Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School.

[BEAR]

Remember Kingston Livingston III? He was a 90s African-American Muppet boy. He seemed to have been the revived version of a Roosevelt Franklin type (that's another Kevin Clash Muppet we forget about). He was the hip, "do things my own way" character. Sort of the Black representation among the Muppets. He was a preppier version though, but still cool. I don't know what happened to him though.

I don't have much of an opinion on RF because he was sorta before my time. I was born in 1981. I only know what I've read and that is what you had said before about being a negative character. I look forward to the Old School set so that I can check it out first hand.

 

[BEAR]

I can answer that with 3 repies.



3) You seem to have a smart-mouthed remark for just about anything anybody posts on this site! What's your problem??? None of the rest of us go out of our way to belittle any topic you've raised! While any assistance you can provide will always be appreciated & welcomed, if you don't have anything friendly or helpful to post, please keep your remarks to yourself!

So good of you to point this out! Thank you for expressing your feelings on said member. Many people have had problems with his rude posts and responses. It's not just those of us who have been here for a long time that have observed the behavior but also a very new member. I appreciate you stepping up and saying something.
Now, without turning this into a negative thread...read my post above.

 

[fuzzygobo]

When I as a kid, I used to love the Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School Sketches! I thank everyone who posted some of the old sketches on youtube.com, & I look forward to possibly seeing more of them in the upcoming "Old School" box set!

I do have some questions, though.

1) Several characters were voiced by members of the human cast (Susan, Maria, etc). Does anyone know if the people providing the voices were controlling the muppets? How did those actors feel about lending their voices to muppet characters, & why have none done so since then?

2) In the beginning of the sketches, you see 7 muppet characters singing the school song. I can remember 4 of the 7 muppet's names (Smart Tina, Baby Breeze, Hard-headed Henry Harris, & Roosevelt Franklin). Does anyone remember what the other 3 muppet character's names were, or if they even had names?

3) Does anyone remember exactly how many classroom sketches they were?

To help you out, as far as having other cast members lending their voices, he's a little bit about what was going on. In the very first season, the only acknowledged puppeteers were Jim, Frank, Carroll Spinney, and Jim's wife Jane. It was very helpful to have other cast members lend their voices (Matt Robinson, Loretta Long, Bob McGrath) to expand the Muppets' vocal range, enabling them to perform characters like RF and his mother. But the actual handling of the puppets is deceptively difficult. I know, I've tried, and it's not as easy at looks. It takes quite a bit of skill to manipulate them (and VERY strong arms to keep them raised above your head for long stretches at a time!) So Jim really had to pool his talents back then. In a short time, with Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill, and Richard Hunt joining the team, it got easier to add more female characters to the repetoire. But in the beginning, Jim had to make do with his skeleton crew. But it worked out okay.