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Pops (Muppet)
The Muppets are an ensemble group of comedic puppet characters originally created by Jim Henson. The Muppets have appeared in multiple television series, films, and other media appearances since the 1950s. The majority of the characters listed here originated on ''The Muppet Show'', a television series that aired from 1976 to 1981. Since then, several more characters have been introduced in other television series, as well as theatrical films. The first Muppet characters appeared in '' Sam and Friends'', a Washington, D.C.–based show which was broadcast from 1955 to 1961. Kermit the Frog was one of the show's regulars, and thus was one of Henson's first Muppet creations. The characters became a household name after their appearance in the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Henson was initially reluctant to become involved with ''Sesame Street'' because he feared being pigeon-holed as a children's performer, but agreed to work on the show to further his social g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the head writer, script and story editor. They consult with network and studio bosses and lead the artistic vision of the show, including the writers room, editing department, as well as select the set design, staff, cast members, and each actor's wardrobe and hairstyle. In many instances, the showrunner also created the show, and subsequent seasons could feature different showrunners. While the director has creative control over a film's production, and the executive producer's role is limited to investing, in television shows, the showrunner outranks the episodic directors. History In a January 1990 submission to the United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Adminis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Santa Claus Switch
''The Great Santa Claus Switch'' is a musical Christmas special featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. It first aired on CBS on December 20, 1970, as an episode of ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. It was directed by John Moffitt, written by Jerry Juhl, with music by Joe Raposo and puppets by Don Sahlin. Plot The special, narrated by Ed Sullivan, begins at the North Pole with Santa Claus and his Christmas Elves getting ready for another Christmas. However, Cosmo Scam has hatched a plan to kidnap Santa and take his place. As part of the plan, Cosmo plans to abduct Santa's Christmas Elves one by one and replace them with his evil henchmen. Cast * Art Carney as Santa Claus, Cosmo Scam * Ed Sullivan as Himself Muppet performers * Jim Henson as Fred the Christmas Elf, Lothar * Frank Oz as Thig, List of Muppets#Frackles, Boppity, Hoppity the Christmas Elf, Snerf * Jerry Nelson as List of Muppets#Additional characters, Thog, List of Muppets#Frackles, Snivelly, Zippity the Christmas Elf * Richa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stunt Performer
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed to a daredevil, who performs for a live audience. When they take the place of another actor, they are known as stunt doubles. Overview A stuntman or stuntwoman typically performs stunts intended for use in a film or dramatized television. Stunts seen in films and television include car crashes, falls from great height, drags (for example, behind a horse), and explosions. There is an inherent risk in the performance of all stunt work. There is maximum risk when the stunts are performed in front of a live audience. In filmed performances, visible safety mechanisms can be removed by editing. In live performances the audience can see more clearly if the performer is genuinely doing what they claim or appear to do. To reduce the risk of injury ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Goelz
David Charles Goelz (; born July 16, 1946) is an American puppeteer and puppet builder known for his work with the Muppets. As part of the Muppets' performing cast, Goelz performs Gonzo the Great, as well as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf (after Jim Henson's death), Zoot and Beauregard, originating on ''The Muppet Show''. Goelz's puppeteering roles also included in ''Fraggle Rock'', ''The Dark Crystal'', and ''Labyrinth''. Outside of puppeteering work, he was also the voice of Figment in the Journey into Imagination with Figment attraction at Epcot. Early life Born in Los Angeles, California, Goelz had an interest in puppetry as a child, including an affinity for the children's television show ''Time for Beany'', but after high school, he attended the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design and began work as an industrial designer. The mechanically-minded Goelz worked for such companies as John Deere, American Airlines, and Hewlett-Packard. However, when ''Sesame Street'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael K
''Life & Times of Michael K'' is a 1983 novel by South African-born writer J. M. Coetzee. The novel won the Booker Prize for 1983. The novel is a story of a man named Michael K, who makes an arduous journey from Cape Town to his mother's rural birthplace, amid a fictitious civil war during the apartheid era, in the 1970-80s. Plot summary The novel is split into three parts. The novel begins with Michael K, a poor man with a cleft lip who has spent his childhood in institutions and works as a gardener in Cape Town. Michael tends to his mother who works as a domestic servant to a wealthy family. The country descends into civil war and martial law is imposed, and Michael's mother becomes very sick. Michael decides to quit his job and escape the city to return his mother to her birthplace, which she says was Prince Albert. Michael finds himself unable to obtain the proper permits for travel out of the city so he builds a shoddy rickshaw to carry his mother, and they go on their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stand-up Comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke, one-liners, stories, observations or a shtick that may incorporate Theatrical property, props, comedy music, music, Magic (illusion), magic tricks or ventriloquism. It can be performed almost anywhere, including comedy clubs, comedy festivals, bars, nightclubs, colleges or theatres. History Stand-up as a Western world, Western art form has its roots in the Stump speech (minstrelsy), stump speech of American minstrel shows, which featured an actor in blackface delivering nonsensical monologue to the audience. While the intention of stump speeches was to mock African-Americans, they also occasionally contained political and social satire. The minstrel show would later influence theatrical traditions of the late 19th and early 20th centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Nelson
Jerry L. Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ''The Muppet Show'', '' Fraggle Rock'', and various Muppet movies and specials. Career On ''Sesame Street'', Nelson's longest-running character was Count von Count, the counting vampire who takes delight in counting anything (and everything) he can. Nelson did the voice and puppetry for the Count from 1972 until 2004 and continued to provide the Count's voice until his death in 2012. His other Muppet roles on that program were Herbert Birdsfoot, The Amazing Mumford, Herry Monster, Biff, Mr. Johnson, Simon Soundman, Mr. Chatterly, Frazzle, Little Jerry, and Sherlock Hemlock. He has also made a total of nine onscreen appearances on the show. Nelson was the first puppeteer to perform Mr. Snuffleupagus, keeping the role from 1971 to 1978. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, five of which became No. 1 albums; he has had 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. Alpert is the only musician to hit No. 1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as both a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968) and an instrumentalist ("Rise", 1979). Alpert has reportedly sold 72 million records worldwide. He has received many accolades, including a Tony Award, and eight Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Alpert was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama in 2013. Early life and career Herb Alpert was born and raised in the Boyle Heights section of Eastside Los Angeles, California, the younger child ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Significant Other
The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and in colloquial language. Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Synonyms with similar properties include: sweetheart, other half, better half, spouse, domestic partner, lover, soulmate, and life partner. In the United States, the term is sometimes used in invitations, such as to weddings and office parties. This use of the term has become common in the UK in correspondence from hospitals, e.g., "you may be accompanied for your appointment by a significant other." Scientific use Its usage in psychology and sociology is very different from its colloquial use. In psychology, a significant other is any person who has great importance to an individual's life or well-being. In sociology, it describes any person or p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romance (love)
Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a Interpersonal attraction, strong attraction towards another person, and the Courtship, courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Family Studies'' states that "Romantic love, based on the model of mutual attraction and on a connection between two people that bonds them as a couple, creates the conditions for overturning the model of family and marriage that it engenders." This indicates that romantic love can be the founding of attraction between two people. This term was primarily used by the "western countries after the 1800s were socialized into, love is the necessary prerequisite for starting an intimate relationship and represents the foundation on which to build the next steps in a family." Alternatively, ''Collins Dictionary'' describes romantic love as "an intensity and idealization of a love relationship, in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superstar
A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based professions. History The origin of the term in the context of celebrity is uncertain, but a similar expression is attested in John Nyren's 1832 cricket book '' The Cricketers of My Time''. Nyren described the 18th-century cricketer John Small as "a star of the first magnitude".John Nyren, ''The Cricketers of my Time'', Robson, 1998, p.57. The earliest use of the term "superstar" has been credited to Frank Patrick in reference to the ice hockey players on his Vancouver Millionaires teams of the 1910s and 1920s, specifically Cyclone Taylor. In the June 1977 edition of ''Interview'' magazine, pop artist Andy Warhol was asked by editor Glenn O'Brien who invented the word "superstar". Warhol, known for popularizing the term, responded, "I think ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
