The Early Grover

[Clean Gultch]

I hear talk that Grover was originally played by Jim Henson and was a generic monster? Is this true?

 

[punkNpuppets]

i'm not sure but i did once see this picture in book of the muppet that looked just like grover only it was a greyish-blue and had eyebrows. was that the ORIGINAL grover?

 

[Ryan]

No. The original Grover had greenish black fur, and was al;ways performed by Frank Oz. He was in quite a few segments in 1969, including a sketch with Kermit and a box. ("Now, buddy, will you get in the box?" "Oh, sure, froggy")In 1970, he became the Grover we all know and love today, except he had a lower gravelly voice

 

[Phillip]

Jim Henson did perform the puppet who would become Grover in the 1968 special, "Muppets on Puppets".

 

[Splurge]

Originally posted by Scooter
No. The original Grover had greenish black fur, and was al;ways performed by Frank Oz. He was in quite a few segments in 1969, including a sketch with Kermit and a box. ("Now, buddy, will you get in the box?" "Oh, sure, froggy")In 1970, he became the Grover we all know and love today, except he had a lower gravelly voice

Here's an interesting fact, Normy.....

The original Grover appeared in an Ed Sullivan Christmas sketch. He was part of a bunch of monsters who were "thugs, crooks and burglars". He was called Gleep and although he was played by Frank Oz, his voice sounded like Lefty's.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Reply

While, we're on the subject of characters changing their looks, does anyone know exactly when Oscar the Grouch first became green? I am curious about that since I know he was orange originally.

 

[Niall]

Oscar became green in the second season. Before that there were two orange oscars -- the one used in the very first episode has no arms or hands and looks more like a hairy snake with a big head, and another which did have arms and hands. The reason he became green I think had something to do with a decision that the colours of the muppets should be racially neutral, and Oscar's originally orange fur sometimes appeared brown and therefore were concerned about the possible association of grouchiness with certain racial groups. At least that's what I heard.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Reply

I see. It would be nice if I could find pictures somewhere of how these Muppets looked in the first season and how they look now and make some comparisons.

 

[punkNpuppets]

Daffyfan - there are 2 pictures of the orange oscar on the Hooperfan picture site.
members.tripod.com/~hooperfan/pics.html
his fur also looks shorter.

that reminds me of a REALLY old SS book called "How To Be A Grouch" or something, Oscar was green but he had a BLACK unibrow. the only other "popular" ss muppet shown in that book was Bert, shown peeking out of 123 Sesame Street looking like he wasn't very impressed.

 

[punkNpuppets]

anyone remember that Ernie and Bert sketch when they were fighting over a chair then decided to share it, then Herry walks in and they try to make room for him?
Well, this stuck in my head since I was a little. Herry had a BLUE NOSE instead of his trademark purple nose.
and look at Ernie's shirt here -
http://members.tripod.com/~hooperfan/Cookie2.jpg
if that doesn't work, go to the Hooperfan picture page and click on "Early Cookie Monster Appearance"