Retired Muppets will move to Atlanta

[frogtownhollow]

I just got a tweet back from the Jim Henson Legacy that the date has been pushed back to 2014

 

[zns]

I wonder why the holdup? Oh well, life goes on I guess.

 

[Walter]

aw... is there any Muppets right now at the center for puppetry arts? I live in Georgia now and One of the only positives I saw was this centre...has anybody been recently?

 

[Barry Lee]

aw... is there any Muppets right now at the center for puppetry arts? I live in Georgia now and One of the only positives I saw was this centre...has anybody been recently?

I believe they still have some Fraggles, Big Bird, and some Labyrinth stuff in the lobby and then the little room dedicated to Jim. The center has a lot of room, just you can't really see it when you enter the building.

 

[Slackbot]

aw... is there any Muppets right now at the center for puppetry arts? I live in Georgia now and One of the only positives I saw was this centre...has anybody been recently?

I went back in May. They have the Labyrinth double-door puppets, "Pigs in Space," a Skeksis, Sir Didymus, some Emmett Otter characters, Big Bird, Red & Mokey and the Fraggles' "nativity puppets" plus some of the doozers and miniature Fraggle puppets, the La Choy Dragon, a whole room dedicated to Jim's characters, and others that I don't remember off the top of my head.

Long story short--if you're a Muppet fan in Atlanta, go there!

 

[Walter]

Cool!, It would be neat to see all of those! Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Chazz]

I just visited the Center for Puppetry Arts last Friday. It was awesome! I've never seen so much Henson stuff in one area. It's well worth the $8 or so to get in. And make sure you go through their international puppet exhibit, because that exhibit also houses several Henson displays including Pigs from Space and a Skeksis!

 

[Walter]

Thanks for the info Chazz! I'll definately put it on my list of things to do!

 

[Dearth]

I was there last month, and posted this in my personal thread elsewhere on this forum. Just noticed this one and thought it could use some pics, so I'm gonna cut and paste it here too!

First, a quick video overview, to kinda show where some things are in relation to one another...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzEwiir9Mi8

(photo by Yours Truly, taken today!)

We got to see a lot of cool Muppets and related critters. No photos were allowed inside, so here's a quick text rundown with a few images I found online...

From Dark Crystal, they have the Garthim-Master/General Skeksis, complete with his hakskeekah sword nearby.


(photo from Muppet Wiki)

From Labyrinth, there's Sir Didymus, the four playing-card door guardians (liar and truth-teller), the deaf doorknocker on its door, a maquette of Humongous, 18 of the Helping Hands, and a Goblin named Fishface.

From Fraggle Rock: 4 Doozers in a cool scene complete with a Doozer construction...

(fourth Doozer at bottom is cropped out of this image found online)

...Red and Mokey playing with some 'nativity' puppets of their own...

...and miniature versions of the main Fraggle Five used in Gorg scenes.

(Photos found various places online)

Ma and Emmet Otter in their rowboat, the Hunky Dory. There's even one of the cool lifelike ducks from the river scene.

[Note: I never noticed Emmet's long tail until seeing the puppet in person!]

Big Bird.

(images found online)

Southern Colonel.

Link Hogthrob and Dr. Julius Strangepork.


(photo from Muppet Wiki)

Kermit (photo poser).

(image found online)

And in a room full of primarily Jim's characters: Rowlf, Swedish Chef, Dr. Teeth...

...a 3/4-size La Choy Dragon used for closeups, Bugsy Them (and two police-dogs), Ernie with what the docent alleges is THE Rubber Ducky from the first time they filmed the song...

...and the one that I easily found the most moving... Jim's doppleganger puppet from the Country Trio.

(Several of these images were found online at http://robindavisstudio.blogspot.com/2010/01/puppet-theatre-in-atlanta-2010.html)

On some TV's nearby they played a neat montage set to a Country Trio song I'd never heard them do before... "Don't Mess Around With Jim". It may have been from the Dick Cavett show. If anyone has that clip, or just the audio, I gotta get a copy from you!

***

I found an invaluable video on YouTube of the CPA. It's a little disjointed, but after you've been there in person it's probably less confusing to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGr5NhqO6g

Here's a frame cap...

***

So, some more memories of our trip... we took the guided tour of the three Henson exhibits at 2pm, since it was only $2 extra per person. We were in the "Jim Henson: Puppeteer" room when the fire alarm went off and they had to evacuate the building.

I was about to say, "Um, if this building is on fire, can I go in and photograph the stuff NOW?"

But just as we hit the lobby, the alarm stopped and they motioned everyone back in, saying someone had accidentally nudged an emergency exit bar. I mostly forgot about it, although I did have one tense moment when we were in the "Wonders from his Workshop" area, thinking I could smell something burning.

The docent's speech was pretty familiar stuff... how Jim didn't set out to be a puppeteer, etc. I also thought at first that maybe she was nervous about public speaking, but she did relax as things went on, and of course she handled the fire alarm thing totally professionally.

When we first entered the smallest room, she made a joke about everyone needing to crowd in, and segued very smoothly into an explanation of live-hands puppeteering on characters such as Rowlf, which requires the puppeteers to be close.

I also think she's had some real experience puppeteering, because when she talked about the different performance requirements between lightweight puppets and weighted marionettes, it sounded like first-hand knowledge.

She engaged the group often, asking us to point out differences between the Kermit photo poser and the Sam and Friends Kermit seen in a photo. Or she would ask us if we had seen certain films, like Labyrinth, and seemed pleasantly surprised that most of the 20 or so hands went up. "Oh, that will make this easier then."

She told a funny anecdote about the Shaft of Hands gloves from Labyrinth, saying that the ad for additional puppeteers simply said "extras casting for David Bowie movie" and all these teen girls showed up. They had to lay on boards for hours up in the scaffolding of the set, with hot smelly latex gloves on. I blurted out, "And for a scene that David Bowie's not even in!" and the docent laughed, agreeing "Nowhere near that scene!"

I thought it was odd that the tour seemed to be going counter-clockwise through the Wonders section. Labyrinth first, then Fraggle Rock, then Big Bird. It seemed like we were going backward chronologically.

But I think she was saving Big Bird for last, because there was a parallel she wanted to draw between him and a previous Henson full-body costume, the La Choy Dragon, which we'd seen earlier. She said that in an interview, the character of Big Bird was asked about his ancestry, like had birds really evolved from dinosaurs, and BB replied as an inside joke, "I'm descended from a dragon."

It was a nice story that brought us full circle, but I was preoccupied because the docent called Carroll Spinney a "she". I almost corrected her, but a glance at the rest of the tourists showed me that none of them knew the difference, or cared about it.

I waited until the tour was over and quietly told her Carroll Spinney is a man, pointing out that he also performs Oscar the Grouch. She said, "That makes so much more sense now."

I've found a bunch more pictures since originally posting these. Some were a little harder to uncover, on Flickr and places like that. I also contacted that Robin Davis studio website where several of these were found, and she very nicely provided me with a couple of additional shots. Big thanks, Robin!

And speaking of 'Robin', I uncovered a shot from a couple of years ago that showed Robin the Frog sitting in Kermit's director's chair with a sign saying he was filling in for his uncle while the Jim Henson's Fantastic World was in Atlanta at another venue. The Kermit poser must have been loaned out to promote the CPA.

So Robin's a character they must have among their hundreds of additional Muppets awaiting the new wing.

I did uncover a couple of shots of their Mystic, too. Wish I'd known to befriend someone there so I could see that, and Harrison and Mrs. Fox in person!

Alex