How to operate a muppet...

[Fozzie Bear]

Terry Angus once posted a drawing how that works in a different thread.

Inside the head there are wires for some that can be controlled by the puppeteer's left hand. I noticed Steve when he had Bean Bunny that he was making the eyelids open and close by means of a little hand held item.

Go on Ebay to find an older version of Animal, the puppet, and there you will find a ramp in his upper jaw that your middle finger can adjust the opennes of his eyes; likewise, they have just re-released puppets of the Boglins, and inside (the old ones at least) there was a small switch for your middle finger which would make their eyes shift from side-to-side.

I wish Angus would get involved here to help out better.

 

[Hays]

Another thought

Though not used often on the muppets (dunno about Sweetums) Henson productions is famous for another type of animation that they used primarily in Dinosaurs, called a WALDO (I don't know what the acronym is for, but you may find it in a search engine) I remember seeing a behind-the-scenes newscast about it long ago.

A Waldo is a complex apparatus that the puppeteer wears on his head. It's basically a radio control that controls corresponding air bladders in the puppet's face; it is controlled by making exaggerated facial movements.

A lot of the puppets in Dark Crystal, Dinosaurs, horror movies, etc. are animatronic puppets (think Chuck E. Cheese, but better) that are operated by radio controls.