Recent content by Brian Kendig

Oh, my gosh! Thank you for solving that mystery! I looked up Donna's Day on YouTube and found an episode which features Kermit ... and, sure enough, it's filmed right here in Celebration, Florida. If the tidy houses and the little electric car (NEV) don't give it away immediately, then the...

Have the Muppets ever filmed anything in Celebration, Florida? I ask because someone gave me this photo of Kermit, on a phone, beside his mailbox, in front of a lake, and he told me it's from something that was filmed in Celebration. (I see the Odyssey Network logo in the bottom right of the...

I'm an amateur puppeteer. I perform for Give Kids The World (Kissimmee, Florida) as well as a few other events. I want to expand my repertoire but I'm tired of trying to make do with mass-produced puppets that never look quite right, so I am looking for recommendations of someone who can build a...

A long-delayed followup note to this thread: I did not have success fixing the mouthplate. We opened up the puppet, pulled out the broken plastic, and sewed in two separate pieces of plastic from some container (I forget what); but stitching it back together properly was beyond our abilities...

Thank you all. :-) The character made a big impression on me when I was a kid, and I've always missed him. I will go add the information y'all provided to Mr. Hooper's wiki article!

After the Goodbye Mr. Hooper episode so long ago, have there been any mentions of Mr. Hooper in the show? Anyone saying anything about him, remembering him fondly, mentioning him in idle conversation, anything at all? I saw the segment where Gordon makes an egg cream for Telly and does a brief...

Please share your videos! Especially those of you who got in, or got more than the "performance technique is not quite right" response! I'd really like to see what they wanted.

And here's mine. My first time videorecording my work ... so, well, not my best, either. :-)

Well, please share your video! I'll share mine as soon as I have time to get the URL and make sure it's no longer private. I see you have a video blog of your puppet! I like that and I'm looking forward to watching it!

... and I was turned down. "Unfortunately, your performance technique is not quite right for the Sesame Street style of puppetry and we cannot offer you a slot in the puppeteer workshop." I figure the "technique is not quite right" part is just form-letter language for "we didn't pick you," but...

I have an orange FAO Schwarz Muppet Whatnot from a few years ago, and today I bought the orange Whatnot Kit at Toys 'R' Us. First, to set a basis for comparison: The original, from a few years ago, is a great puppet. There are only three flaws with it. First, it's very small for my adult male...

I have a Muppet Whatnot named Wendell. Every other Sunday morning, I bring him to breakfast at Give Kids The World (a charity resort here in Orlando for kids with life-threatening conditions), and I go around the tables interacting with kids and bringing them smiles. He's a BIG hit, but I'm an...

The Whatnot construction really doesn't seem to be anything fancy! Have a look at the photos I posted to Flickr; they should give you a good idea of how the puppet is put together. http://www.flickr.com/photos/45858042@N00/sets/72157613984207504/ I recently mustered up my courage and was...

I have absolutely no sewing experience (thought I have friends who do and who could probably be plied with chocolate). My hesitation at taking the entire mouth out is that the seams are on the inside, and there's just no way to get into the inside of the head with a needle to re-sew that... But...

Thank you for all the suggestions - I, and Wendell, really appreciate them! This FAO Schwarz Whatnot is really constructed well - this means, though, that he'll be hard to get into. You can see photos of him here. The body is basically a cylinder with the neck and head coming out of it, so I...