Behind the Scenes of "The Muppet Movie"

Holy smokes. I just read this thread for the first time. I think it took two hours to read the whole thing!

Thanks again, WOE. Your story is so incredibly awesome!

And I'm glad I got to meet you in person too.

So I was just watching the end part of the Muppet Movie where there is a whole large group of Muppets singing. Am I going nuts or did I really see the Papa Twiddlebug in the group? He was over towards the end next to the Count. Please someone tell me I'm not crazy.

You're not crazy. Check out this picture again:

Puppet Backs

You can clearly see him on the left side of this picture next to the Count, exactly where you said. There are at least three fat blue Anything Muppets in the group.

Interesting. I didn't think I was wrong. It's just so odd to see the Twiddlebugs with all the other Muppets and being the same exact size no less.

By the way, that is an awesome picture. It looks like the Muppets are all waiting for instruction from Frank Oz. Can't even see the puppeteers.

I noticed Mama tweedlebug in there and thought it was weird that she was the same height as the other muppets.

this is one great thread.

Well all they did with the Twiddle bug skits was make the sets bigger the Twiddlebugs were the same size as regular muppets.

We know, Barry. We are just not used to seeing the Twiddlebug next to every other Muppet and be the same size. It kinda throws you off a bit. Good thing it is so subtle that most people wouldn't notice it. It could ruin the illusion of the Twiddlebugs.

i just read this too. Very cool!

This by far the best trhread I have ever belonged to. I love this thread and I love Muppet Central.

I agree Kevin and that is why I fell in love with this site from day one.

I have a story for you all. back in 2000 I got hold of my first pc.
(kinda late.) And I, being a fan of the muppets found this site.
Instantly I got hooked. To Muppet Central, Thanks for keeping the magic alive. MUPPET CENTRAL ROCKS

Do you know if Ernie has a body underneath his clothing? I know that he does in sceens where he doesn't wear a shirt (like when he is in the bathtub), but does he always have a body, or does he just have a head and hands attached to his shirt?

By the way, when the recent Tom & Jerry DVD came out in stores, I looked at the packaging, since you mentioned that you did commentary, and noticed that it mentioned that it had commentary by "animation writer earl kress" and somebody from Mad-TV (I think it was a womans name), and I figured that you were Earl Kress (since I didn't think you would be a cast member of Mad-TV). I was right.

Also, when the behind-the-scenes pictures were shown, I was looking at the area where I knew Ernie was at and guessed which one you were, and it turns out I was right.

Scarry, huh?

I have seen full body shots of Ernie before. Probably not very common, but I've seen it. The final of Elmopalooza shows some of the characters in full body form (Ernie, Bert, Count, Prairie, Grover...). Sometimes he is in full body in cast photos too.

He does have a body underneath his shirt. Look at this picture again:

Ernie's Body

You can see that he has form. If he was just a head and hands, the shirt would be flat. Also, I think BEAR misunderstood the question you were asking. In the picture, you can clearly see the bottom of the Ernie puppet. He ends at the bottom of his shirt. There is also a solid form that keeps the body foam in shape under him. It has a hole cut in the middle of it for the puppeteer's hand to go through. What BEAR was referring to was the photo puppet Ernie that has legs as well.

Hope this answered your question!

I wasn't talking about full-body shots. I've seen full body shots of him. other times when his whole body was seen were in the songs The Insects In Your neighborhood, I Don't Want To Live On The Moon, and best Friends Blues. I think his legs were also seen in The Street We Live On.

Was Once Ernie did answer my question. I was referring to if he had a body underneath his shirt.

Oh, I see! Okay, sorry. You mean does he have a body underneath his shirt? Er...umm...or if he took off his shirt, would there be orange Ernie skin for us all to feast our eyes on. Gotcha!

Yep; in one sketch he pulls the neck of his shirt down, and we can see his orange skin, so apparently the orange body (used for scenes in the bathtub) is always with the puppet.