz]

All I know is that Kermit Love used to pack Big Bird's body in a bass violin case, and his head in a large drum case whenever they had to travel.

I saw in a Muppet Show Fan Club newsletter that when Big Bird appeared on The Muppet Show, the Big Bird puppet was too fragile to go into air plane storage (not sure if it was just the plane used then or if it's all planes), so the top half of the costume had to have its own seat. I always assumed that that part of the character was in view of everyone on the plane, as opposed to being in a bag.

 

[jobi71]

I find the inclusion of Catgut in this number - where Muppet dogs are serenading a photo of Lassie - to be a rather odd choice. Is there any specific reason why she was thrown in there seemingly randomly? Did they not have the Rover Joe puppet when they taped that episode that they could use?

I wondered about her inclusion as well. It does seem to be an odd choice. I don't have an answer for you, but here are some theories I thought of:

It was season one and although Jim and the writers had a pretty good idea of who the "starring" Muppets would be I think there was still some trial and error as to who might end up as the "co-starring" or recurring characters, who might end up in the chorus and who would fade to the background. Characters like Droop and Baskerville, in my opinion, fall into the chorus category. They get some good screen time, are recognizable and their character remained consistent unlike say the frackles who though recognizable had character traits that would vary as the scene needed. Catgut was a distinct puppet. Maybe the idea was to see if they could come up with a hook for her character and have her stick around a bit like Miss Mousey and Beautiful Day Monster.

She is a female character. Something the show was (and continues) to have in short supply.

This was for a UK number. Louise Gold when talking about a different UK number "Any Old Irons" where one of the whatnots (the one she was performing) loses their eye at the start of the song. This was the last scene to be filmed and they had no time to reshoot. I assume that priority in filming was given to scenes with the guest star and any big production numbers. It makes sense that Muppet only bits like Statler and Waldorf and UK numbers would be done at the end of the schedule. All of this is a long set up to say: Rover Joe may not have been on set or was but had a malfunction and she was used to fill in.

Jim or Jerry or someone thought it was funny to have a cat mixed in with the dogs. She also plays in the all dog band in Wilkomen in the Joel Grey episode.

 

[LamangoNumber2]

Catgut was a 'traitor' to her race. She loved rats, probably was friends with all dogs.

 

[Dominicboo1]

I always thought it comical contrast