Little things we've noticed

[D'Snowth]

As long as we're discussing discern who peformers what, does anyone have any idea who performed any of the lavender AMs in "Kids Just Love to Brush"? Because it strikes me they each have some of the better manipulation and overall movements over most of the other AMs.

 

[Oscarfan]

The lead is Richard, pretty sure. Can't quite tell the dad.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I think it’s Jim to be honest.

 

[D'Snowth]

Not just with them, but the others as well. I love during the split screen chorus how the lavender boy in the red sweater wiggles his head a little as they hold the note for "brrruuuuush."

 

[Oscarfan]

That one looks like Kevin. All the others are probably the regular day-players (Marty, Pam, Noel, Jim Kroupa, Bryant Young maybe even).

 

[LittleJerry92]

I definitely see Kevin as the red shirt lavender kid, looking closely at his mouth and some head sways.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder how likely it would have been for Jim Henson to perform a one-shot character with no dialogue by season 16. He did continue to perform one shot characters in the late 1980s, I guess it is hard to know whether he actually did do a character with no dialogue without behind the scenes photos or call sheets or whatever (I know he did do a non-speaking role in the song “Please Say Toothpaste Somebody”, but he was originally going to perform the lead and just happened to be too tired to sing).

I assumed that Jim continued performing Chrissy in the late-1980s, but it seems Richard Hunt and Kevin Clash were often performing him in those years. Makes sense since Jim was often busy.

Bob Payne is a performer who was often uncredited (though he did get his performer credit in the special end credits sequence for the Puerto Rico episodes), in seasons 10 and 11 he seemed to be most active as a performer on the show, often with speaking roles. And it seems like the scripts usually credit him when he plays a role on the street. I’ve heard that the scripts often don’t credit Muppet performers, but there were instances of him being confirmed as certain characters before video footage was available (it also seems that way for some of Brian Meehl’s early performances). Makes me wonder if he was credited in all those scripts.

Back in 2009, I e-mailed Brian Meehl, one of my questions was which season he started on, he said the 1979 half of the 1978-1979 season. I know performers often misremember things, but I saw on the wiki that he performed Sam the Robin in the episode that premiered in January 1 1979, so he would have been performing on set in 1978.

I hope soon we can figure out the earliest known instances of Brian Meehl and Michael Earl performing on the show (I wonder what the earliest confirmed ones on the wiki are.... I probably could determine that myself). I wouldn’t expect to find out their true first performance (probably something where they don’t do voices).

I also hope soon the wiki can uncover the first time Michael Earl voiced Snuffy. I always assumed he first performed Snuffy in season 10 and that his first vocal performance as the character was in season 11, but he could have started doing the voice before season 10 ended or after Snuffy made a few appearances in season 11.

 

[minor muppetz]

It seems like in every sketch in which a Muppet is shown taking a bath, the bath tub is reasonably small and looks like it's portable and separate from the wall and floor, as opposed to being sculpted into the back wall. Pretty much every bath tub I have seen in a home is sculpted into the walls, not something that would be as easy to move as a couch or refrigerator.

I was thinking about this for an hour and decided to watch a few bath clips, I had thought the large bath tub from Do De Rubber Duck and I've Gotta Be Clean had a back to it but as I glanced through a little of the clips it looks like we don't really see a back to it, I guess they did appear to be attached to the wall.

I guess it's easier to build a bath tub that looks like it could be portable than to build one and sculpt it into the wall of a bathroom set.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Something that just kind of clicked in my head....

Not that I really care much for this song, catchy as it is, but I have a feeling we won’t be seeing any more releases of this song with the mention of “Dixie” in the band name, since they changed it to “the chicks” (such an original name I may say ) due to..... well, you know all why.

 

[SesameMike]

It seems like in every sketch in which a Muppet is shown taking a bath, the bath tub is reasonably small and looks like it's portable and separate from the wall and floor, as opposed to being sculpted into the back wall. Pretty much every bath tub I have seen in a home is sculpted into the walls, not something that would be as easy to move as a couch or refrigerator.

Google "claw foot bathtub". These were pretty much standard from the mid-19th Century, but they began to disappear in the early 20th. The built-in tub dominated post-WWII home construction, though the freestanding tubs are making something of a comeback in a post-modern sort of way.