Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

[minor muppetz]

Minor,
There was indeed some scene witha camel. I work for a film photo archive and we have shots from the set of the Muppet Movie here and there is a photo with a camel in it. I don't know anything more about the scene or how the camel fit in but the picture is interesting nonetheless. We also have a picture of Steve Whitmire holding Fozzie which makes me wonder if he did the physical manipulation for Fozzie in a scene with both Fozzie and Piggy in the shot?

In that picture, was the camel a real one or a muppet one? were statler and waldorf wearing their regular clothes, or were they wearing arabian clothes?

In the Muppet Central Collectibles Guide, it is said that the Muppet Movie Songbook has a picture of them on a camel, as well as a Sam The eagle Sign, and it says that both scenes were part of the song Moving Right Along. I have noticed a line in that song that appears on the soudntrack that doesn't appear in the movie.

 

[minor muppetz]

do you remember if jerry juh was a puppeteer in the final scene? after all, when he started working for Jim henson, he was hired as both a writer and a performer, but once farnk Oz joined, he performed less, and within a few years he worked exclusively as a writer. I think there is an interview with jerry Juhl where he said that he would occasionally perform in crowd scenes that needed as many extra hands as possible. if a major film director like john landis would perform in a scene like this, then surley a former puppeteer who was still involved with the company would.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

In that picture, was the camel a real one or a muppet one? were statler and waldorf wearing their regular clothes, or were they wearing arabian clothes?

In the Muppet Central Collectibles Guide, it is said that the Muppet Movie Songbook has a picture of them on a camel, as well as a Sam The eagle Sign, and it says that both scenes were part of the song Moving Right Along.

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 wearing... but it's definitely a Muppet camel.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

do you remember if jerry juhl was a puppeteer in the final scene?

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.

 

[Docnzhoss]

You mentioned that you recently talked with Steve Whitmire at the Tonight Show. What were you guys doing there?

By the way, this is awesome stuff! Thanks a bunch for sharing!

 

[MuppetDude]

Was that Picture from a storybook, or possibly a publicity photo?

The picture looked too bright compared while in the movie the scene looked darker. the picture looks like it could have been shot at a different angle. The big muppets at the end look like they are farther to the right then they were in the movie. also, in that picture it is easier to see which muppets are there. If it is a publicity photo, then it must have been filmed at the time it was filmed, sinc emost of the muppets appear to be in the same spot.

It came from a great book called "The Art of the Muppets".

This is one of the best threads I ever read!

 

[Was Once Ernie]

You mentioned that you recently talked with Steve Whitmire at the Tonight Show. What were you guys doing there?

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 people. I got my picture taken with Steve and Kermit sitting on my shoulder. That's when I got to talk to him.




P.S. Er... Steve wasn't sitting on my shoulder, just Kermit.

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

P.S. Er... Steve wasn't sitting on my shoulder, just Kermit.

That's good to know. If you can handle Kermit AND Steve sitting on your shoulder, there's no reason you couldn't have handled four or five characters in the Muppet Movie finale!

 

[That Announcer]

Hey WOE, you've got yourself a sticky thread, congratulations!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Hey WOE, you've got yourself a sticky thread, congratulations!

Just one of the simple powers they gave me!! I felt this deserved it so it would be on top of the other threads because, for reference and research, it's an important thread!