Muppet Event in Orlando, Florida

[jeremyactor]

So did anybody out there get to see Steve Whimire at the event today?

If so, Tell us all about it.

Didn't go Saturday, but attending 3 sessions on Sunday!

 

[ploobis]

Didn't go Saturday, but attending 3 sessions on Sunday!

Well I hope you fun.

Me and my family are driving to Florida tomorrow at 9:00pm for our Easter week vacation so I won't be able to be there in time. But we will go to the exhibit that will be at James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA on 9/5/09 from 11/25/09.

 

[jeremyactor]

So today there were 4 sessions in the Muppets Music and Magic film series, wrapping up the film festival.

The first event was Muppet Fairytales - which showcased the pilot of Tales of Tinkerdee, a Sesame Street version of Rapunzel, a commercial for Pak-Nit RX (Shrinkel and Stretchel), and The Frog Prince. I'd seen all these, except for Rapunzel, before - and that clip is a real treat.Click here to view this clip!

After a brief break, the second session started - Heather Henson introduced the very special guest star, Steve Whitmire! YAAAAY! The films on the docket for this session were TMS: Harry Belafonte and The Storyteller: The Heartless Giant. Steve commented that he never worked on the Storyteller, and he was filming some pickup shots for The Muppet Movie during the filming of that particular TMS episode - so he didn't get to work on anything we were about to see. But after we watched those clips, he would host a Q&A. He even brought Kermit along! I asked what the process is like to recast a character, since he's had to go through that a number of times now. He didn't elaborate too much on the process besides saying that he as well as all the other performers strongly believe that there needs to be 1 performer for every character - you can't have 5 people who can play Kermit, you need one dedicated performer to be able to get it right (obviously not inclusive of scenes with, say, Kermit and Rizzo - but you know what I'm saying). That made me feel a lot better - remember savethemuppets.com anyone? A little girl asked if Kermit went to school - and he replied that he attended Frog School, and even asked what grade the girl was in. Kermit treated us all to a shortened version of Being Green, which he says is a lot easier to do now that it has another meaning, plus after his Green support group. Someone asked what a week in the life of Steve is like - to which he replied "I'm going to go home and work on my lawn this week - Dave Goelz and I when we get together love to talk about our tractors. We both have John Deere's!"

After a few other questions, Kermit went behind a curtain and Steve posed for photos, signed autographs, etc. He was extremely patient and made sure everyone got a chance to meet him. I asked him to sign my copy of "Of Muppets and Men" next to the photo of him and Lips - to which he replied "Woah - who's that young guy? I love looking at these old books - it's like a junior high yearbook!" I asked if if was a requirement to be hired as a Muppeteer to have a beard - he laughed and said "No, we all just wanted to emulate Jim." He mentioned that he reads these boards, but shouldn't participate - which I understand completely. I would probably make the same choice if I was him. He said he's a very private person, and is really glad that people don't recognize him on the street. So be forewarned - if you see Steve Whitmire on the street - LEAVE HIM ALONE!

Next up was Heather hosting a session on experimental films and commercials - lots of old Sam and Friends clips, Wilkins and Wontkins, and rare films like Ripples, Youth 68, the 2nd Wilson's Meat Meeting film. I'm always wary of things advertising "Rare Muppet Clips" - because what the average Joe considers a rare clip isn't usually rare to us hard core Muppet fans - but this did not disappoint!

Sadly, I was unable to stay to see the final screening of the night - The Dark Crystal, introduced by Steve. As much as I would have liked to stay - I'd been sitting for 8 hours at that point and was very hungry - so I can only hope I'll have another opportunity to meet Steve again. But he signed my books and I have a photo with him where I'm not blinking - so I feel pretty good about my day!

I'll upload my photos to flickr and edit this post with a link in the near future. The session were great - and hopefully someone can post a review of Steve's appearance at the Dark Crystal screening.

 

[dwayne1115]

Well that sounds like you had a great night! and if your reading this Hi Steve!

 

[Voiceroy]

Jeremy, I enjoyed your report. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I'm going to link to it on my blog. I look forward to seeing your pics!

And for any mod who might be reading this, any chance the duplicate thread in the "Henson People" forum for "Jim Henson's Fantastic World" could be merged into a "Megathread" for this topic, since there is already overlap between the two?

 

[jeremyactor]

I'll upload my photos to flickr and edit this post with a link in the near future. The session were great - and hopefully someone can post a review of Steve's appearance at the Dark Crystal screening.

As promised - here are my photos on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79353998@N00/?saved=1

Or Just Click here!

 

[theprawncracker]

As promised - here are my photos on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79353998@N00/?saved=1

Or Just Click here!

AWESOME pictures! I'm so jealous! ! !

But... I gotta ask... where'd you get that t-shirt? It's INCREDIBLE!

 

[jeremyactor]

AWESOME pictures! I'm so jealous! ! !

But... I gotta ask... where'd you get that t-shirt? It's INCREDIBLE!

The used to sell it at the Disney parks - I got it there a couple years ago. It is an awesome shirt!

Jeremy

 

[Nick22]

im so jealous. i RULLY wanna meet steve whtimire