Questions on Classic Characters

[kypipebear]

I am watching one of my Muppet DVDs and I wondered about a few things. I hope others could fill in the gaps for me.

I know the Swedish Chef was performed partly by Jim Henson and as the voice. I was wondering whose real hands did they belong to? Was that done by a Muppeteer or by 2 different people. I have noticed that, as a saying goes, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

My next question is on the newer Muppeteers. I have seen some if not all of the performers from past to those that are still with the company. But is there a site if not on this one, a list showing the name and a pic of the Muppeteer of who he or she performs as? For instance, I would like to see who does Elmo, that Muppet who seems to be a version of Frank Sinatra, Clifford, Bobo the bear, etc. If there is no such pages or site, I would like to suggest to the webmaster of this site and encourage, for to be a bit of a database on the Muppeteers.

Which brings me to my next question. Now that JHC sold the rights to the Seasame Workshop of the characters of Sesame Street, will the characters still be called Muppets and would the performers still be called Muppeteers for those that also will work for Sesame Workshop?

I know that Miss Piggy was performed by another Muppeteer before Frank Oz. I wonder why the change was made? I am not saying that the one who did her first, was not bad. I think it was the same guy who was the performer of Scooter.

I have alot more questions but I think they belong in other sections or topics of this forum. I would e-mail JHC but I figure I will be told again not to send a "questions Part 3 or 4" again. And now that Disney has acquired the company, I am guessing they will not return personal e-mails or say that they can't respond to every e-mail.

Brian

 

[Beauregard]

I was wondering whose real hands did they belong to?

Frank Oz did Chefs hands.


Bea{de blip, blip, blip, blip}regard

 

[Whatever]

My next question is on the newer Muppeteers. I have seen some if not all of the performers from past to those that are still with the company. But is there a site if not on this one, a list showing the name and a pic of the Muppeteer of who he or she performs as? For instance, I would like to see who does Elmo, that Muppet who seems to be a version of Frank Sinatra, Clifford, Bobo the bear, etc. If there is no such pages or site, I would like to suggest to the webmaster of this site and encourage, for to be a bit of a database on the Muppeteers.


I know that Miss Piggy was performed by another Muppeteer before Frank Oz. I wonder why the change was made? I am not saying that the one who did her first, was not bad. I think it was the same guy who was the performer of Scooter.

Kevin Clash performs Elmo and Clifford. Bill Baretta does Johny Fiama.

Richard Hunt did not perform Piggy very long, it was before she really had any personality. Her personality grew with Frank, so he ended up performing her.

 

[muppet_dk]

My next question is on the newer Muppeteers. I have seen some if not all of the performers from past to those that are still with the company. But is there a site if not on this one, a list showing the name and a pic of the Muppeteer of who he or she performs as? For instance, I would like to see who does Elmo, that Muppet who seems to be a version of Frank Sinatra, Clifford, Bobo the bear, etc. If there is no such pages or site, I would like to suggest to the webmaster of this site and encourage, for to be a bit of a database on the Muppeteers.

There is such a site just click on the link in my signature

 

[Skekayuk]

I think what happend a lot when they developed characters (with the obvious exception of those who were specifically designed for particular performers, eg Annie Sue was designed for Louise Gold) is that this or that puppet would be performed as a background character by whichever puppeteer happened to be available at the time. Then over time, there might be a single defining moment when this happened, or it could be over a number of moments, the character would being linked to a particular puppeteer, because it was at its best or most notable when they were performing it. Two examples of characters given their usual puppeteers in this way are Miss Piggy and Big Mama. In the case of Miss Piggy, Frank Oz was puppeteering her one day when the script called for the pig to hit the frog, instead of hitting Kermit FranK Oz had Miss Piggy do what became her famous Karate chop, it defined her character and from then on she became very much his puppet. Big Mama was a more gradual build up often performed by different puppeteers, but at her most noticeable when irrepressible Louise Gold performed her, if there was a single defining moment it would have to be the 1977 Royal Variety