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Jim Henson Idea Man
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Sam and Friends BookRichard Hunt first started working on "Sesame Street" in season 2 as a right-hand performer on various live-hand Muppets (Ernie, Cookie Monster, large lavender AMs, etc.), which he would continue doing only for a few more years after. By season 3, he started to physically perform various characters, only to provide the lip-synchronizations to another Muppet performer's vocals; usually Jerry would throw his voice to whatever extra character Richard would perform in a segment. By season 4, Richard would begin lending his voice to various characters, usually one-shots, plus he would also start to receive on-screen credit under "Jim Henson's Muppets".
My question is, was there ever a time prior to season 4 when Richard actually voiced a Muppet character in a scene? Not necessarily an insert, but rather a street scene as part of an episode.
Let's say for example he was the only extra puppeteer on the set with Frank and Carroll in a season 3 episode. I'm not saying this is an actual episode, but rather just as an example. In the scene, Frank performs Grover, and Carroll is performing Big Bird. Richard is on the set an an assistant puppeteer, and the script calls for some AM character in the same scene with Frank's Grover and Carroll's Big Bird. Wouldn't it have been likely that Richard, for an early instance, would perform a one-shot character?
For the record, I know for sure that Richard's earliest Muppet performance was in early 1971 on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Richard was the blue Whatnot violinist in the string quartet segment with the Mahna-Mahna character. He not only puppeteered the character, but he had also provided the voals, as well. At least I'm positively sure that was Richard, since that character sounded somewhat like Don Music.
My question is, was there ever a time prior to season 4 when Richard actually voiced a Muppet character in a scene? Not necessarily an insert, but rather a street scene as part of an episode.
Let's say for example he was the only extra puppeteer on the set with Frank and Carroll in a season 3 episode. I'm not saying this is an actual episode, but rather just as an example. In the scene, Frank performs Grover, and Carroll is performing Big Bird. Richard is on the set an an assistant puppeteer, and the script calls for some AM character in the same scene with Frank's Grover and Carroll's Big Bird. Wouldn't it have been likely that Richard, for an early instance, would perform a one-shot character?
For the record, I know for sure that Richard's earliest Muppet performance was in early 1971 on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Richard was the blue Whatnot violinist in the string quartet segment with the Mahna-Mahna character. He not only puppeteered the character, but he had also provided the voals, as well. At least I'm positively sure that was Richard, since that character sounded somewhat like Don Music.
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