File puptcrit/puptcrit.0807, message 86


From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:09:22 GMT
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Pre-Muppet Muppet?


I think the M in MUPPET came from "marionette" even though string puppets were pretty scarce in Muppetland. The "uppet" part was definitely from "puppet". Jim needed a word which denoted something traditional blended with something NEW. In print interviews, Jim was quoted as "combining" marionette & puppet. 

Jim certainly was aware of Kukla & Ollie---they were, after all, pioneers in American TV. But Jim was a later pioneer in his own right. When the Muppets were just two people (Jim & Jane) their puppets were a blast of fresh air in American puppetry. 

Burr Tillstrom had worked traditional live performances, and had considerable experience doing so before bringing Kukla to TV. In comparison, Jim & Jane did their formative work ON TV---it is partly a generation thing or a matter of timing, since early TV was pretty primitive, cameras were huge and expensive, and Burr's TV studio space was  about the size of a homeowner's garage. The technology had vastly improved when the Muppets arrived.

Burr, as previously reported on puptcrit, demonstrated Clippo toy marionettes at Marshall Field's Dept Store in Chicago---he said that was his first professional puppet job. He also did a finger puppet circus at a national puppetry festival---so that covers three forms of puppetry: marionettes, hand puppets & finger puppets.

In the early 1980s when the Puppeteers of America touring exhibit reached the Detroit Institute of Art, the touring Muppet Exhibit was also shown at the DIA at the same time. This was a tour de force attracting huge crowds, and Audley Grossman had something to do with that exciting combination. Along with being the ONLY place that presented both exhibits together, the DIA also presented in the museum's Recital Hall, the first and ONLY performance of both Kukla and Kermit on the same puppet stage, LIVE! It was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Efimov and Efimova, noted Russian puppeteers (see Adventures of a Russian Puppet Theatre published by Paul McPharlin in the 1930s) favored rod puppets. They in turn influenced Marjorie Batchelder, who was a force in popularizing rod puppetry in the USA. 

I have no idea what puppet books Jim had for reference, but early Muppets while possibly benefitting from other puppeteers' knowledge, remain strikingly unique.

There is no doubt that Don Sahlin contributed much to the refinement of the "Muppet Look" Don had the unique ability to work in many styles with Martin & Olga Stevens, Bob Baker, George Pal and Jim & Jane Henson. I can't think of anyone with more versatility in that regard. It has always bothered me that Don did not get the national exposure in print at the time of his death, that some other deserving puppeteers did get when they departed this life. We need to toot his horn more loudly.

Jim was regarded as a genius by none other than Olga Stevens, one of the finest actors in puppet theater in the USA. And Jim recognized other brilliant geniuses like Don Sahlin, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz, Carroll Spinney, Kermit Love and other talents. In turn, they enriched the Muppet Legacy.

ALAN COOK


-----Original Message-----
From: Dorlis Grubidge
Sent: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 8:41 PM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Pre-Muppet Muppet?

Is it safe to say that all Muppets are mouth puppets (trying to think of 
some characters who aren't) but that not all mouth puppets are Muppets. 
(Just remembered the dancing worm-like creatures that blew smoke at Kermit. 
so there goes my theory.)

I heard that Henson used the M from monster plus uppet.  This was way back 
when he was doing monsters on the Saturday night and Ed Sullivan shows,etc..

Dorlis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Menke" <jim99jr-AT-gmail.com>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Pre-Muppet Muppet?


> Jim Henson told me that he coined the word MUPPET fir his work - a
> combination of M from marionette and UPPET from all other forms of puppet.
> He did very little with marionettes. The name is copywrighted, but has 
> come
> into general use for most all mouth puppets so I think anyone trying to
> exercise the copyright would have a tough time winning the case. One way
> around it would to call a mouth puppet "muppet like"
>
> On 7/8/08, puppetpro-AT-aol.com <puppetpro-AT-aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> I seem to remember a television commercial that used a sexy Red Riding 
>> Hood
>> with a Muppet-ish wolf from the 50's -- it was on YouTube. Can't find the
>> link, sorry.
>>
>>
>>
>> Look at various animal puppets of ventriloquists -- (Shari Lewis comes to
>> mind, but there are others) --
>>
>>
>>
>> And, I think Don Salin (sp) should be credited with the look of the
>> Muppets. His attention to detail & design help develop the "magic 
>> triangle"
>> (two eyes & mouth) , which is a key standard with Muppets.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> also,
>>
>> As I understand it, the term Muppets is copyrighted, and can only be used
>> to describe the work developed by Jim Henson.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Rolande
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jamie Ashby <jamie.ashby-AT-utoronto.ca>
>> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
>> Sent: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 12:46 am
>> Subject: [Puptcrit] Pre-Muppet Muppet?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear friends,
>>
>> I believe this may have been discussed on this list before, but a
>> search of the archives has yet to bring anything up. Was there such a
>> thing as a "pre-Muppet Muppet"? That is, a TV-based form of hand-and-
>> rod puppet that was particularly influential for Jim Henson and his
>> associates?
>>
>>
>> Thanks so much,
>>
>> Jamie Ashby
>>
>> BA, MA, PhD Candidate, Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University
>> of Toronto: "Ideas in Motion: New Work Development at Puppetmongers
>> Theatre Company"
>> Cofounder and Co-Artistic Director, PuppUTopiate, the only puppet
>> theatre company based at the University of Toronto
>> Member-at-Large, Ontario Puppetry Association Board of Trustees
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> JIM MENKE PUPPETS
> open your mind
> fantasies unwind
>
> www.jimmenkepuppets.com
> _______________________________________________
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