Okay, now that I've had a chance to rest my wrists, here's Part II.
In between the interview scenes, there are cuts to Steve, presumably back home in Ohio, describing moments or photos that for some reason or other didn't make it to camera. But he showed us shots of him working the Muppets that they found in the attic, including Beaker. And over the end credits, he played back some of the photos from the video, as well as a closeup of Richard's Henson Associates business card.
Jane indicated that, when Richard was staying at Beaker's Breakers during the onslaught of Hurricane Bob, Richard's health was that he had to stay in bed for a while, but he did have the energy to climb out onto the porch roof (because the window in his room opened out onto the roof) and sit and watch the waves. Jane also remarked that nothing, not even the threat of a hurricane, was going to make Richard abandon that house. "Nobody was going to tell him what to do." That was a rather poignant mental image.
Something a little more cheerful: there's a cool photo of Richard (sporting his newsboy cap), Miss Piggy and one of the Studio D security guards holding up a framed piece of cardboard with all these ropes tied in knots stuck to it; there were bowlines, squares, hitches, sheet bends, etc. Jane and Steve speculated whether Richard might have tied some of those, seeing as he was a Boy Scout.
There was also the photo of Richard, Placido Flamingo and Placido Domingo on the set of SS. The photo's dated sometime in the mid-to-late 80s, I think, and the two men are standing shoulder to shoulder as the flamingo eagerly peers out from between them. They're looking at something off to the left of the camera (probably another photographer), both men have dark-colored sweaters on, and they all look pretty pleased. Like I said, Richard must have been over the moon at being able to meet one of opera's greats.
There was also that mass group photo taken on the set of MuppetVision 3D, and all the principal Muppeteers, including Jim, are there, but they're scattered here and there among the other crew members. Richard's off to the far left, giving a one-armed hug to a woman in a spangled black tunic. Jane wasn't sure who the woman was, but they speculated that it might have been Louise Gold.
I'm going to indulge in a bit of ego-stroking now. A while back, I think I told a couple of you guys that, since Amanda was going to be a mom, I made a rainbow-colored quilt and arranged, through Steve, to have it sent to Jane. Well, it worked out a little differently, in that Steve brought the quilt with him to Closter, and presented it to Jane on camera, along with a letter I'd typed up and sent along. And she loved it. And since I mentioned Richard's AIDS quilt panel in the letter, the conversation briefly turned to the AIDS panel that the Henson crew had made.
I've got a few photos, so I'll reactivate my long-dormant deviantART account and post one for you guys.
Anyways, Jane and Steve head outside, and we get a look at the very leafy peony beds in front of the house, and Jane described how the family had moved in during the fall of (I think) 1959, right before Rachel, the fifth kid, was born. In the fall, the peonies were dead and cold, so the family had no idea what they were, but come the spring, the plants exploded in a lush display of pink peonies. This led to Jane retelling the story of how Richard, while living and working in England, would come home for a few days each May to see the peonies in full bloom.
In the next scene, we're looking at the park that's across the street from the house, and just beyond the baseball field, there's the elementary school. And so Jane told about how the kids, when they were all in grade school, walked to school every morning, and she could see them walking across the park toward the school from the kitchen window.
That pretty much wraps up the video, and Steve finishes it up with a few musings, and we get to see the Scooter plush that he brought home from Closter.
It was all so incredibly cool...I hope I've been able to describe the good stuff for you guys.
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