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Search results

  1. Was Once Ernie

    did betsy baytos actually perform?

    I knew Betsy. I worked with her pre- and -post Muppets. When I worked with her after the Muppets, she was a puppeteer on a show I wrote. While I don't know for certain, I would guess that she was also a puppeteer on The Muppet Show and not just a dancer in costume characters... especially...
  2. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    I'm leaving for Comic-Con this morning, but I just remembered something funny that I forgot to include earlier. You'll recall that I ducked out on getting one of the Emmett Otter characters. Later in the day, I was thrilled to have Ernie, but I was also happy for another reason. All the...
  3. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Ah, but if they come to the Gary Owens panel, they'll figure it out. (HINT: I'll be the one that's NOT Gary or Mark) ;) :p
  4. Was Once Ernie

    How are these characters operated?

    Beaker is a hand puppet like the others. Pepe and Rizzo are operated more like ventriloquist dummies. There is a rod with a lever on it that you pull down to open the mouth and let up to close it. :p
  5. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Hi Gang! Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to the San Diego Comic-Con International this week, so Part Four won't be posted until next week. By the way, (and this is probably the wrong place for this, but anyway...) there are two panels that Muppet fans will want to see. Here are...
  6. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    I guess the word "recently" is relative. This was February, 2001. Kermit was a guest on the show. I just happened to take a visitor from out of town to watch the taping. Since one of the writers is a friend of mine, we got to go backstage after the show. Steve was taking pictures with...
  7. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    I'm sorry. I don't know the answer to this. Jerry Juhl is one of the few original Muppet people I never met. I even met Don Sahlin the first time I went up to HA! (It was Henson Associates back then). If Jerry was there, I wouldn't have recoignized him. :p
  8. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    The Guide is right. There are indeed those two pictures in the Muppet Movie Songbook. I just looked in my copy (which is signed by Paul Williams. I was his stand-in on an episode of "The Fall Guy"... but that's a WHOLE different story). It's so tiny, I can't tell what Statler and Waldorf are...
  9. Was Once Ernie

    Part Three of "Behind the Scenes of TMM" Is Up

    Here's a direct link to the page: Part Three of Behind the Scenes of The Muppet Movie Enjoy! :p
  10. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Part Three Well, as I pointed out, until I saw that photo the other day, I completely forgot that they had taken us onto a different stage with the oval painted on the floor and numbers for us to stand on. This was where we rehearsed while they were still lighting the set. Finally, they...
  11. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    I stand corrected. Remember, it was over 25 years ago, plus, look how far away from them I was. They're way in the back corner. But what a great picture! Where did you find it? And while looking for that picture, I came across a different one: REHEARSAL HALL The bottom picture...
  12. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    I would think it was a chorus that was brought in to fill it out. I'm sorry I haven't written Part 3 of the story yet. I'm going out of town for the 4th and will get to it when I get back. Stay tuned! :p
  13. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    It was the entire sketch, which is what made it so difficult to perform. You might also notice the clock having a little trouble keeping time and being at the right place when Guy keeps telling Grover how much time he has left. That's because it's just a person on a ladder behind the set...
  14. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    I only got paid for performing the first time since we didn't speak. It was a pre-recorded track. Which reminds me of another off-topic story... I was at the Sesame Street taping of "Beat the Time" with Grover and they did the entire bit to a pre-recorded track. This surprised me as it...
  15. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Sometimes that's the case, but the opposite can also be true. In the case of multi-syllable words, you can occasionally cheat and only open the mouth once for two syllables. If you are "artistic" enough, it will read as if the puppet is moving its mouth for all the syllables. Otherwise, the...
  16. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Added Bonus Story! maxdrive, over on the thread "How the Muppets Operate", reminded me of something else that happened. Before we ever did the first rehearsal with bare hands, Jim taught us all the Muppets' method of making the characters talk. The trick is, as you open the mouth, you jut...
  17. Was Once Ernie

    How they operate the Muppets

    Oh, very good! Thank you for reminding me! I need to add another story to my "Behind the Scenes of The Muppet Movie"! Check that thread for more about how the mouth movements are done. :p
  18. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Carroll Spinney was not there. Whoever was in Big Bird was really good, except he kept making Big Bird say nasty things. The main Muppeteers seemed to know him, though, because they made comments about him using his name. (That's how I know it wasn't Carroll Spinney... they called the guy in...
  19. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    We have a winner! It was John Landis ("Animal House"). He, like so many of us, just wanted to be a Muppeteer. It pays to have the right connections. I would guess the Sam & Friends characters were just too old and fragile to let strangers handle them. :p
  20. Was Once Ernie

    Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

    Part Two The answer is, the rainbow was put onto the film optically in post production. I think they felt that the scrim muted the colors of the Muppets too much. Next, it was time to assign puppets to everyone. All the puppeteers were divided by height. Since I'm fairly short, I was sent...
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