How were the large monsters performed?

[Gorgon Heap]

Specifically, how did the Muppeteers puppeteer the large-mouthed monsters, since their mouths were obviously larger than the human hand? Not to mention how they were able to puppeteer the monsters who ate other characters- how do you puppeteer a monster puppet when another puppet is being shoved into your palm?

Something I've always been curious about and would also like to get practical info on.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[Effralyo]

Yes, I always surprise how, e.g., the same Zeliboba or Sweetums can talk so easily...

 

[FISH'N'WOLFE]

This is just a guess, but I imagine it's a two hand operation. One hand in the jaw and one in the roof of the mouth. And of course a second puppeteer would operate both the arms. It works well, I built a monster that eats things and it had to be operated this way.

 

[practicecactus]

But when Sweetums is walking around ,it's clearly one performer, and he performs it like big bird.
Are the monsters perfomed in an upper-cut fashion?

..And I could never figure out how big bird's jaw can be supported by a thumb.
being so long and all. How does it mantain rigidity ,while still being light enough to move quickly?

 

[shtick]

Sweetums is definitely loaded with RC elements. Remember that this type of stuff was readily available to animatronics developers eventhough it was hard to come by in your conventional RC shop.

I'm pretty sure they have different Sweetums rigs to do different tasks. All with their animatronic counterparts.

Today, its not crazy to think sweetums mouth is RC based. Take a look at (I never ever thought I'd say this name in a sane conversation...) Barney. *shudder*

Barney's mouth and head is all animatronic, so Sweetums definitely has that going for him.

 

[BlueFrackle]

Sweetums mouth has never been animatronic. Its always been performed with someones arm/hand.

They switch from the arm to the mouth when dancing or in need of both hands. You can see where it goes a bit wrong in the Nancy Walker dance number, At the end of the number you can see that Richards arm is in Sweetums arm, But he couldnt push it through all the way down to the hand.

I guesse his eyes were animatronic sometimes too. But I bet there are manual controls inside the head.

 

[FISH'N'WOLFE]

I wasn't referring to the walkaround characters, just the ones like the monster in the "I've Got You Under My Skin" sketch on the Muppet Show.

 

[Iokitek]

I've always wondered about this aswell. And although I do not have the answers of how they did it all exactly I know I would simply go for animatronics. Like the TMNT movies.

 

[Jinx]

I have puppeteered a character similar to Sweetums which could be configured a couple of ways.

The mouth was "Sprung" to remain in a naturally closed position. My hand was in the lower jaw only, there was no control for the upper. It was almost a slapping action to activate the mouth.

The eyes were actually controlled with my chin on a control bar. Rather ingenious, but not entirely efficient!

The right hand mostly just hung at the side, but when it needed to operate I could easily switch my hand from the mouth to the hand for manipulation.This is very much what Tztz suggests, although I didn't need a separate setup to switch from hand to mouth, I could do both in one take, just not simultaneously.

As far as "eating" goes the key here, regardless the puppet, is just getting out of the way! I have used hand puppets that "eat" and I just slid my hand as far to the side as I could to make room the the "consumables". In "Little Shop" Twoey obviously does a lot of eating...in the #3 puppet eating Orin's entrail's consisted of an open throat and a puppet "tongue" to assist in shoving the items down into my lap. In the #4 puppet Twoey eats Mushnik, Audrey, and Seymour. Each was accomplished differently.

For Muschnik I would straddle as widely as I sould and lift the upper pod with my back. He would step into the pod and I would slam down over him. For the second chomp he would fall back and I would bite him firmly across the chest, in a little tribute to Robert Shaw in "Jaws". For the third chomp he would fall forward and dart out between my legs, out the back of the puppet. During this action I made many smaller "chewing" motions. Then we (voice actor and I) would do a big laugh, which was not only menacing but it showed that Mushnik had truly been "eaten' and was not merely hiding inside the pod.

For Audrey it was similar but much slower. I would raise the pod and Seymour placed Audrey within. As I very SLOWLY closed the pod Audrey would reach up and grab the control bar with one hand, and my wrist with the other. Then together we would slowly pull her feet through the "lips" of the pod while the voice actor provided a very nice spaghetti slurp sound.

For Seymour I would stand sideways in the pod and lean as far downstage as I could. Then when Seymour ran and leapt into the pod I would slam and "chew" from the front of the pod while Seymour escaped out the back. I would then get the machete (that Seymour dropped in the front of the pod), move to the rear, open the mouth tossing out the machete, to another well-timed "spit" sound from the voice actor.

So, like so many things, each puppetry challenge can be unique and require equally unique solutions. If we hadn't devised 3 different methods the audience would have grown to expect the same treatment each time. By varying the method it increased the "how'd they do that?" factor.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Most large puppet/body costume characters are not radio controlled and operated manually. In addition to the methods Jinx mentioned, some mascot characters have a special rig for your head so that you can nod to make a mouth move up and down, turn your head so that eyes move, etc.