Remember when Fox News accused The Muppets of being anti-oil? Well, at a press conference in the UK last week Kermit and Piggy decided to hit back.

Via The Huffington Post.

I stumbled across this online while doing some research earlier this month; it’s an excerpt from a CBC interview with Jim Henson taped on the set of Fraggle Rock in 1983. In it Jim discusses his family, working in television and mentions the then-yet-to-be-released Muppets Take Manhattan and Labyrinth, which Jim describes as “his next fantasy movie.”

This is a nearly 50 year old film produced by Jim Henson that was recently rediscovered and released online by AT&T. Robot is one Jim Henson’s business films from the 1960s, it was shot in 1963 for an elite seminar organized for business owners on the then-brand-new topic of Data Communications.

From the video’s YouTube description:

The seminar itself involved a lot of films and multimedia presentations, and took place in Chicago. A lengthy description of the planning of the Bell Data Communications Seminar — sans a mention of the Henson involvement — is on the blog of Inpro co-founder Jack Byrne. It later was renamed the Bell Business Communications Seminar.

The organizers of the seminar, Inpro, actually set the tone for the film in a three-page memo from one of Inpro’s principals, Ted Mills to Henson. Mills outlined the nascent, but growing relationship between man and machine: a relationship not without tension and resentment: “He [the robot] is sure that All Men Basically Want to Play Golf, and not run businesses — if he can do it better.” (Mills also later designed the ride for the Bell System at the 1964 World’s Fair.) Henson’s execution is not only true to Mills’ vision, but he also puts his own unique, irreverent spin on the material.

The robot narrator used in this film had previously starred in a skit for a food fair in Germany (video is silent), in 1961. It also may be the same robot that appeared on the Mike Douglas Show in 1966. Henson created a different — but similar — robot for the SKF Industries pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair.

Kudos to AT&T for releasing this fascinating little piece of Muppet/Henson history!

Via Tough Pigs.

Tough Pigs recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Bonnie Erickson. If you don’t already know Bonnie’s name, you should; she headed the Muppet Workshop for many years during the Muppet Show era (she is credited as as the designer and builder of Miss Piggy, the Muppet Newsman, Statler and Waldorf among many, many other famous characters) and is currently the Executive Director of the Jim Henson Legacy.

Here are links to all four parts of the interview:

• Interview with Bonnie Erickson, part one
• Interview with Bonnie Erickson, part two
• Interview with Bonnie Erickson, part three
• Interview with Bonnie Erickson, part four

It’s a great interview and a must-read for Muppet fans and anyone els curious about what it was like to work in the Muppet workshop in the heyday of the `70s and `80s.

Have you heard? Fox Business thinks that The Muppets are communists. This has been all over the internet this week and now the fine folks at Funnyordie.com are having some fun with it. They just published a fan letter to Kermit the Frog from North Korea’s “dear leader” Kim Jong Il. It’s funny stuff, check it out:

(click the image for a larger version)

Remember how the Muppets said they were done with making parody trailers for their new movie? They lied.

Oh, and here’s a new-ish montage of clips that you probably haven’t seen before:

Special thanks to everybody who sent these in!

Apologies for a lack of recent updates; as so often is the case, life and work conspired to keep me preoccupied last week, but here’s a look at what was happening while I wasn’t posting:

It seems like the Muppets are everywhere. During the past week alone they’ve appeared on WWE Raw (see previous post), The Hour and The Tonight Show (just to name a few shows) along with the covers of Wired Magazine and Entertainment Weekly.

The excellent Suspense Puppetry Festival just wrapped up in London. Gary Friedman was there and he’s been providing some coverage in his blog here and here.

Rick Lyon is reportedly developing a new puppet TV series called Roasters, that will feature celebrities and iconic figures being roasted by puppets (alas, the article link requires a subscription to Variety).

Puppets are also playing a role in the Occupy Wallstreet protests.

Remember Team Smithereen? It’s going back in to production with a new pilot and they’re looking for interns to help out. If you’re interested in learning about puppet fabrication, miniature model building, puppet wardrobe, digital animation, or prop fabrication contact Executive producer Don Asher for more information.

The Muppets are invading WWE Raw tonight and fans of the Muppets and WWE Wrestling alike seem to be taking to the interwebs with vengeance to voice their disapproval. I think that I’m nearly alone in believing that – if done properly – this could be a brilliant show. Of course, it could also be a train wreck. Either way, I’ll be watching.

WWE Raw airs live on USA Network at 9 p.m. Eastern in the U.S. and at 9:15 p.m. EST in Canada tonight. For international airdates/times, check your local listings.

The Muppets take their parody trailer campaign (see some of the previous ones here and here) to it’s logical conclusion.

Meanwhile, there seems to be a little bit of controversy brewing in the press over the new movie. Reportedly, several veteran Muppet performers and writers are not happy with the movie (or at least some aspects of it) and how many of the Muppets are portrayed. Most of the reports I’ve read cite anonymous sources, although Frank Oz is apparently on the record as having said that he didn’t like the film’s script and that he felt it didn’t respect the classic Muppet characters.

You can judge the new film for yourself when The Muppets hits theatres in North America on November 23rd.

Constance Marks’ documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey (see previous post) has been a huge hit on the film festival circuit. It’s won a number of accolades, including a special jury prize at Sundance and numerous audience awards at other festivals. The film explores Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash’s childhood fascination with puppetry and traces his career from its earliest days on local TV in Baltimore and The Captain Kangaroo Show, to his work with the Muppets and Sesame Street that continues to this day.

Kevin is a brilliant performer and most of the reviews of the film so far have focused on the aspirational aspects of his story, but this film isn’t exactly a puff piece. Being Elmo portrays not only Kevin’s triumphs, but also the realities of being a television puppeteer (there are mentions of contract work and offers of low pay while trying to break in to the industry) as well as the toll success can take on your personal life. Production commitments on Sesame Street, Elmo’s worldwide popularity and Kevin’s insistence on performing Elmo at every engagement around the world leave him with a brutal schedule. He’s so busy that during one emotionally raw sequence in the film his teenage daughter writes him a letter asking for the opportunity to get know him before she goes away to college. It makes Kevin’s story very human; here’s a man who literally entertains millions of children everyday and yet he’s obviously struggled to have a strong relationship with his own daughter.

Being Elmo is a great film that paints an emotional and moving portrait of a man who has followed his passion and is living out his dream. It opens in select U.S. cities beginning October 21st (click here for the current release schedule) and I highly recommend it.