The Muppets on Puppets

Context & Trivia

Produced in June 1968 at WITF-TV in Hershey, Pennsylvania, for National Educational Television—the precursor to PBS—the special did not air until January 5, 1970, on New York's WNET as part of the 'Adventure in the Arts' anthology series. It was the first in a line of programs Henson would dedicate to the puppeteer's craft, and its positive reception led him to develop a treatment in 1970 for a commercial follow-up titled 'The World of the Muppets,' pitched to General Foods as a potential sponsor; the project never came to fruition. The special survives as a bonus feature on 'The Muppet Show: Season Three' DVD, though that version carries some audio dropouts. In 1969, Henson shot three additional color specials at WITF with the same core team; 'The Muppets Make Puppets' and 'Muppet Puppet Plays' are preserved in the station's archives, but the third is lost.

From a craft perspective, the special is a rare on-screen record of Don Sahlin's methods. The chief designer and builder of the Muppets from 1962 to 1978—described by Henson as 'the man most responsible for the look of the Muppets'—Sahlin appears on camera demonstrating his techniques: urethane foam heads partially split to form wide mouths, oversized protruding eyes, and faces engineered to read expressively in television close-up. The puppeteering roster features Jim Henson (Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, King Fred, King Goshposh, Southern Colonel, Wontkins, and the Rock and Roll Monster's center head), Frank Oz (Beautiful Day Monster, Gretel the Cow, Little Girl Sue, Princess Gwendolynda, Splurge, and the Monster's right head), and Jerry Juhl (Charlie, Grump, Hansel, Henrietta, Scritch the Witch, Taminella Grinderfall, and the Monster's left head). The historical puppets demonstrated alongside the Muppets were loaned by puppeteers Bil Baird and Milton Hapert.