I had the opportunity to visit the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta last weekend and see the progress on their massive expansion project. This will be the new Jim Henson exhibit area, set to open in October!
For reference this is how it looked before:
This is an inside look. No hardhat required!
Here are the plans for how it will look once completed.
This space used to contain some of the Henson items on display but where put back into storage when vibrations from the constructionbecome a concern.
The only two Henson items currently on display in the main area now are Charley Muskrat and Harvey Beaver from Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas.
This section in the rear will be the new gift shop:
Speaking of the gift shop, it has be temporarily moved to a room that also showcased many Henson exhibits. Though there are still plenty of Henson items to found!
The recent Pez
Pillows, lunch boxes, plush and puppets, including the retired Jr Gorg and Mokey puppets from Manhattan Toy, get 'em while they last!
The Sesame Street section has many many plush, activity books, toys, and some Pajanimals!
There's also a great selection of Sesame puppets,
Kermit and Piggy Britto statues,
as well as vintage Fraggle Rock PVC toys!
They have two Doozers as well as Boober and Gobo Fraggle. These were found by the Henson family and given to the museum to sell. They're mostly in mint condition and are being sold for a hardly wallet breaking $3.99 each!
That's a great deal for these very much long out of print Fraggle items.
If you have to opportunity to see the museum - I highly recommend it, especially once the Henson wing is opened.
Back in April we told you that Miss Piggy was to be honored with a feminist award.
Well, last night, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York presented the Sackler Center First Award to Miss Piggy!
The 2015 Sackler Center First Awards honors performer, actor, writer, and icon Miss Piggy, for more than forty years of blazing feminist trails with determination and humor, and for her groundbreaking role inspiring generations the world over.
Feminist icon, and co-founder of “Ms. Magazine”, Gloria Steinem, a certain frog and Elizabeth A. Sackler herself, were also in attendance to help present the award.
Miss Piggy told Time Magazine why she should be honored for such an award:
As a young woman born on a farm, I was told that my life would be nothing but mud, sweat and tears … and the occasional trip to the 4-H fair. Now that may have been enough for some, but not for moi. I refused to accept someone else’s definition of my life and my future. I knew there was something bigger and better out there — and that I could achieve it if I never, ever gave up. Thanks to grit, fortitude, perseverance, the inspiration of other great feminists and the aforementioned karate, I did in fact achieve those dreams. Today, I live in Hollywood, where there is still a lot of mud, sweat and tears, but the hours and compensation are much more attractive.
Another reason some refuse to consider moi a feminist is that I do not fit the popular image of a feminist.
It’s true, I did not march in women’s-rights parades down Fifth Avenue in the early 1970s. (That was long before I was born.) However, today, in solidarity with my feminist foremothers, I go shopping on Fifth Avenue whenever possible. And it is true, I did not burn my bra. Was this a political statement? No, it was simple common-sense economics. When one pays top dollar for intimate apparel like moi does, setting it ablaze is wasteful, improvident and highly incendiary.
And yes, it is true that I am a Porcine American. How can a … ahem, pig … be a feminist? After all, the p word has long been associated with the very antithesis of feminists “male chauvinist.” This, alas, is a vestige of latent “species-ism.” Sure, there are male chauvinist pigs, but there are also male chauvinist humans and, on very rare occasions and at their own peril, male chauvinist amphibians. Let us not besmirch an entire species because of the sins of a few. So, now that I have dispatched the naysayers, moi can accept this Sackler Center First Award with my head held high and my feminist bona fides affirmed.
Yet one last question remains: What is the future of feminism? The answer is obvious — feminism’s future must be proud, positive, powerful, perseverant, and, wherever possible, alliterative. It must believe in itself, share its triumphs, overcome its setbacks and inspire future generations. I must, in other words, be a lot like … moi.
She even had a few words for those who didn't think she deserved the honor:
Congrats Miss Piggy!
While we wait for video of the entire presentation, be sure to check out some other great video clips from the event!
Orange is the New Black's Lea DeLaria was in attendance as well and got to take a few shots with Kermit and Miss Piggy.
UPDATE: Our friends at ToughPigswere inattendance and have a great recap of the event.
Today we start a new segment entitled "Fan Favorites" where fellow fans have the
opportunity to express their thoughts or experiences about a favorite Muppet, Henson, or Sesame item.
Our friend Melissa (aka MelissaY1 on the Muppet fan sites) kicks thing off with a look at an early Sesame Street item.
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“The Sesame Street Carry About”
By Melissa Scopelitis
When The Children's Television Workshop first presented their new concept in teaching inner city kids basic letters, numbers and fundamentals to in order to better prepare them for school, it was a new venture not only in using television to teach children, but also a new venture in how to promote a show that was on public television. Remember, this was in 1969 and they had limited funding, no commercials for revenue, or social media to help expand awareness to the masses the way most productions can today. Since they didn’t have any of that, they first relied on printed promotional materials to spread the show, and in 1970, released a 45 RPM set of some early songs from show in a neat little record collection called “The Sesame Street Carry About” released by Columbia Records.
I was lucky enough to score most of the records in this set at a garage sale in the mid-90s. I am a huge fan of early Sesame Street in general, so any related memorabilia is a must have for me. There were actually some the seller had that were so beyond the condition of playing, I was afraid it would destroy my turntable, and I left them behind. According to the pretty thorough info on Muppet Wiki, it looks like only I'm missing one or two records from the set.
The ones I did buy, I treasure and the track listings for them are listed as follows:
(Editors note: The track list made us so nostalgic we included one track from each record, be sure to give them a listen)
The Sesame Street Book & Record: "Sesame Street theme" on side 1, and "Hello" on the B
(Note: Who remembers what "On the B" means these days!)
Feeling: "Nearly Missed" on Side 1 and "A Face" on Side 2
Letters: "ABC-DEF-GHI" on Side 1 and "J-Jump" on Side 2
Shapes & Up and Down: "One of These Thing's" on Side 1, and "Up and Down" on Side 2
People & Play: "People In Your Neighborhood" on Side 1, and "Somebody Come and Play" on Side 2
Numbers: "Five People in My Family" on Side 1, and "I've Got Two" on Side 2
The best part about these records, for me, anyway, is the wonderful artwork and photos of the early Sesame characters and human cast members.
All the sleeves also contain the song lyrics and an interesting look at the original Children's Television Workshop logo, which was a little marching soldier with one leg and arm raised, marching with a very "Nutcracker" type feel to it.
These records are definitely a fun find if you happen to come across them at a garage sale, flea market, or used record store, especially if you are a serious early Sesame Street collector and love photos of Oscar when he was orange, and Bob and Susan when they were young spring chickens.
The set also really gives you a feel into what the show was trying to accomplish at the time for its target audience, so there's definitely a spirit about them while flipping through the booklets, and listening to them that I miss about that era.
Thank you for reading and if any other Muppet fan sites like what I wrote, please feel free to contact me, I would love to write a review for your site as well!
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Thanks, Melissa. If you have a favorite item you'd like to share, send us an email or a message on Facebook, along with some photos of the item, and we'll feature it in an upcoming "Fan Favorite" article!
Disneyland Hong Kong has a series of characters stickers available including Miss Piggy.
Each features the character's name in both English and Chinese on the perimeter, while the sticker itself is just the face. So far Miss Piggy is the only Muppet in the line. UPDATE: While a sticker may seem insignificant, this may be the first Muppet product sold at Disneyland Hong Kong!
