What can damage a Muppet?

[wes]

Damaged puppets

You have to remeber that the Henson People and the muppet are a very weathly company (or were)so having a puppet get wet or eat something , If it tore up they just build a new puppet they have porfessional to build them, It doesn't cost that much to build puppet it's the time the builder spense on them that makes them expensive.

PS: I read Carroll spinney(Big Bird,Oscar) He said that when oscar fur gets to old and matted that they replace the fur not the foam skull, or his eye brows they just use foam to support the deterating foam

PPS: Just a littile triva Oscar was origanal made for a Left handed puppeteer
and Carroll is right handed thats why oscar has that weird grimmis snarl

 

[BEAR]

You have to remeber that the Henson People and the muppet are a very weathly company (or were)so having a puppet get wet or eat something , If it tore up they just build a new puppet they have porfessional to build them, It doesn't cost that much to build puppet it's the time the builder spense on them that makes them expensive.

:

They aren't that wealthy. Sesame Street is all non-profit. They aren't like Disney where they can just afford everything. They have to be very careful with their puppets because they are not easy to replace. Cookie Monster rarely eats real cookies because the oil damages the puppet. They use painted rice cakes.

 

[wes]

Puppet damage

Tis ture
I geuss the muppet and fraggles had more funding

But from what I got from carroll's book is that Jim Henson saw the Puppets as props to get his point across. Not to mention the picture of the Muppet workshop shows Multipul copies of the same chararter.

 

[OverUnderAround]

They aren't that wealthy. Sesame Street is all non-profit. They aren't like Disney where they can just afford everything.

Very true Bear that the show is non-profit, but the performers are union members who periodically get raises. I'm not sure but I think daily minimum is $700 a day. (Then deduct about 30% tax from the paycheck as well.)
Sounds great at first, but not when you only do possibly 25 shows a year.
And not every Muppeteer is in all SS shows either, which means less income.

I think many depend more on residuals from shows of years past and or VHS/DVD residuals to make ends meet.

Not like the old days when they filmed over 100+ shows per season.

 

[OverUnderAround]

What can damage a Muppet?

Well there's emotional damage. You can call a Muppet fuzzy face and I'm sure they'll suffer emotional damage. Gonzo's been called 'Buzzard Beak" by Piggy. Fozzie's been heckled and I'm sure that has caused emotional damage too! They might be damaged emotionally for life!

Just kidding... couldn't resist looking at the topic another way.

 

[BEAR]

Very true Bear that the show is non-profit, but the performers are union members who periodically get raises. I'm not sure but I think daily minimum is $700 a day. (Then deduct about 30% tax from the paycheck as well.)
Sounds great at first, but not when you only do possibly 25 shows a year.
And not every Muppeteer is in all SS shows either, which means less income.

I think many depend more on residuals from shows of years past and or VHS/DVD residuals to make ends meet.

Not like the old days when they filmed over 100+ shows per season.

Interesting to find out how the Muppeteers get paid. Especially for Sesame Street since it is a regular series. I am sure they get paid for their years with the company, and I am sure they get paid based on how many episodes a season they do, but I wonder if it is also by how many characters (or atleast regular characters) they perform.

 

[OverUnderAround]

Interesting to find out how the Muppeteers get paid. Especially for Sesame Street since it is a regular series. I am sure they get paid for their years with the company, and I am sure they get paid based on how many episodes a season they do, but I wonder if it is also by how many characters (or atleast regular characters) they perform.

Well that pay is an approximate amount only for SS, not other productions.

Union contracts are written based on the 8-hour work day. So if you are in three scenes working three different Muppets during the day while taping a show, it still counts as 1-day of pay.

Perhaps because SS is a PBS show and is a non-profit company, the union contracts don't allow the performers to make the kind of money daytime network TV stars can earn. There are all kinds of daytime TV contracts and many soap stars earn well over $25,000 a week... not so for your average SS muppeteer.

Very few Muppeteers have agents to represent them. I can only think of two that have agents that could negociate a higher paying contract for them. I have heard that some have lawyers that represent them instead.

Talent Agents for the most part don't sign puppeteers. It does happen, but it's rare. Talent Agents can find work for actors and singers, but there's not much union work any more for union puppeteers since every thing puppeteers use to do is now computer animated.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

My understanding is that all Muppets sooner or later undergo a 'face lift,' and when rebuilt certain parts are reused while other parts are destroyed.

In the case of Oscar, they tore the fur off the old orange Oscar and replaced it with the new. He's kept up by maintenance, but he is not completely replaced. That's what I understood about him.

 

[DannyRWW]

I heard that Cookie Monster doesn't eat real cookies because chocolate, oil, and grease can damage a Muppet. He only eats rice cakes painted to look like cookies.

Actually I heard that cookie Monster is on a bit of a health food kick these days.... seriously... I keep anything and everything away from my puppets.

 

[doctort13]

I wish they kept Oscar as an orange grouch, it's my favourite colour.