Lamp Chop/Hush Puppy/Charlie Horse Question

[D'Snowth]

Exactly how do/did these little guys work? I wonder because their mouths and arms can all move at once, yet there's no rods or anything to move the arms... in fact, they look as if they move like just a regular toy hand puppet you give little kids to play with. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[TopperFraggle]

The arms are basically modified socks- you know how you have to kinda push extra sock material into your hand to make the mouth? These puppets are sown to keep the mouth permanently in that shape. The arms and legs are probably done with a simple string or lever mechanism- something that's built into the arms and legs so that when a puppeteer offstage pulls the lever or string, the arm raises then lowers when it's let go. Just my guess.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

That's what I've always assumed too. If you watch footage of the puppets you'll notice a lot of time when they're arms move they move all the way in one direction and then back without much subtlety which seems to suggest a simple a simple string/fishing line/whatever control rather than something more sophisticated which would allow for more subtle movement.

 

[Whispers]

I pretty much second the idea of strings having been used. Having the hands move with remote controls is very unlikely and they were, afterall, simple puppets

 

[TopperFraggle]

Most of my experience with Sherri Lewis' characters was on a morning show she had inthe early 90's. As with all puppets on Video, she most likely used a variety of methods. If the puppet was sitting on something, with the puppeteer hidden below, chances are the simple string method was used. If she was holding the pupept and you could see the full body, any arm or feet movement was probably done remotely. Depends on the shot. I assume when she was doing live performances she may have remotely controlled the arms just for the extra "wow" factor, but probably not much. It's not that impressive a motion, except when you're surprised by it.