H.R. Muppetstuff

[lowercasegods]

I have a two-part question that I'd appreciate anyone with a little info to try and answer:

1. Does anyone know if The Jim Henson Company ever sued or at least threatened legal action against any production or company for their puppets resembling the Muppets a little too closely (or for that matter, were they ever sued for similar reasons)?

2. Does anyone know either what The Henson company thought of the works of Sid and Mary Krofft (H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville), or what the Kroffts thought of the Henson Company? The way I see it, they were each others biggest competiton, and I wondered if there was any professional jealousy or competiton (it goes without saying that Henson and the Muppets are by far superior). I know that Steve Whitmire briefly worked for the Kroffts at their Atlanta theme park in his pre-Muppet days, so he may have some enlightening info on the matter (if you're there Steve, you rule. And any info you have towards this question would be appreciated).

If anyone has any ideas here or would at least like to discuss and compare the Kroffts and the Henson camp, I'd be a happy participant. And just as some food for thought, I always found it suspicious that H.R. Pufnstuf had a collar VERY similar to Kermit's. And as that show premiered the same year as Sesame Street (1969), it seems an odd coincidence, and a real brain teaser as to which puppet possessed the collar first (my vote is with Kermit).

 

[lowercasegods]

I just posted these cartoons on my website. The first one pokes fun at the controversy surrounding the Pufnstuf character, while the second humorously relates my point about Kermit vs. Pufnstuf. Enjoy!
http://www.jayfosgitt.com/LeftOvers/Sketchbook/SB24.html

 

[Erine81981]

Your one of the great artist! I love all your artwork. I need to do that w/ all my artwork. I just need to know how to build me a website of my own.

 

[lowercasegods]

Thank you! I actually don't know anything about building a website, but I'm fortunate to have a friend who does (he built mine). I do know that freeservers.com allows people to build their own websites for free, plus shows them how to do it. I guess it's pretty basic and simple, and I know a lot of artists who have their own freeservers website to show off their artwork. Check it out if you're interested.

 

[Erine81981]

Thanks lowercasegods. I'll cheak it out.

 

[Phillip]

You will find the Cinar lawsuit quite interesting pertaining to your question...

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2000/011900.shtml

 

[lowercasegods]

Thanks for pointing this out, Phillip. I'd been wondering if this sort of thing ever went on. Very interesting.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Seems a lawsuit or rumor of one at least rose during the ALF days. I'm surprised with all the mention of SS and characters from SS being drunks or drug users on Greg the Bunny didn't get more suits filed.

Competition? Hardly. The Muppets were always far superior over the Krofft productions. I can watch old Muppet stuff now, but not the Krofft stuff anymore.

 

[lowercasegods]

I agree completely, Fozzie. No contest, Muppets trounce Krofft any day of the week. Krofft will always pique my interest solely on the grounds of how weird and scary those puppets were. But even when the Muppets were at their scariest, it was always a fun kind of scary, and always endearing.

Y'know, the biggest dillemma is that before the Muppets came along in the 50s, most puppets were generally rigid in their movements and appearance. Then the Muppets came along and showed the world that puppets could be soft, flexible and colorful. So since that momentous beginning in 1955, every puppet builder worth his fabric liberally borrowed from the design principles of Jim Henson (or just as accurately, Don Sahlin). So bascially, to an extent, every puppet outfit out there today is basically employing Henson-inspired puppets. You're not likely to find any Howdy Doody knock offs these days. Henson broke the mold and set the standard by which all puppets have been measured for the past fifty years. So I imagine because of this, there must have been lawsuits up the wahzoo.

And to that degree, I'm surprised that Crank Yankers hasn't been sued.
They're pretty blatant in their pilfering of the Muppet style. I figure the only reason Avenue Q got away with it (and thank Jim that they did. Q rocks!) is because the people behind it were so close to the Muppet people.

Anyway, this is a great discussion! Any other thoughts?