Characters remodeled

[JLG]

Thought I'd start a thread about different character puppets that have been used through the years, at least the ones that I've noticed. This is an inexact science at best, but I'll try. Ernie, Bert, and Big Bird are the three most distinct ones that come to mind.

With Ernie, there was:

The first--1968-70 (very skinny head, messier hair, purple/yellow shirt)

the second--early 70s (skinny head, more space above the eyes, modern colored shirt)

the third--c. 1973 (slightly thicker head, slightly brighter "smile")

the fourth--c. 1978 (rougher texture, smaller head, somewhat bigger nose)

After that I don't know. The Ernie used in the '80s was thicker and fuller than any of the earlier ones, but was still a little skinnier than the one they use now, who seems almost like colored candy to me. There also seems to be somewhat more space between his hair and his eyes than there ever was before, which changes his expression, I think.

Big Bird---

the first--1969-- Very small head, lazy eyes, very skinny.

the second--early 70s--bigger head, still with sort of dazed eyes, slightly more weight but still quite skinny. Kind of loose-looking feathers all over, too.

the third--c. 1972/3--head with slightly triangular feather arrangement, still sort of dazed eyes, still skinny.

rest of the '70s--bigger head but still slightly triangular, eyes lose that dazed look and are now more alert.

After that I don't know, but by the late '80s his head had rounded out and didn't seem triangular anymore, and the feathers seemed tighter and not so loose. And now, like Ernie and Bert, he seems to be generally thicker than he was before. (about this "triangular" business---I think old storybook drawings of BB will back me up on this. Now his head is drawn pretty much round. Artists just reflecting what they see.)

Bert--
first one--1969-70--pointy, angular, long nose, very tapered head.

second c.1970--slightly rounded out, expression softened a little, nose smaller, eyes calmer.

third--c. 1972--taller head

fourth c. 1973--slightly thicker head, unibrow very close to eyes.

(I think maybe they kept adjusting the eyebrows.)

fifth--c. 1978--rougher texture, expression less harsh, other differences too subtle to place.

After that I don't know, though like the others I think the trend over time was toward thickening and streamlining, and also making him more friendly-looking. Bert definitely looks less grumpy now than some of the earlier versions did.

These are just my loose approximations, based purely on memory. (You'd think I was a '70s kid, since the differences from then jump out at me more, but no. '80s/'90s kid.) Does anyone have their own observations, or corrections to mine?

My favorites: Ernie and Bert c. 1973, Big Bird c. 1976.

 

[D'Snowth]

What about Lulu?

The first--2000, blonde mop-top hair with light blue fur with an orange nose/used as an anything muppet monster.
The second--2001, now with dark blue fur/now on a regular-semi-regular basis.
The third--2002, dark purple turned up hair with lavendar fur, yellow nose, and now red glasses.

 

[Kerri]

pretty observant!

I noticed there are subtle differences, but I could never quite put my finger on the details. I did note though that Ernie keeps morphing.... the things you mentioned... and also that Bert doesn't look as mad. I guess with the unibrow sometimes he'd especially look like he was frowning or mad, I guess that's why I always liked Ernie better?!

Big Bird also looks brighter to me, maybe it's just the new modern tv's as opposed to the old 70's television sets and bad reception back then?! We didn't have cable, ya know! I could be wrong, but the Big Bird of my memory was more of a pale yellow, whereas I'm watching it right NOW, and he's a very bright sunshine yellow (Seth Green's guesting today, my husband is amazed. He doesn't watch this like I do, and has no concept that almost anyone who's ANYONE COOL guest stars on this classic show!!!)

 

[JLG]

Wow, your husband's really in the dark on that subject! When you think of all the "cool" people who have dropped in over the years, usually unbilled and unannounced, it boggles the mind. I'm sure someone's already started a thread trying to name them all....(?)


You could well be right about Big Bird's color, but it's really impossible to tell since there are so many variables----your particular TV reception, the color setting on the TV, etc. One thing is sure, though--the show on the whole is brighter and more colorful than it used to be. I think this is due both to the clarity of digital video versus analogue, and to a intentional effort to downplay the somewhat gritty tone SS used to have. (I'm just making assumptions that it's shot with DV nowadays---aren't most non-film shows?...)
Although...gee, who knows? Art historians always thought Michaelangelo used a grayish, toned-down palette on the Sistine Chapel, until recently when the thing was restored. The colors were much more vivid than anyone had thought. People are making similar discoveries when they restore old films these days. Video ages differently from film, but it still fades. (Just compare any syndicated episode of a TV series on your local station to its newly-released DVD counterpart, and you'll see what I mean.)

That character Lulu never seemed to catch on, did she?

 

[JLG]

There have also been at least 4 Elmos I can think of...

c. 1979--small head, frizzy fur

later '80s---slightly bigger head, smooth fur

most of the '90s--differences too subtle to place, but it's definitely not the one before.

now--I don't know if they keep adjusting the fur or if they've gone through two different puppets lately, but the fur seems longer now than it used to, and the way it's "combed" on the face sometimes makes him appear to have a mustache. Sometimes that effect is there and sometimes not.

 

[puppetise]

elmos eyes used to be bigger and his pupils were larger giving that younger fell more of a baby now days he is ever changing the answer is that elmos fur is combed at the start of a shhot and sometimes not hope that helps

 

[jeffkjoe]

Well, Carroll Spinney once said that they "update" the Muppet puppets every 7 years or so.

Cookie Monster even has gone though at least 4 incarnations. 1969's green-blue Cookie with portruding lower lip is the most obvious variation.

 

[Xerus]

I remember Grover was first brown and didn't have a name. In the skit where Kermit tries to get Grover to get into a box, he kept calling him ol' Fuzzy Face or the hairy one. And Grover replies. "Ol' Fuzzy Face is getting into the box!" and "The hairy one is getting into the box!" Grover may have realized he had been insulted but he just went along and called himself those names Kermit used.

 

[JLG]

jeffkjoe: what jumps out at me about the earliest Cookie is his very skinny head. He basically has the same face, but the back of his head is pretty much not there. It filled out a little with the next model. I didn't notice the lip---although I would say that the whole mouth in general seemed a little looser and more rubbery than the later models. I'll be looking for that lip whenever I see an old segment.

 

[balana]

It looks like Cookie's got a looser lower lip in the pillow segment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyw7F3_DLok). Another thing I noticed was that it looks like you can see the shape of the puppeteer's hand in his head (especially around his mouth) than in later versions, where his mouth tends to stay more or less flat. I have to wonder if maybe in later versions they built some kind of reinforcement into his mouth to help keep it straight vs. earlier versions that maybe had none.