What was he original Gonzo's nose made of?

[TopperFraggle]

While I've seen the Season 1 Gonzo before, it's never really struck me before how strange his whole mouth/nose section looks. Very amateurish, much more reminiscent of the Sam and Friends look, than the slightly more refined muppets. If I had to guess what it was made of I'd say paper mache. Does anyone know? Just curious.

 

[Ryan]

While I've seen the Season 1 Gonzo before, it's never really struck me before how strange his whole mouth/nose section looks. Very amateurish, much more reminiscent of the Sam and Friends look, than the slightly more refined muppets. If I had to guess what it was made of I'd say paper mache. Does anyone know? Just curious.

It's a block of foam, carved to shape, then painted. Jim made him as a backround puppet for The Great Santa Claus Switch, and he was supposedly made in about an hour. That would explain the crude look of him.

 

[BEAR]

Anyone recall how Gonzo stepped out from being such a minor character and becoming more of a regular on TMS? And also, what caused the constant change of his look?

 

[TopperFraggle]

I'm guessing by foam , you mean something denser than Scott foam, which would appear to be what his nose was made out of in subsequent versions. Or they just covered it in something much stiffer. That original nose really has a solid, painted texture to it, whereas Scott (and other upholstery foams) usually always retains it's surface texture, even when painted.

As for the look of Gonzo changing over the years, I don't think he's necessarily changed any more than most of the other characters, except that perhaps he was debuted in a form that hadn't been as well thought out as some of the others. Consequently he was modified and improved upon when the need aroze.

 

[Ernie101]

His nose actually looked a lot more crooked to me than usual, and than in later movies and all. What change did they make in later years? I was actually thinking about this when seeing Gonzo in the Connie Stevens episode.