"Dead Puppets Society" Appreciation Thread

[cjd874]

So Muppeteer Martin Robinson (the man inside Snuffy & under Telly) coined this term for the obscure SS characters that never caught on with audiences or were removed from the show after a while (Sam the Robot, Kingston Livingston III, Rodeo Rosie, Salesman, Nobel Price, Monty, and so on). This thread is for people who want to give a little love to an old-school, controversial, or long-forgotten SS Muppet, similar to the various appreciation threads for Muppet Show characters. So go for it, everyone!

One that stands out in my mind is technically not a Dead Puppet since he appeared in a recent episode. But despite being a fan favorite, Herry Monster has not had a major role on SS for years. "I Can't Help It" is one of his most outstanding performances in my opinion. It really highlights the conflict between his bumbling brute strength and his need for social acceptance. What a great character. Gotta love Herry.
Also, props to the people responsible for the special effects and sound effects at the end of the video. Wonder how they pulled it off?....

 

[Oscarfan]

Herry still appears from time to time (like the Sandy Hook benefit concert), unlike, say, Herbert Birdsfoot.

But, watching that video, I really wish they gave Herry longer arms; he's got a T-rex thing goin' there.

 

[cjd874]

The last time I actually saw Herry on an episode of SS was the episode where the Count was watching Hooper's Store and ended up causing trouble for Chris. Herry was in a crowd, so no one could hear what he was saying. He was basically serving as an extra. Jerry Nelson hadn't performed him since maybe 2000 or so, by then he was being phased out. What I'm saying is that Herry needs some love since he doesn't appear as often as he used to.

 

[mupcollector1]

"Hey Fellas. Luis, here's your door!" lol One of my all time favorite clips. And probably this and Little Jerry's song Danger is probably the only times to feature Muppet Explosions on Sesame Street. It's interesting because I've always had a theory in my mind about Muppet characters on how every character is dysfunctional in some way. Especially Kermit with his time to time Anger management issues both on Sesame Street (for example the Oklahoma sketch) and The Muppet Show. lol But in the recent years it's defiantly going in a different direction. It's kind of like how Elmo used to be sort of this pain in the neck who always wants to play with Mr the frog (Elmo's nickname for Kermit) usually at not the best time. Or how Big Bird used to have googley eyes and knock into things all the time. Personally I like how characters used to be slapsticky funny like that but that's just me.

 

[mupcollector1]

Herry still appears from time to time (like the Sandy Hook benefit concert), unlike, say, Herbert Birdsfoot.

But, watching that video, I really wish they gave Herry longer arms; he's got a T-rex thing goin' there.

It must have been pretty hard with the second Puppeteer operating the arm (arms). I notice little things with the Sesame Monsters like that changed over time. It's kind of like how Grover and Elmo would have these kind of floppy fingers back in the day but now the hands are better constructed. I think it's something with little wires in the fingers so characters can make hand gesters or hold things when they need to for a certain camera angle or something like that.

Speaking of Herbert, Jim named him after a plant called Birdsfoot that Jim remembered in his childhood when his father was a herb scientist.

Speaking of old Sesame Muppets, I rarely ever seen anything of Professor Haystings. I remember reading on how he would just fall alseep all the time and made the crew laugh but it didn't come out that great on the show. Still, he had his own toy rubber puppet released in the International Sesame puppets in Italy.

While on the subject, I would like to know a little more about the whole situation with Don Music. Don got banned because kids at home where banging their heads into things imitating Don slamming his head into the piano. Yet there was quite a few Don Music sketches. Several with Kermit reporting for Sesame Street News, A Guy Smiley Game Show sketch with Prarie Dawn (was it What is Prarie's Problem?), A history sketch with Don introducing Grover to a feather ink pen and the last one which was a street scene with Gina but when he banged his head into the piano, it showed Gina's reaction instead of actually showing Don slamming his head into the piano. Despite the controversy, he had a good share of sketches.

You know, for some reason... especially this clip, Harry reminds me of Jimmy Durante for some reason. lol The album version is slightly different (and I think he sounds slightly like Jimmy in the opening of the album verson) because one of the lyrics was "And wreck your floor, hey that's what monsters are for."

 

[cjd874]

While on the subject, I would like to know a little more about the whole situation with Don Music. Don got banned because kids at home where banging their heads into things imitating Don slamming his head into the piano. Yet there was quite a few Don Music sketches. Several with Kermit reporting for Sesame Street News, A Guy Smiley Game Show sketch with Prarie Dawn (was it What is Prarie's Problem?), A history sketch with Don introducing Grover to a feather ink pen and the last one which was a street scene with Gina but when he banged his head into the piano, it showed Gina's reaction instead of actually showing Don slamming his head into the piano. Despite the controversy, he had a good share of sketches.

You know, for some reason... especially this clip, Harry reminds me of Jimmy Durante for some reason. lol The album version is slightly different (and I think he sounds slightly like Jimmy in the opening of the album verson) because one of the lyrics was "And wreck your floor, hey that's what monsters are for."

Correction: I don't think he was in "Prairie's Problem." I know for sure that he was in the Mystery Guest Game where he was blindfolded along with Sherlock Hemlock and Cookie Monster, and they had to guess who the mystery guest was. It was the letter X. And to confirm, Herry's voice was based off of Jimmy Durante. And the nose, too...

 

[mupcollector1]

Correction: I don't think he was in "Prairie's Problem." I know for sure that he was in the Mystery Guest Game where he was blindfolded along with Sherlock Hemlock and Cookie Monster, and they had to guess who the mystery guest was. It was the letter X. And to confirm, Herry's voice was based off of Jimmy Durante. And the nose, too...

Oh yeah, so it was. I love how they had the X near a black background. I had a feeling that Herry was. I think I asked on the forum once if Uncle Deadly was based off of Vincent Price since he was in an episode before he meet him where he was known as the phantom of The Muppet Show. Someone told me one he's based on another actor, I forgot who it was. I know Count Von Count was in fact parodying the Universal version of Dracula, I've read that somewhere. Gosh, it's great The Count is back. I've seen the video with Matt Vogel, his Count sounds really good. That and his Robin the Frog is terrific as well.

 

[mupcollector1]

I'm watching the clip now, I miss Guy Smiley. As well as Sonny Friendly. I love the one where they were together arguing who's hosting the game show. Those were the days.

I was reading on Muppet wiki a few days ago that one of the gems in Season 4, Sherlock Hemlock made a surprising cameo. Does anyone know if there's a clip of that scene online? I'd love to see it.

 

[mupcollector1]

Remember Benny Bunny? He was quite a character, the bellhop of the Furry Arms Hotel in the 1990s. Him and Stinky the Pant I found to be quite scary looking characters, must be those Grouch eyes. Speaking of which, didn't Oscar used to have a dog?

 

[minor muppetz]

I don't like that they call it the "dead" puppet society. Just because they're not being used anymore doesn't mean they're dead, and some so-called "dead" characters eventually do return, usually with a cameo or background appearance, but some characters (Gladys, Hoots, Grundgetta, maybe Prairie Dawn) seemed to be off the show for a certain number of years only to be brought back quite a bit.

I think I've read that there is a wall or room or something for the dead puppet society. I wish that the official Sesame Street website would do a blog post about the society. One of the Tough Pigs guys currently contributes to the Sesame Street blog, maybe he could do it. Or Marty Robinson could showcase it for his blog, since he seems to mention the society the most.

I'd especially like to see if EVERY discontinued character is represented. Forgetful Jones, Don Music, Roosevelt Franklin, Aristotle, the Monster Clubhouse monsters, Leslie Mostly, Shivers the Penguin, Warren Wolf...