Little things we've noticed

[D'Snowth]

Gee, I don't even remember that guy. Like, whatsoever. And this is coming from a guy who actually remembers other obscure and short-lived teens on the show from the 90s such as Mike and Petey.

 

[cjd874]

Gee, I don't even remember that guy. Like, whatsoever. And this is coming from a guy who actually remembers other obscure and short-lived teens on the show from the 90s such as Mike and Petey.

Apparently he only made a handful of appearances on the show. First one, he worked in Linda's library and later went on a picnic with Gina. Then came the appearance that I posted. So yeah...he was a REALLY short-lived character.

 

[MuppetSpot]

Probably only half a season.

 

[D'Snowth]

As much as Jim innovated the idea of lip-syncing by keeping the four fingers as still as possible and moving just the thumb, I've come to notice there seems to be a period in the early 70s where his work is a little off and the puppets he performers move their skulls a little too much when talking:

Of course, it could very well be chalked up to the particular puppets he's using; speaking from experience, I can tell you if a puppet's mouth isn't hinged very well or if the whole head might be a little constricting that can affect the head and mouth movements and sometimes causes the mouth to open in a way that makes the head look as if it's flopping around too much.

Conversely, however, I've always found this to be one of Jim's perfect examples of lip syncing:

Not only does he hit every syllable precisely, but notice "fire" is just one syllable, whereas most Muppets seem to use two.

 

[minor muppetz]

Conversely, however, I've always found this to be one of Jim's perfect examples of lip syncing:

Ironically, I think Caroll Spinney once mentioned this as an example of a time he (Caroll, not Jim) had trouble with the lip synching. I read that after shooting, Jim watched the performance on a monitor and remarked "terrible", without realizing that Caroll was standing behind him,then he claimed he was referring to his own performance (Caroll could tell he was lying) and said something that helped Caroll with the lip synch.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yes, well, Caroll admitted what his real problem was were those synchronized production numbers and that trying to move in synch with the others was a hang-up for him, hence why after the first season he began doing Big Bird and Oscar almost exclusively because he just simply worked better that way. "I've never really been a good team player with the Muppets."

Frank also noted that Caroll seemed to have trouble fitting in in the beginning, mainly because he was so star-struck by working with Jim that it seemed to also have an affect on his performances whenever they'd do inserts together.

 

[minor muppetz]

Frank also noted that Caroll seemed to have trouble fitting in in the beginning, mainly because he was so star-struck by working with Jim that it seemed to also have an affect on his performances whenever they'd do inserts together.

I wonder if he got over it later on, when Kermit and Big Bird interacted in Christmas Eve and Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, Big Bird and The Swedish Chef in A Muppet Family Christmas, Kermit's interview with Oscar in Sesame Street Special and the time Oscar put a bus stop sign in Kermit's house... There's other moments the two performed later on, and there doesn't seem to be any awkwardness in his performances there (I wonder if he would have performed more characters if asked later on).

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm sure he did, Caroll has mentioned that he and Jim developed a true friendship, and often times whenever Jim needed to take a break from whatever projects he was working on, he would usually call up Caroll and his wife Debbie and they'd usually go have dinner, go see a movie, or just sit around and talk all night.

 

[minor muppetz]

For years I thought Caroll did a good job in "Everybody Likes Ice Cream" (at least when you compare his performance to such characters as the farmer from "Kermit guesses from clues" and "The Magic Apple", then again, he gave both of those characters the same voice and they are both farmers, so maybe the stiffness of the performance was more intentional), and I'm just now noticing how off the lip-synch is, mainly when compared to the other two. He seems to be a little late while the other two seem in synch of each other.

 

[cjd874]

I'm sure he did, Caroll has mentioned that he and Jim developed a true friendship, and often times whenever Jim needed to take a break from whatever projects he was working on, he would usually call up Caroll and his wife Debbie and they'd usually go have dinner, go see a movie, or just sit around and talk all night.

Not to mention, in the I am Big Bird film, there's footage of Jim at a party saying that Sesame Street's success was largely as a result of Caroll's performances as Big Bird and Oscar. So the respect was most certainly mutual.