The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by the Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2004.
The Muppet Show is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a series and other networks in the United States rejected Henson's proposals, British producer Lew Grade expressed enthusiasm for the project and agreed to co-produce The Muppet Show for the British channel ATV. Five seasons, totalling 120 episodes, were broadcast on ATV and other ITV franchises in the United Kingdom and in first-run syndication in the United States from 1976 to 1981. The programme was produced and recorded at the ATV Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, best known as the insecure and comedically fruitless stand-up comic. Fozzie is an orange-brown bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a pink and white polka dot necktie. The character debuted on The Muppet Show, as the series' resident comedian, a role where he uses the catchphrase "Wocka wocka!" to indicate that he'd completed a joke. He was often the target of ridicule, particularly from balcony hecklers Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie was performed by Frank Oz until 2001, after which Eric Jacobson became the character's principal performer.
"Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" is a 1939 song written by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen. It first appeared in the Marx Brothers film At the Circus (1939) and became one of Groucho Marx's signature tunes. It subsequently appeared in the movie The Philadelphia Story (1940), sung by Virginia Weidler as Dinah Lord.
At the Circus is a 1939 comedy film starring the Marx Brothers released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which they help save a circus from bankruptcy. The film contains Groucho Marx's classic rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". The supporting cast includes Florence Rice, Kenny Baker, Margaret Dumont, and Eve Arden. The songs, including "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", "Two Blind Loves", and "Step Up and Take a Bow", were written by the team of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, who'd recently furnished the songs from another MGM film that same year, The Wizard of Oz.
Rowlf the Dog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Known most notably as the resident pianist on the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, Rowlf is a scruffy brown dog of indeterminate breed with a rounded black nose and long floppy ears. Laid-back and wisecracking, his humor is characterized as deadpan and as such, he is one of few Muppets who is rarely flustered by the show's prevalent mayhem. Henson's closest collaborators and family members have claimed Rowlf to be the Muppet character most similar to Henson's real-life personality.
The Muppets Take Manhattan is a 1984 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Frank Oz and the third theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Muppet performers Jim Henson, Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, as well as special appearances by Art Carney, James Coco, Dabney Coleman, Gregory Hines, Linda Lavin and Joan Rivers. Filmed in New York City during the prior summer, it was released theatrically on July 13, 1984, by TriStar Pictures. A fantasy sequence in the film introduced the Muppet Babies, toddler versions of the lead Muppet characters.
The Great Muppet Caper is a 1981 musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson and the second theatrical film featuring the Muppets. The film stars Muppet performers Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Steve Whitmire, as well as Charles Grodin and Diana Rigg with special cameo appearances by John Cleese, Robert Morley, Peter Ustinov, and Jack Warden. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company and distributed by Universal Pictures. In the plot, the Muppets are caught up in a jewel heist while investigating a robbery in London.
The Muppets at Walt Disney World is a television special starring Jim Henson's Muppets at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The special aired on NBC as part of The Magical World of Disney on May 6, 1990, ten days prior to Henson's death. It was the last Muppet project completed by Henson.
"Bein' Green" is a song written by Joe Raposo, originally performed by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog on both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. It later was covered by Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and other performers. Bein' Green is considered the signature song of Kermit the Frog.
The Jimmy Dean Show is the name of several similar music and variety series on American local and network television between 1963 and 1975. Each starred country music singer Jimmy Dean as host.
Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back is a 1973 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra.
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together is a 1979 Christmas television special starring Jim Henson's Muppets and singer-songwriter John Denver. The special first aired December 5, 1979, on ABC. It has never been released on any standard home video format but the special is available for viewing at the Paley Center for Media, alongside other Muppet specials.
"Halfway Down" is a poem by A.A. Milne, included in the 1924 collection When We Were Very Young. A "juvenile meditation", Zena Sutherland comments in Children & Books that both the poem and Ernest Shepard's illustration "has caught the mood of suspended action that is always overtaking small children on stairs." Christopher Robin, the child in Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories, is the presumed narrator of the poem.
Rocky Mountain Holiday is a television special and a soundtrack album of songs from the special, performed by American singer-songwriter John Denver and The Muppets. The show has Denver playing host to the extended Muppet family; he takes them up into the scenic Rockies for an excursion that includes fishing, hiking, and camping. The soundtrack album was released in November 1982, and the special itself aired May 12, 1983, on ABC. In 1984, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, but lost to Michael Jackson's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook.
The Muppet Show is the first soundtrack album released from the TV show of the same name. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart in the week ending 25 June 1977. In 1979, the album won The Grammy Award for Best Album for Children.
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years is a one-hour special starring Jim Henson's Muppets. It was shot in Toronto, Ontario in 1985 and aired January 21, 1986 on CBS.
The Muppets on Puppets is a 1970 TV special created by Jim Henson. The special was produced in June 1968 at public television station WITF-TV in Hershey, Pennsylvania, for National Educational Television. It aired on New York's WNET on January 5, 1970, as part of the station's Adventure in the Arts anthology series. Henson and company made three additional specials in color as part of the series at WITF-TV. The special is included as a bonus feature on the DVD set The Muppet Show: Season Three. This release includes a few audio drop-outs due to the video source.
The Muppets: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is a soundtrack album released by Walt Disney Records on November 22, 2011 for the musical comedy film The Muppets. The soundtrack features five original songs, four re-recordings and remasterings of popular Muppet songs, two cover versions of existing songs, two standalone songs, and fifteen dialogue tracks. It also features the song "Man or Muppet", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack was also nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 55th Grammy Awards.
The discography of the Muppets, an American puppet ensemble group originally created by Jim Henson, includes of sixteen studio albums, four compilation albums, one extended play, eight singles, two "featured artist" singles and five music videos. Of the studio and compilation albums, three are soundtracks from seasons of The Muppet Show and seven of eight motion pictures. The soundtrack to the sixth film, Muppets from Space was orchestral as opposed to derivative compositions performed by the characters. Walt Disney Records has served as the primary record label for musical projects by the Muppets since 2004, and has also reissued earlier albums.
