Facts That Don't Add Up

[CensoredAlso]

You have to admit, that was pretty gutsy of them to actually keep Northern Calloway on the show, despite all of his medical and mental problems, but they knew David was a popular and well-loved character with the kids since he WAS the street cool cat, so they kept him so long as he was under supervision. They even said in his final years, his worsening conditions were more evident: missing work, rapidly gaining weight, and apparently he actually went to Allison Bartlett O'Reilly's campus to propose to her.

Well it's all very tragic of course; nobody asks to be mentally ill and sadly medicine is still struggling to keep up.

 

[D'Snowth]

You knowm, that brings to mind the slight askewed business dealings...

Employers don't have the right to ask their perspective employees if they have any illness, condition, handicap, etc, BUT, they DO have the right to ask if they have a criminal record.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Well yeah, you can't help it if you're sick. But if you commit a crime, that's pretty much your fault, heh.

 

[minor muppetz]

The most common idea behind Brian's departure was the downtime on the set put a strain on his family life, but some have said it's because he wanted to concentrate on a different career that involved writing and acting.

What has Meehl acted in, besides a few Sesame Street appearances on-screen? Heck, I can remember when I used to wonder what he'd written, since his Internet Movie Database page didn't list any writers credits.

Though it's ironic that the downtime is one reason he stopped performing, and then pursued an acting career. Wouldn't the downtime issues affect acting just as much as puppeteering? I've seen a quote from Meehl about this, where he mentioned the downtime as a downside to performing, and yet mentioned getting restless; I'd have thought so much downtime would allow for plenty of time to relax.

Another fact that doesn't quite add up: In Caroll Spinney's autobiography, he said that Jim Henson didn't have any work for him during the break between seasons one and two, requiring him to work in Boston again for a short time. But what about The Great Santa Claus Switch? Henson had to hire many new performers for this. I'd be surprised if Henson was offered a chance to make this special after Spinney committed to working on Bozo's Big Top in Boston. And I also read that the cast went on tour during this break, and Daniel Segren performed Big Bird in those appearances. What the heck???? This does remind me that when I first heard of The Great Santa Claus Switch, it was in a performers list site which for some reason incorrectly listed Caroll Spinney as one of the performers.

 

[D'Snowth]

I think he wrote mostly for children's shows; I see his name as a writer from time to time on The Magic School Bus actually (and Jocelyn Stevenson), but other than that.

 

[Drtooth]

I think he wrote mostly for children's shows; I see his name as a writer from time to time on The Magic School Bus actually (and Jocelyn Stevenson), but other than that.

Yeah... he did a few Cyberchase episodes. Which ones I can't remember, but I remember seeing his name. But the earliest first or second season ones. Never saw his name after that.

 

[minor muppetz]

It's widely sourced that Fran Brill auditioned for the Muppets thinking she could just do voices, before Jim Henson informed her that the performers do the voices, which she did. But during the early years it was common for characters to be performed by non-performers, from having the human cast occasionally provide Anything Muppet voices (most notably Matt Robinson as Roosevelt Franklin, but it could be because Robinson created the character) to having various songwriters provide voices on occasion.

And Fran Brill's first Muppet production, The Great Santa Claus Switch, was also the first Henson production with involvement from Marilyn Sokol, who Jim quickly allowed to just do voices for the Muppets (if she continued to physically perform the puppets, I wonder if she'd still be a Muppet performer today). And following that special was The Frog Prince and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen, both of which used vocal talents from non-performers. Though GSCS was taped in New York while the other specials were done in Canada, and Jerry Nelson said in a Tough pigs interview that those required a certain number of canadian performers. Concerning TFP, Carl Banas was the only canadian voice actor in that special I know of, while Jerry Juhl provided the voice of Taminella (since he'd done the voice before and had stopped performing by then) and Jerry Nelson, who was a major Muppet performer by then, voiced but did not puppeteer Robin.

 

[Yorick]

I clicked on this thread and read (so far) only the most recent post from minor muppetz, and I must say that was very interesting!

 

[D'Snowth]

And Fran Brill's first Muppet production, The Great Santa Claus Switch, was also the first Henson production with involvement from Marilyn Sokol, who Jim quickly allowed to just do voices for the Muppets (if she continued to physically perform the puppets, I wonder if she'd still be a Muppet performer today).

Well, from what I understand, regarding Marilyn was that she did start out as both a puppeteer and doing the voices as well, though I believe she couldn't quite get the hang of the puppetry aspect, but Jim was impressed with her vocal talent, that he kept her on to exclusively do voices.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yesterday I brought up how Fran Brill was hired, and today Jim Henson's red book notes her being hired for Sesame Street, with an article written by Fran Brill herself: http://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2011/09/27/9-1970/