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Muppets and Mechanisms: Jim Henson's Legacy runs from May 19 - September 4 at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
(Source: muppetnewsflash.com) As you may have figured out, I'm a major fan of Jim Henson and the Muppets. Nothing makes me regress to childhood faster than sitting through an original Muppet Show episode. Even the cheesy gags and god-awful 70's fashions don't interfere with the joy. And don't forget the bizarre visuals: I have a sneaking suspicion that The Jim and the Gang (can you name the two 70's bands I referenced there?) inhaled a fair amount of cannabis product when creating this stuff. That's why I got giddy when I read the Smithsonian in Washington DC was honouring Henson's genius with two floors worth of exhibits. The first exhibit (on the 3rd floor west) features one-of-a-kind artifacts like two Kermit the Frogs (the original 1955 version and a 1969 update), an early Rowlf the Dog muppet, the Swedish Chef, Dr. Teeth and Henson's banjo-playing döppelganger from the Country Trio. These were all characters that Henson personally voiced and manipulated. The second exhibit (first floor west at the Lemelson Center) features Henson's experiments in remote-controlled animatronics from the 1977 television show Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and the classic 1982 movie The Dark Crystal. This exhibit runs from May 19 to September 4, 2006. So, anyone want to fly me to Washington DC?
The copyright of the article Muppets take Smithsonian in Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish Muppets take Smithsonian in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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