Throwback Thursday: Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog on Wogan!

Some video recently surfaced of Jim Henson with Kermit the Frog on BBC talk show Wogan from December 6th 1985.

Enjoy!

Throwback Thursday: Jennifer Connelly's 'Labyrinth' Audition!

To celebrate both Jennifer Connelly's birthday this week and Labyrinth's 30th Anniversary check out her original audition tape:

As a special treat, be sure to check out this rare clip from November 1986, when Connelly and Ludo appeared on the BBC series "Saturday Superstore" to promote the film.

Throwback Thursday: 1985 Hasbro Catalog!

It's been almost a month since our last Throwback Thursday, so today I though I'd show something the public rarely gets to see - a dealer catalog. 

Specifically the 1985 Hasbro Dealer Catalog. For those that don't know what a dealer catalog is, it's a manufacturer's catalog of items that haven't been mass produced yet. Sometimes the items are still in the prototype stage, so you get to see what an item may look like but after production, it may change. 

While the cover isn't very Muppety, like your moma always said, don't judge a dealer catalog by it's cover!

For inside there are two pages of Fraggle Rock items, including plush dolls of Red, Mokey, Wembley, and Gobo Fraggle, as well as fan favorites Flange and Wingnut Doozer!

As you can see the spread also features Fraggle and Doozer PVC.

The reason I brought up the fact that some items may be still in the prototype stage, is that while the Fraggel plush look fantastic the photo, the actual plush dolls that landed on store shelves looked more like this:

 

Not horrible, but definitely not as great looking as shown in the catalog. Mokey especially drew the short straw and her eye placement made her look like she was staring off in to space cross eyed.

To make the matters worse, the back of the box used pictures of the prototype figures. So costumers could clearly see the differences in quality from the pictures shown to what your actually buying. 

Thankfully the Doozer plush fared much better in the transition from prototype to stores.

The the catalog also featured The Muppet Babies, fresh off the screen from The Muppets Take Manhattan and their new hit animated TV show.

Most of these fared better then the Fraggles. 

Baby Kermit and Baby Piggy looked pretty much the same.

However, Baby Fozzie's eyes weren't as focused,

and Baby Rowlf went from being a very dark brown to a more medium to light brown, which I think was a major improvement. 

 Again, the prototypes were used on the back of the packaging:

Remember, next time you're at the store not everything makes a transition from concept/prototype to the store. 

Throwback Thursday: Little Muppet Monsters Puzzle!

Sesame Street may have just started it's 45 season, but 29 years ago Little Muppet Monsters, the shortest lived of all Muppet series, made it's debut on CBS. 

13 episodes were produced, but only 3 aired. A large merchandise campaign was planed for the following fall of 1986, but since the show was cancelled so soon only one item was actually released. 

That item was this lone Little Muppet Monsters by Playskool. The wood puzzle features the character Boo illustrated by Muppet Show comic strip artist Guy Gilchrist. 

Check out the opening theme of the show (restored by our pal Garret Gilchrist). If the tune sounds families it's because the music  was later used as the end theme music for Muppet Babies.

Other then the theme music, Little Muppet Monsters may have gotten it's most exposure during this shout out by Big Bird during The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (skip to the 5:41 mark) which aired 3 months AFTER the series had already been cancelled. 

The great twist of why Little Muppet Monsters was cancelled is that it wasn't a corporate 

decision based on ratings or advertisers, but that Jim Henson himself was not satisfied with the finished product. Jim especially disliked the mixing of the animated segments with the live action puppets and asked CBS not to air the additional 10 mostly finished episodes. 

This once again proved his high standards for his work and the clout and respect he earned on the industry. 

Happy 29th Birthday Tug, Boo, and Molly!

Throwback Thursday: Grossbusters -The Harold Ramis Tribute

This week saw the passing of comedy legend Harold Ramis.

Not only did he direct comedy classics like Caddyshack, 
National Lampoon's Vacation, Groundhog Day, Analyze This and Analyze That, he was the writer behind National Lampoon's Animal House, Meatballs, Caddyshack, 
Stripes, Back to School, Armed and Dangerous, Groundhog Day, Analyze This, Analyze That, and both Ghostbusters films in which he also starred as Dr. Egon Spengler. 

The Spring 1985 issue of Muppet Magazine featured a parody called "Grossbusters." 

You can learn the words to the "Grossbusters" theme song below.

And kids always remember, NEVER cross the streams!
We'll miss you Harold Ramis. R.I.P.