This is some wonderful never-before-released video of Jim Henson recounting the now-famous story of how he recruited Caroll Spinney to play Big Bird at a Puppeteers of America convention in 1969. The video is from Caroll’s personal archives and was posted online as part of the crowd-funding campaign for the Caroll Spinney documentary I Am Big Bird (see previous post).

The funding campaign for I Am Big Bird wraps up today and has been a huge success; filmmakers Copper Pot Pictures (pictured above) have exceeded their goal and raised approximately $120,000 (!) to produce the film, which I believe makes it most successful crowdfunded puppetry-related project ever. They recently sat down with Muppet fan sites Tough Pigs and The Muppet Mindset to discuss the origins of the project, what it’s like collaborating with Caroll and what they hope to achieve with their film.

If you want to contribute to the funding of I Am Big Bird and be eligible for some great perks (including a  2-disc special edition Blu-Ray signed by Caroll Spinney), you need to act now! The Kickstarter campaign for I Am Big Bird closes at approximately 12 noon EST today!!!