The Complete History of Mahna Mahna and his alter ego Bip Bipadotta

[Fozzie Bear]

I was re-reading this thread, and that about the 1.5 year old son running cracked me up, I'm sorry to say. But it was just funny.

Reminds me of this time I was doing a puppet show for my 5 year old nephew, who was WAY over-protected by his parents, and I was going to let this fish-head mask with gills and hair take over Kermit's job, so I let it pop up and take Kermit down, then I let it start talking in a gruff voice, and he screeched LOUD! Then he ran down the hall. THAT was funny to me, too; and I introduced him to the mask and he was okay with it.

Seems that the Mahna I'm thinking of had living hands, too. I can't remember which song it was for, but I remember being disappointed that it wasn't the same puppet.

 

[Chilly Down]

Thanks for starting this thread, Scott. I've wondered about this for some time. They often credit the first appearance of Mahna Mahna as being on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, with the wild orange hair and everything. But then why wouldn't they have just used the same puppet the following year? Especially when the later one looked so bad? He looks like some creepy guy trying to get kids to follow him into a dark alley. It's pretty bad when a wild-eyed purple guy with flaming orange hair looks LESS scary than this one.

It should be noted that Bip Boppita has appeared in illustrated form at least once. There's a story in the Sesame Street Library where Cookie Monster has a genie appear to him out of his toothpaste bottle, and the genie looks like Bip.

For the record, I think the Mahna Mahna used at Muppet Show Live was an entirely new puppet. The old ones deterioriate too fast, and it seems from these pictures that the original Mahna/Bip was reworked several times to the point where they couldn't even use the cool "blinking" sunglasses anymore -- they had to use the generic real sunglasses. Besides, the puppet at TMS Live had very bright colors, as if he was brand new. I think the loose eyeball was just a simple mistake in putting the puppet together, as surely has happened in other productions, except in other instances, they were able to stop the tape.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

You mean they can't stop the tape when doing it live?!



Reminds me of Gonzo and Kermit on CNN and Gonzo found out he was live and immediately ran down to another show where he could be pre-taped, but still conversed in real-time with Kermit.

My Mahna Mahna puppet is complete excusing the body. I need Kelly Green long-pile shag fur, about a half yard of it, to finish it.

I canNOT WAIT to get it finished!!!

If anybody has such fur, contact me please:
FozzieMup@aol.com

 

[Super Scooter]

Foz,

I MIGHT be able to find some for you. I'll have to check that place again. It's not long haired, but it's shorter. Sorta like the one from TMS. That wasn't really long hair. I'll check and get back to you.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Cool, yeah! If it's at least 1 inch long fur, I'm okay. I was looking for long pile which could be cut down in length.

Kelly Green is a must, though. It looks so much like the original now that I don't want to settle on just any ol' green fur.

I have some olive colored green fur, but I may save that to make a monster out of sometime.

 

[Super Scooter]

Yeah, this stuff has to be at least an inch long. I'm not too certain if I can get that color. This lady stocks different stuff al the time, which is why I was worried about the length and color of the Elmo fur.

By the way, did you ever give me a response regarding Tales of the Tinkerdee?

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by Chilly Down
It should be noted that Bip Boppita has appeared in illustrated form at least once. There's a story in the Sesame Street Library where Cookie Monster has a genie appear to him out of his toothpaste bottle, and the genie looks like Bip.

You mean this?

http://muppets.scarecroe.com/mahna/cookiegenie.jpg

 

[Splurge]

Originally posted by Chilly Down
Thanks for starting this thread, Scott. I've wondered about this for some time. They often credit the first appearance of Mahna Mahna as being on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, with the wild orange hair and everything. But then why wouldn't they have just used the same puppet the following year? Especially when the later one looked so bad? He looks like some creepy guy trying to get kids to follow him into a dark alley. It's pretty bad when a wild-eyed purple guy with flaming orange hair looks LESS scary than this one.

That's a good question, I've often wondered that. Especially since Jim used a lot of his monsters used in the first year of SS: Beautiful Day, Green Grover, an unnamed Cookie Monster, that dragon/dinosaur thing "in the box", ..... Splurge.

I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation, like maybe they couldn't find Mahna Mahna from '68 or maybe it fell apart.

 

[The Count]

OK, then... This question goes out to ssetta, Phillip Chapman, or any other forum member who can help out. Do the Oinker Sisters that appear as back-up singers for Bip Bippadotta in the song "Everybody's Song" appear to be visually different than the Oinker Sisters who performed "I've Got A New Way To Walk"? If so, how do both sets of Oinker Sisters differ? Please provide a textual description of the Oinker Sisters as they appeared in both song/sketches to make sure that these are two different sets of puppets used as the Oinker Sisters. Just asking if anyone can help me out with this, cause it might lead to confirming the Ambrooze/Androoze Sisters as completely different characters than the Oinker Sisters themselves. Thanks for your help and please post your replies fright here. Have a good night.

 

[Drtooth]

Originally posted by Chilly Down

It should be noted that Bip Boppita has appeared in illustrated form at least once. There's a story in the Sesame Street Library where Cookie Monster has a genie appear to him out of his toothpaste bottle, and the genie looks like Bip.

Ironically, the GENIE that appeared in the original episode actually looked more like the original Manah Manah puppet!