Questions on Prarie Dawn

[BEAR]

Gonzo is also a character whose voice has changed throughout the years despite having the same performer. Compare Gonzo's voice in a first season episode of The Muppet Show with his voice in The Muppets Wizard of Oz. Sounds different, doesn't it?

Aside from the voice, Gonzo's look has changed more and more over the years to. I basically think of this as him getting older and maturing. I mean, when the Muppet Show started he was just this scrawny little kid and between then and Muppet Christmas Carol I think he has matured and become wiser yet still that geek with a weird sense of fun.

You were also right about Kermit. As in his first recording of "Bein Green" when Sesame Street started his voice was much deeper. His voice was actually closer to Ernie's back then until Jim raised the pitch a bit and gave Kermit's voice more of a throaty quality. People always say how Ernie and Kermit have the same voice but if you listen closely they are actually quite different.

Usually the voices seem to change only because the performer has gotten older and when we age our voices may change. I kinda like it though. Because its the same character, but its almost like the character has been growing with the performer. I'm not sure how old Fran Brill is, but I wonder if she will be able to still give Prairie that clear youthful voice years down the road. Well, I guess if Jerry can still pull it off with Robin, so can Frannie.

One other question about Fran Brill: Did she always perform Zoe? I was looking at a cast list somewhere online and it had another person listed playing Zoe (incidentally the actors name was also Zoe) before Fran Brill started performing her. Is this the case? I remember watching the New Years Eve on Sesame Street special which was made around the time Baby Bear, Zoe and Rosita were introduced and Zoe's voice was much different than it is today. I mean, the actual tone of her voice was pretty much the same but the character had a weird speech pattern. That might have still been Fran playing around with the part though.

 

[minor muppetz]

One other question about Fran Brill: Did she always perform Zoe? I was looking at a cast list somewhere online and it had another person listed playing Zoe (incidentally the actors name was also Zoe) before Fran Brill started performing her. Is this the case? I remember watching the New Years Eve on Sesame Street special which was made around the time Baby Bear, Zoe and Rosita were introduced and Zoe's voice was much different than it is today. I mean, the actual tone of her voice was pretty much the same but the character had a weird speech pattern. That might have still been Fran playing around with the part though.

I have read somewhere that in the episode where the adults saw Snuffy for the first time, there was a scene where Big Bird had Elmo practice holding onto Snuffy's snuffle by holding onto the arm of a human girl named Zoe. Maybe that's what the cast listing was referring to.

 

[Medbe Monster]

In my book I had one page where it was on one of Prairie dawn early skits
she didn't look totally diffrent. Oh and Ziffel I absolutley love your avatar, I love how Bert looked back then, he had a nose like Squidward on Spongebob.

 

[Ziffel]

Hey thanks Medbe. I came across it a little while ago on a site and since it had that very old look of Bert with Beautiful Day I thought I'd switch my avatar to it temporarily.

And fuzzygobo, Sesame Mike, Xerus, Rosewood, GeeBee, mikebennidict, if you see this thread please see posts 6 and 7 and let me know how well you recall the skit. Thanks.

 

[Xerus]

Hey thanks Medbe. I came across it a little while ago on a site and since it had that very old look of Bert with Beautiful Day I thought I'd switch my avatar to it temporarily.

And fuzzygobo, Sesame Mike, Xerus, Rosewood, GeeBee, mikebennidict, if you see this thread please see posts 6 and 7 and let me know how well you recall the skit. Thanks.

Yes, Ziffel. I remember the beginning, middle, and end skit. Beginning and End were both dark brown AM with round heads and big mouths. Only Beginning was wearing a sweater with colored flannel only on the left side. And End was a lot taller and he was wearing a sweater with colored flannel on his right side. And Middle was green with a pointed head and he was wearing a full colored flannel sweater. And Beginning was voiced by Jim, End by Frank Oz, and Middle by Jerry Nelson.

 

[Ziffel]

Yes that's right I recall the middle muppet not only being green but having a pointy head. I'd love to see if someone recalls all the words he said in his story part. It was pretty funny.
Funny parts I recall from the entire skit:

Beginning: Once upon a time there was a king who had 3 beautiful daughters
End: And they lived happily ever after.
Beginning: Hey nice job.
End: Thanks.
Beginning: Well, what did you think of it?
Prairie Dawn: Is that all?
End: Well of course. Nothing else ever happens after the end.

Then when Prairie inquires about the middle of the story they call for middle muppet. As middle muppet is doing his part and says about ten sentences or so, end muppet appears next to him and then interrupts, "And they lived happily ever after!"
Middle: That wasn't very nice.
End: They lived happily ever after is one of the nicest endings you can have.

Very good all around skit and nice to have all 4 of the classic puppeteers' voices. I never could make out the final line of the skit (spoken by end muppet [Frank Oz]). As the 3 are off screen arguing, Prairie apologizes to the viewers for the commotion that ensued. Then we hear a final line from end muppet that was something like, "This is dramatic shape!"

 

[BooberFraggless]

The funny thing about Prarie Dawn is that during the 80's she was like Ernie and Bert, and only appeared in seperate inserts, that took place outside of the street and main storylines. In 1991 this changed and she was brought in as a regular charachter, and became involved with a lot of the show's storylines. I was pretty happy when they did this, because I got a chance to get to know her more, and see how she related to the humans and regular street characthers. Must be in 1991 Fran Brill decided to work on the show Full Time.

 

[BEAR]

Must be in 1991 Fran Brill decided to work on the show Full Time.

Very possible because that was also about the time that Zoe debuted. Before then Prairie was only seen sometimes in little sketches (off the street) and she every now and then performed Little Bird in the early days.

I think it is weird how people like Pam Arciero and Carmen Osbahr are the only performers that only have one character. Pam only plays Grungetta and she is not on all that much. Does she just swing by the set one day a year and to play Grungetta or something? With Carmen Osbahr it is a little different since she specifically was brought in to play Rosita and she is now more of a principal character appearing in every episode. However, I wonder why they don't play more characters on the show. I used to think the same of Fran Brill but now she is playing Zoe who is seen a lot on the street set.

 

[BooberFraggless]

Well Pam Arcerio has played a few anything Muppets over the years. I remember she played a little girl who was a contestant on one of Guy Smiley's Game Shows called "The School Game" Im not sure if she performs anything Muppets anymore. Mabye that's just something she did back in the mid 80's when she first joined the show.

 

[minor muppetz]

I think it is weird how people like Pam Arciero and Carmen Osbahr are the only performers that only have one character. Pam only plays Grungetta and she is not on all that much. Does she just swing by the set one day a year and to play Grungetta or something? With Carmen Osbahr it is a little different since she specifically was brought in to play Rosita and she is now more of a principal character appearing in every episode. However, I wonder why they don't play more characters on the show. I used to think the same of Fran Brill but now she is playing Zoe who is seen a lot on the street set.

I think Carmen Osbahr performed an anything muppet in the 1990 video Sesame Street Home Video Visits The Hospital. I know that she at least performed in that video, and I thought I heard a voice that sounded like Rosita.

I know that Pam Arciero has performed Tellys right arm alot. I'm not sure if she still performs tellys arm regularly. I beleive that she also performed a dentist in the 1986 video Learning About Letters.

I watched the show in the 1980s, but I never realized that Prarie dawn was mostly just used in inserts back then. I noticed that Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Grover, Guy Smiley, Kermit, and Lefty only appeared in inserts, but didn't notice that about Prarie Dawn. Fran Brill must have been busy with her acting career, because she didn't do much work for Jim Henson outside of Sesame Street in the 1980s (the main exception is The Jim Henson Hour, but she didn't perform on Fraggle Rock or any of the movies). In fact, I wonder if her acting career (or whatever it was that kept her away from doing street stories) is the reason why she didn't perform in a lot of early Sesame Street specials (like Christmas Eve On Sesame Street and Don't Eat The Pictures) or Follow That Bird. If she wasn't on much because of acting, then I guess you could say that she was like Frank oz in the 1980s, juggling her acting and performing.