SST 40th Anniversary Event

Thanks for the link to your pix. I tried to snap a couple too, but they didn't turn out. I definitely respect the participants' wish to be able to speak freely and not have 20,000 photos taken of them... I was just hoping for a couple snaps to help me remember this event when I'm 70 and thinking back on all the cool Muppet stuff I did when I was a "kid." I suppose Sesame Street will be broadcast in 4-D Holographic Virtual Reality by then.

Truly a fun event. I'm glad to hear everyone on here talking about how far they came for it- makes me feel less embarrassed about buying that plane ticket and flying in from Milwaukee!

As someone who has also visited the set on two occasions now, I can tell you that you have to have a connection to get in like Zns did with Marty Robinson. It is not open to the public, for tourists or anything like that. The first time I went was in 1993 and was arranged through Kevin Clash through a mutual friend. The second time was in 1999 when I was a Henson intern.

But you can't just go in and actually I remember the first time I was supposed to go with my family in '93, they had to reschedule my visit because Johnny Cash was coming in to do a taping that day and by policy it was a closed set. No visitors at all!

Oh wow! I thought it had to be something like "connections"... I actually am kicking my butt for not asking her then... lol.

But congrats to those who have been able to get in there.

Let me ask, MelissaY1... if i may that is... how does one get the shot of becoming an intern? I have planned on doing this in the future...

Well the first thing you gotta do is see what your college requires as far as your school's internsihp program. I do know that Henson will only give internships to those who are doing so for college credit.

The second thing is to contact the offices and see what they have available and what the current application process is. I did this 10 years ago so it may be a whole different ball game now. They're not even in the same buildings that were there when I was an intern. I know they have some information about internship opportunities on their official website at www.henson.com I would start there. Good luck!

here's a video from the .

Aww man, I think that one was a tad bit more personable and relaxed than the one we went too.. At least those guys got to record video and take pictures... Possibly even get photos with the puppets themselves...

Heh, and on a totally pointless note.... I've only ever seen the name Mitsu twice...at the end of that video, and as a character in a movie.. Thought it was a made up name made for just the movie I Saw it in....didn't think it was real ..

What a fantastic time. Like Melissa mentioned, it was so touching to hear Frank and the others talk so sweetly about Jim and Richard. Man, they were just so adoring that I felt like Jim himself was going to come out on stage. I admit that when Jim died, I felt the Muppets were just going to keep running through the motions, but after the other night, it's so clear that they just strive everyday to reach for his dream.

I'm still kind of awestruck about just being there, so I'm gonna' continue to collect my thoughts before I really post here. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet up with anyone, if you were there you know how crazy it was. I did meet up with MuppetCast host Steve and I met Joe from Tough Pigs who was just wonderful to talk to.

I'm sure I saw most of you, but didn't get to meet you. I was two rows behind Bonnie Erikson.

My dad and I were sitting next to her! I was so shocked when she stood up. But that's me, completely clueless. Definitely the best friday night I've spent at a college and in NJ. My dad was surprised at the lack of children in the audience, so it was great that a couple of those there got to ask questions. The highlight(if I can pick just one) was when Frank said he'd consider directing a Muppet project in the future. Heck, just seeing him in person was awesome.

Somebody took some video footage of the event! Here are his three clips!

http://www.youtube.com/user/JokoRecords

Wow. The teacher workshop looked cool. I agree, it did seem to be mroe relaxed and comfortable there compared to the evening lecture.

I actually am an elementary school educator, and I think I would have actually been more likely to go to that than the evening lecture (although it would have been great to meet Frank Oz).

Again, please if anyone knows, how did people register for the teacher event, and was there any cost? If an event like this happens again at a college or university not too far away from me, I will definitely ask about any additional events for educators!

I'm sorry we didn't meet up either. It was very nice chatting with you on the phone on the way over, though, and I'm glad you had a great time! At least now I have your phone number for the next Muppet event

I barely got to speak to anyone from Tough Pigs except for a few quick hellos to a couple of people. Unfortunately this event was kind of hard to socialize at. Hopefully there will be more time to meet up properly with everyone at another one in the near future.

it was run through the edu dept at wpu, so any publicity was separate from the evening one. i only found out about it b/c stephenjlizard mentioned it in a post, so i immediately searched their website & bought tickets an hour and a half before they closed. i have no idea how he found out about it, because it wasn't mentioned on the main page. but as an educator, you didn't miss anything. they literally told the exact same stories they retold in the evening, and the moderator's questions weren't helpful for teachers anyway. it was a missed opportunity in that sense.

out of all of the ss gang, bob does the most work with teachers. (though they didn't let him talk about it at the wpu teacher workshop...) i know he frequently does workshops focused on music education, and he mentioned that he had just done one a few days ago. but i can never find these either. he doesn't publicize them on his website or anything. i guess it's up to the group that books him to do publicity, but i search online fairly regularly and i never find anything until after the event. sigh.

Oh wow! Love that and thanks for sharing! Oscar was his grouchy self as usual! hehehe...

I also quite enjoyed Marty and Kevin's bemusement of Richard's initial loud, over the top performance of Elmo, "ME WANT PLAY!" Lol I see can why some of the writers had been pondering, "What is he doing with that character?" Hehe

Oh wow! Too funny there! I know I was laughing at it!

Haha! That's too funny! I can just see that!

That was me who shot those videos, by the way. The one with Oscar and Elmo is cut short because an usher told me that if I didn't put the camera away, they would ask me to leave. Hopefully someone out there got away with filming some more of the show!

Oh the risks we take to preserve history!

Congrats! And i could tell that there were times were you were hiding the camera. Go YOU!

Thank you for recording the memories of that night.

Heres the funny thing. There were video cameras from the staff working there. I'm sure the school has a copy of the whole night... i wounder if theres going to be any use out of it

Can you please tell me more?

Hey, I WISH I could have gone! Although I knew about this months ago, because a friend of mine who works at Sesame told me about it, I couldn't go, since I live about 6000 miles away. Therefore, i'm depending on all those who went to PLEASE post every sordid detail (I.e. a full play-by-play). Neil, what do you mean about the after party at the manor? what manor? was this only open to a few people? How did you manage to get in? details please!

Did you take any picture at the after party? I would love to see them! I couldn't go to the after party because of the cost.

Thank you Mr.Joe .....

I offered to film the entire thing in HD to some of the staff, but sadly they declined. I can understand though if they just tell the same exact stories at each event...

I was thinking of sneaking audio out, as mentioned earlier, but figured they'd see the light from the recorder and decided not too..