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Michael Earl (puppeteer)
Michael Earl (September 10, 1959 – December 23, 2015) was an American puppeteer. A four-time Emmy Award-winner whose credits include Mr. Snuffleupagus on ''Sesame Street'' (1978–1981) and Dr. Ticktock in ''Ticktock Minutes'', a musical series of PSA's on PBS he also co-created, scripted and wrote lyrics for that garnered 11 Southern Regional Emmys, a 1998 National Emmy for Best Public Service Announcements, a Gabriel Award, 2 Parents' Choice Awards and numerous other honors. Earl performed the original Shrek character in a motion-capture development test film for DreamWorks and puppeteered lead characters in Paramount Pictures' '' Team America: World Police''. History Michael Earl (Davis) was born in Oakland, California and grew up in San Leandro and Livermore, CA. He began his professional career at age five acting in a Curad bandage TV commercial. Two years later he was tapped to be the original "Is It Soup Yet?" kid for Lipton, which ran for three years. He performed or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay Area and the List of largest California cities by population, eighth most populated city in California. With a population of 440,646 in 2020, it serves as the Bay Area's trade center and economic engine: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in Northern California, and the fifth busiest in the United States of America. An act to municipal corporation, incorporate the city was passed on May 4, 1852, and incorporation was later approved on March 25, 1854. Oakland is a charter city. Oakland's territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal prairie, California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. In the late 18th century, it became part of a large ''rancho'' grant in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bil Baird
William Britton "Bil" Baird (August 15, 1904 – March 18, 1987) was an American puppeteer of the mid- and late 20th century. In a career that spanned over 60 years, he and his puppets performed for millions of adults and children. One of his better known creations was Charlemane the lion. He and his wife Cora Eisenberg Baird (1912–1967) produced and performed the famous puppetry sequence for "The Lonely Goatherd" in the film version of ''The Sound of Music''. His son Peter Baird was also a puppeteer, and he continued his family's legacy until his own death in July 2004. He wrote ''The Art of the Puppet'' (1965) and provided the puppets for ''Dark Shadows''. Baird also created the expandable nose Peter Noone wore as Pinocchio in the 1968 musical adaptation of the Carlo Collodi story that aired on NBC as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. Early life Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, Baird grew up in Mason City, Iowa. He traced his love of puppets to the moment when his father m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Men In Black II
''Men in Black II'' (stylized as ''MIIB'') is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld from a screenplay by Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro. It is the second film in the original trilogy and a sequel to ''Men in Black'', which in turn is loosely based on the Marvel Comics series '' The Men in Black'' by Lowell Cunningham. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith reprising their roles from the first film, with Lara Flynn Boyle, Johnny Knoxville, Rosario Dawson, Tony Shalhoub, and Rip Torn in supporting roles; the film also includes a cameo appearance by Michael Jackson. The film centers on Agent J trying to find and recruit Agent K back into the organization because only K knows how to deal with the latest threat to Earth's security, but restoring that knowledge requires restoring the memories J wiped from K's mind at the end of the previous film. ''Men in Black II'' was released worldwide on July 3, 2002, by Columbia Pictures, receiving ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' (1990–1996). Smith has received List of awards and nominations received by Will Smith, multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and four Grammy Awards. As of , his films have grossed over $9.3 billion globally, making him one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. Smith first gained recognition as part of a hip hop music, hip hop DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff, with whom he released five studio albums and the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 20 singles "Parents Just Don't Understand", "A Nightmare on My Street", "Summertime (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince song), Summertime", "Ring My Bell (DJ Jazzy Jeff & ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaurs (TV Series)
''Dinosaurs'' is an American family sitcom television series that aired on ABC for four seasons from April 26, 1991, through July 20, 1994 (preempted episodes that had never been allowed to run also aired as a second part of the fourth season from September 6, 1995 through November 10, 1995), and reruns were shown on Disney Channel. The show, about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Television in association with Walt Disney Television and distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc. The characters were designed by Henson team member Kirk Thatcher. Origins and development News stories written at the time of the show's premiere highlighted ''Dinosaurs connection to Jim Henson, who had died the year before. Henson conceived the show in 1988, according to an article in ''The New York Times'', adding he wanted it to be a sitcom, but about a family of dinosaurs. Until the success of ''The Simpsons'', according to Ale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jim Henson Hour
''The Jim Henson Hour'' is a television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the The Muppets, Muppet characters. Nine of the twelve episodes produced aired on NBC before the program was canceled due to low ratings. Two episodes later aired on Nickelodeon in 1992 and 1993, and the final episode "Food" never aired. The show was never broadcast in the UK. After ''The Jim Henson Hour'', the Muppets did not have another prime-time TV show until ''Muppets Tonight'' in 1996, six years after Jim Henson's death. Format ''The Jim Henson Hour'' was modeled after the ''Walt Disney anthology television series, Walt Disney Presents'' specials, in which every week Disney would show off the latest innovations and creations of his production company. At the beginning of each episode, Jim Henson would enter an abstractly-decorated set (alongside the Thought Lion puppet from his series ''The StoryTeller (TV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Celebration Of 30 Years
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Muppet Monsters
''Little Muppet Monsters'' is a Saturday morning television series featuring the Muppets that aired three episodes on CBS in 1985. The first season of '' Muppet Babies'' did so well in the ratings, that CBS decided to expand the series from a half-hour to an hour, pairing ''Muppet Babies'' with ''Little Muppet Monsters''. They called the hour-long package ''Muppets, Babies and Monsters''. Plot The show was anchored by three young Muppet monsters: Tug (performed by Richard Hunt), Molly (performed by Camille Bonora), and Boo (performed by David Rudman). The three have started their own basement show following an incident where Scooter has them put in the basement after Molly and Boo played water polo in the living room. They are joined by Nicky Napoleon (performed by James Kroupa) and his Emperor Penguins as their music act. Production Storyboard director Scott Shaw discussed the show in MuppetZine issue #3 (Winter 1993). "The concept of this second half-hour was neither simpl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Christmas Together
''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. Plot The special opens with Denver and the Muppets singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas". To add comedic effect, Fozzie Bear forgets his line ("Seven swans a-swimming.") and Miss Piggy overemphasizes hers ("Five gold rings, ba-dum, bum, bum.") The main plot of the rest of the special is the creation of the special itself and a special musical number for Miss Piggy. During the discussion of her number, Miss Piggy confronts Denver in her dressing room about their presumably mutual attraction. Miss Piggy, as a doll named Fifi, sings "I Will Wait for You" to Denver, who plays a wooden soldier trying to stay in ste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Muppets Take Manhattan
''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' is a 1984 American musical comedy drama film directed by Frank Oz. It is the third theatrical film in ''The Muppets'' franchise. In addition to the Muppet performance, the film features 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. ''Muppets Take Manhattan'' was the first film to be directed solely by Oz, who previously co-directed ''The Dark Crystal'' with Jim Henson. Not counting the ''Sesame Street'' film ''Follow That Bird'', it is the final Muppet film produced before the deaths of Henson and Richard Hunt. Plot Following graduating from Danhurst College, The Muppets perform their theatrical production of ''Manhattan Melodies'' for their class. Upon the sugge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honkers (Sesame Street)
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Grover, and Elmo. Henson's involvement in ''Sesame Street'' began when he and Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the creators of the show, met in the summer of 1968, at one of the show's five three-day curriculum planning seminars in Boston. Author Christopher Finch reported that director Jon Stone, who had worked with Henson previously, felt that if they could not bring him on board, they should "make do without puppets". Henson was initially reluctant but agreed to join ''Sesame Street'' in support of its social goals. He also agreed to waive his performance fee for full ownership of the ''Sesame Street'' Muppets and to split any revenue they generated with the Children's Television Workshop (renamed to the Sesame W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar The Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. Oscar's favorite thing is trash, as evidenced by the song "I Love Trash", with a running theme being his collection of seemingly useless items. Although the term "Grouch" aptly describes Oscar's misanthropic interaction with the other characters, it also refers to his species. The character was originally performed by Caroll Spinney from the show's first episode until Spinney's retirement in 2018. Eric Jacobson began understudying for the character in 2015, and officially took on the full role after Spinney's retirement in 2018. Origins Initially, the puppet characters on ''Sesame Street'' did not appear on the actual Sesame Street set, but were relegated to the intermediary segments. Muppets creator Jim Henson wanted them to be integrated into the series, suggesting a giant bir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
