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Hello all!
I am one of the fortunate 165 puppeteers who got to be in the finale scene of the Muppet Movie, operating the 265 or so characters in the Rainbow Connection number. What an incomparable experience for a young creative puppeteer to be able to be coached by, and to work with one of the world's most prolific puppeteers, Jim Henson.
A few years prior, (after watching, and being inspired by many years of Sesame Street), we decided to do the Gong Show as the "Puppets and Friends". After winning the daytime Gong Show, we were scheduled on the All Star Special, the Night Time Gong Show, and the Rah-Rah Show, all Chuck Barris Productions.
Not long after we got a call from a puppeteer friend that there was a need for a LOT of puppeteers for a special project. My brother and I were contacted and accepted to report to Studio Center in Studio City, CA, for ITC Films. This apparently was the production company associated with "H.A." - Henson & Associates (which the label inside of my Pigs D&E read)
The day started with paperwork and documentation, and then progressed to the assignment of puppets for the Finale Scene (Rainbow Connection) in the Muppet Movie. I was assigned two two puppets. These were the Pigs In Space - Swinetrek Crew Pigs D&E. My brother was assigned to manipulate J.P.Grosse. The day was broken into various segments of practice and staging, coaching, and well deserved breaks. In looking at post production stills of the puppeteers in the pit without their puppets up, it was really interesting to see the diversity of puppeteer talent on set. We were about 5 or 6 characters back from Jim and the Muppet Show core group (Kermit, Miss Piggy, etc.).
If you want to experience the rigors of overhead puppetry, hold your hands over your head and move your hands around for 5-10 minutes or so at a time. Over the course of a long day you develop endurance you never knew you had. One aspect that was critical was that we were all recessed in an oval pit (165 of us) with our arms raised over our heads for a long period of time. The term "PIT" becomes operative at this point. It was VERY CRITCAL that your face was blocked by the position of the puppet in front of you so that no operator was visible.
In the course of an 18 hour day, when we actually got to shooting takes, I believe that there were about 30 takes shot with the rainbow scrim, and about 30 shot without to allow the rainbow to be inserted in post-production (which was the method chosen). This 18 hour day was necessary to come up with a scant 45 seconds or so of final footage.
A new technique was used in this film that allowed a video split to be recorded at the exact same time via a prism, and through the same lens as the exposure of the film, so that an instant playback could be viewed before the film was even sent out to process. This was something very unique for the day, but was very important for this complex of a shot. It allowed them to view a shot making sure no operators faces popped out between the puppets which would have ruined a take.
Overall, this was a long strenuous day, but what a wonderful experience in getting to meet Jim Henson, work shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Frank Oz, and all of the other core Muppeteers, and to have a small yet important part of making the Muppet magic happen!
PS- Around the time of the release, American Cinematographer Magazine (a film making trade publication) had a great article documenting a lot of the techniques and special effects used in the making of the movie. Worth looking up if you can find a copy.
Best regards to all who have grown up with, and grown to be a part of the Muppet Family!
Curt
I am one of the fortunate 165 puppeteers who got to be in the finale scene of the Muppet Movie, operating the 265 or so characters in the Rainbow Connection number. What an incomparable experience for a young creative puppeteer to be able to be coached by, and to work with one of the world's most prolific puppeteers, Jim Henson.
A few years prior, (after watching, and being inspired by many years of Sesame Street), we decided to do the Gong Show as the "Puppets and Friends". After winning the daytime Gong Show, we were scheduled on the All Star Special, the Night Time Gong Show, and the Rah-Rah Show, all Chuck Barris Productions.
Not long after we got a call from a puppeteer friend that there was a need for a LOT of puppeteers for a special project. My brother and I were contacted and accepted to report to Studio Center in Studio City, CA, for ITC Films. This apparently was the production company associated with "H.A." - Henson & Associates (which the label inside of my Pigs D&E read)
The day started with paperwork and documentation, and then progressed to the assignment of puppets for the Finale Scene (Rainbow Connection) in the Muppet Movie. I was assigned two two puppets. These were the Pigs In Space - Swinetrek Crew Pigs D&E. My brother was assigned to manipulate J.P.Grosse. The day was broken into various segments of practice and staging, coaching, and well deserved breaks. In looking at post production stills of the puppeteers in the pit without their puppets up, it was really interesting to see the diversity of puppeteer talent on set. We were about 5 or 6 characters back from Jim and the Muppet Show core group (Kermit, Miss Piggy, etc.).
If you want to experience the rigors of overhead puppetry, hold your hands over your head and move your hands around for 5-10 minutes or so at a time. Over the course of a long day you develop endurance you never knew you had. One aspect that was critical was that we were all recessed in an oval pit (165 of us) with our arms raised over our heads for a long period of time. The term "PIT" becomes operative at this point. It was VERY CRITCAL that your face was blocked by the position of the puppet in front of you so that no operator was visible.
In the course of an 18 hour day, when we actually got to shooting takes, I believe that there were about 30 takes shot with the rainbow scrim, and about 30 shot without to allow the rainbow to be inserted in post-production (which was the method chosen). This 18 hour day was necessary to come up with a scant 45 seconds or so of final footage.
A new technique was used in this film that allowed a video split to be recorded at the exact same time via a prism, and through the same lens as the exposure of the film, so that an instant playback could be viewed before the film was even sent out to process. This was something very unique for the day, but was very important for this complex of a shot. It allowed them to view a shot making sure no operators faces popped out between the puppets which would have ruined a take.
Overall, this was a long strenuous day, but what a wonderful experience in getting to meet Jim Henson, work shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Frank Oz, and all of the other core Muppeteers, and to have a small yet important part of making the Muppet magic happen!
PS- Around the time of the release, American Cinematographer Magazine (a film making trade publication) had a great article documenting a lot of the techniques and special effects used in the making of the movie. Worth looking up if you can find a copy.
Best regards to all who have grown up with, and grown to be a part of the Muppet Family!
Curt
...Being a part of history like that must be wonderful, even if it was a lot of work 
!