A question about Forgetful Jones's orgin

[LincolnHeights]

I have a question about Forgetful Jones. Was his first appearance in the 1980-81 Season Premire in the skit where he says it's time to Brush Buster's teeth? Was he originally played by Michael Earl Davis in all his appearances during that season, or just for that one appearance? Or was Forgetful on the show even before that? Can anybody tell me of some early Forgetful memories from the very early 80's when he was performed by Michael Earl Davis? Who knows of one of Forgetful's first on the street performances? Please let me know. Thanks

 

[anytimepally]

Muppet Wiki says he started during the 1979-1980 Season and was played by Michael Earl Davis for Seasons 11 & 12

 

[LincolnHeights]

Wow. So he started during the 1979-1980 Season. I wonder what his very first episode was? I take it it was probably an on the street episode that introduced him to the show. I wonder if Clementine, him, and Buster were all introduced on the same episode. Something to think about. I'd really like to see that one.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder about Buster. Michael Earl himself has said that Kevin Clash originally performed Buster, and Clash's book doesn't say anything about originating Buster, but he did mention that he often visited the Sesame Street set, and I believe he said he would lend a hand if needed, despite not officially working on the show. He didn't seem to go into much detail about that (I wonder if he's afraid of performing when he wasn't supposed to). If he wasn't a full-time Muppet performer then, then I wonder why such a regular role would be given to Clash, unless Buster was originally meant to appear once (or maybe only for a few sketches to be produced on the same day), only to become a regular later and for Martin Robinson to take over. If Buster was meant to be a regular, then one of the regular performers should have been given the role. And Clash did perform some major roles on other puppet shows at the time. Certainly if the producers of those shows watched Sesame Street and saw Buster they would recognize Clash's voice.

Does anybody know if Buster was originally just a generic horse puppet who eventually got a name and personality?

 

[LincolnHeights]

Im actually surprized that Kevin originally performed Buster. I had no clue that he even worked on SS during the early 80's. But I'll bet Buster in the Teeth brushing skit was the first thing he ever did on Sesame Street, and it was more like a tryout and probably a one day thing like you said. So I'll be Forgetful Jones and Clementine made their first appearance in an episode in the 1979-1980 Season and Buster was introduced a little later in the teeth skit that was most likely seen for the first time in the 1980 Season Premire, episode 1446. Now it's likely that Marty Robbinson took over the role of Buster right after that, sometime during the 1980-81 Season, and Richard Hunt most likely took over Forgetful at the start of the 1981-1982 season. Now this may not be exactly how it happened, but it's my best guess. Mabye someday we'll get access to the episodes that aired from 1979-1982 to see exactly what the story is with Forgetful, Clementine and Buster and their performers. Personally I would love to see as many episodes as I could from 1979-1984, The Brian Meehl Telly years.

 

[minor muppetz]

Michael Earl has become a member of Muppet Wiki lately. Maybe someday he'll edit Buster's page (or Kevin Clash's page) to menton what the deal was with Kevin performing Buster.